Research on women in public administration: A systematic review of Chinese top journal publications (1987–2019)

Abstract

The study of women has made significant progress in public administration research although little is known about its development in China. This article presents a systematic review of 222 studies on women published in the 15 representative journals in the Chinese public administration discipline since the 1980s. It addresses a set of key questions relevant to research on women by systematically examining the research paradigms, topics, methods, theories, and empirical research and clarify the shortcomings of existing research. Findings of the analysis and the international frontier progress then suggest the research directions for future studies on women. It proposes that Chinese scholars should critically examine international theories, propose diverse research topics, and use up-to-date methodologies.