How to enhance villagers’ willingness to participate in grassroots governance through political efficacy?

Abstract

This paper is grounded in social cognitive theory and constructs a research framework of ‘individual cognition- environment-behavioral willingness’ to investigate the influence of political efficacy on villagers’ willingness to participate in grassroots governance, as well as whether satisfaction with the government and social justice play a chain-mediating role between them. Utilizing empirical data from the 2019 Chinese Social Survey (CSS), comprising 7,031 responses, this study rigorously tests the hypotheses. The findings demonstrate that political efficacy significantly and positively predicts villagers’ willingness to engage in grassroots governance. Furthermore, satisfaction with the government and social justice are identified as playing a chain-mediating role in this relationship. These results not only deepen our understanding of villagers’ attitudes toward political participation but also contribute to the democratic process in China.