Government agencies and their roles in the diffusion of intellectual property policy in China: analysis based on a policy literature reference network

Abstract

The relationship between government agencies is an important basis for the continuous innovation and diffusion of policies. This research explores how government agencies, as policymakers and promoters, play an important role in the innovation and diffusion of intellectual property policies in China. Based on the reference relationship in the policy literature, we build a large sample of intellectual property policy diffusion networks in China and present the trends and characteristics of government agencies’ policy diffusion. The results show that intellectual property policy diffusion in China is positively related to many institutional factors, for example, network positioning, authority, economic development level, and policy timeliness, but it is not significantly correlated with geographical proximity. Points for practitioners This study helps to understand how government relationships affect policy diffusion in this particular political environment in China. The conclusions of this study on the role of government agencies in policy diffusion can provide some guidance for public administration departments to formulate and disseminate policies, and expand the study of intergovernmental relations and policy innovation from the perspective of policy text mining and quantification.