1. Introduction
Achieving the goal of equalizing basic public services is not only a requirement for improving the quality of life of residents but also an inevitable choice for the transformation from a labor-intensive economy to a capital and technology intensive economy in China. By the end of 2018, the penetration rate of compulsory education reached 94.2%, the participation rate of basic medical insurance exceeded 96%, the comprehensive coverage rate of radio and television reached 98%, and the construction of more than 60 million urban affordable housing projects had begun. China has established a national basic public services system that aims to cover all residents, but problems such as insufficient supply, low quality, and uneven development still exist [
1]. Therefore, how to enable different departments to accelerate the equalization of basic public services has become an important aspect of solving the main social contradictions in China and the focal point of supply-side structural reform.
As the economy of China enters a new normal, the population structure, social structure and consumption structure show a new development trend, and residents’ demand for basic public services is increasingly diversified and complicated. Thus, the mode of government-led services has been unable to achieve an efficient supply [
2] (p.4). Furthermore, the private supply mode may be selective, and “market failure” may affect the supply efficiency of basic public services.
The Public Governance Theory proposed multi-agent participation in public goods and service supply [
3,
4,
5] and also provided theoretical support for the Third Sector, represented by social organizations, to participate in basic public services [
6].The word “governance”, which does not represent official authorization, works effectively [
7], so the theory of public governance advocates for weakening the sole authority of government [
8] and reconstructing the relationship between the government and the market. Through network governance [
9,
10] and performance evaluation [
11], the theory encourages interaction and cooperation among government, the market and the third sector. The Public Governance Theory has been regarded as a useful tool to solve for “government failure “and “market failure”. Lester M. Salamon’s pioneering research investigating the view of “third-party governance” divides the responsibilities of the government and nonprofit sectors [
12]. As long as there is a clear definition of property rights and interest evaluation [
13,
14], social organizations can change the relationship between citizens and government [
15] as well as play an important role in infrastructure, environmental protection, community welfare and even public safety [
16,
17,
18,
19].
Social organizations in China have gradually become an important tool for meeting the needs of residents’ individualized and specialized interests, especially in the fields of medical and health care, public education, and cultural construction [
20,
21,
22,
23,
24]. By the end of 2017, the number of registered social organizations in the country had reached 762,000; the number of employees in social organizations totaled 8.647 million. The number of social organizations and employees in the three types of social organizations has shown an upward trend, and the value added by social organization services has increased from 30.7 billion to 65 billion over the last decade.
However, in contrast to social organizations in Western countries, which have a high degree of autonomy, the accelerated development of social organizations in China is the result of the government’s “weaken authoritarianism” measures, and social organizations typically have weak discourse power and strong dependency. Some practical dilemmas, such as an insufficient ability to regulate resources and a low degree of specialization, have led to their extensive development within the narrow living space given by the government [
25,
26]. Social organizations are still in an early stage of development and are characterized by an uneven geographical distribution and industrial relevance. Although there is consensus that the quality of social organizations directly affects the efficiency of public services [
27], the problem of covering a small population and a small service area is more prominent. At this stage, increasing the number of social organizations and their area of coverage may be an effective way to promote the equalization of basic public services in China [
28]. Therefore, we propose the following research hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1:
Currently, social organizations have a weak driving capacity to promote the equalization of basic public services, while the density and quality of social organizations are heterogeneous. Improving the coverage of social organizations is a top priority for promoting the equalization of basic public services in China.
Although the role of social organizations has become increasingly prominent, the provision of basic public services remains a basic function of the government and a logical starting point of state governance [
29]. It is generally believed that the decline in government governance could significantly reduce the quantity and quality of public service provision [
30,
31,
32,
33].
In China, there is an asymmetric dependence between social organizations and the government. The government tends to intervene in social organizations through certain institutional arrangements to control social organizations [
34]. First, the government controls and provides guidance [
35] for social organizations at the level of social cognition and activity through registration, annual inspection, evaluation and law enforcement; second, the basic laws formulated by the government determine the basis for solving disputes and contradictions in social organizations; third, the main ways in which social organizations participate in the supply of basic public services involve cooperation with the government. Direct government purchase and financial subsidies constitute the main sources of funds for the operation of social organizations.
Furthermore, the relationship between the government and social organizations is a microcosm of the relationship between the state and society in the governance of public affairs. With the continuous transformation of government functions, the linkage effect of the government governance and social organization participation in promoting the equalization of basic public services has become increasingly prominent. Through a clear reward and punishment mechanism [
36], supervision [
37], a moderate management system [
38] and an efficient partnership [
39] resulting in synergies [
40], the efficiency and quality of the supply of basic public services can be significantly improved [
41,
42]. The development of social organizations cannot be separated from the support and help of the government, and an important responsibility of social organizations is to undertake some public service functions of the government. Thus, an analysis of the mediation and linkage effects between the government governance and social organization participation is necessary in studying the equalization of basic public services.
Additionally, based on the analysis of hypothesis 1, heterogeneity exists in social organization density and quality, which affects the equalization of basic public services. An important reason for the heterogeneity is the different degrees of government guidance regarding the quantity and quality of social organizations. Therefore, the linkage between the government governance capacity and social organization density and quality has heterogeneous effects. The manifestation of this heterogeneity lies in the difference of the linkage effect between the government governance and the participation of social organizations in different types of basic public services. In summary, we present the following research hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2:
The participation of social organizations and the government governance have mediation and linkage effects on the development of basic public services. However, government governance has a heterogeneous effect on social organization density and quality, and different types of basic public services require different provider characteristics.
Based on the two hypotheses, this paper uses System Generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) to analyze the relationship among social organization participation, government governance capacity and the equalization of basic public services. Then, we examine how social organization participation and government governance capacity influence the equalization of basic public services by using the methods of mediation and linkage effects and investigate the heterogeneity in different basic public services. Finally, this paper provides practical guidance for promoting the equalization of basic public services from the perspectives of social organizations and the government.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. The second part introduces the models, variables and data sources; the third part presents the empirical analysis; the fourth part discusses the robustness of the empirical results and the fifth part concludes the paper.
5. Conclusions
This paper empirically explores the relationship among social organization participation, government governance and the equalization of basic public services, and the following conclusions are obtained. (1) The participation of social organizations and improvement in the government governance can significantly promote the equalization of basic public services, and social organization density plays a stronger role than social organization quality. (2) Social organization density is a mediator variable in the effect of the governance capacity promoting the equalization level of basic public services. (3) The linkage effects between indicators of the government governance and social organization participation are heterogeneous, and the linkage effect with social organization density is the strongest. (4) The interaction between the government governance and social organization participation has a positive impact on medical and health care, public education, environmental protection and public culture but a negative and nonsignificant impact on public science and social welfare.
The results of this paper show that encouraging the participation of social organizations is of great significance for achieving the equalization of basic public services in China. To alleviate the pressure of government on the equalization of basic public services, the mediator role of social organizations should be played, especially in the aspects of medical and health care, environmental protection, public culture and public education. However, the participation of social organizations remains inadequate. It is necessary to support the set of social organizations and increase their density and coverage. To promote the development of high-quality basic public services, the existing social organizations should optimize the age structure and academic structure of their employees and the professional quality and strive to achieve precise and professional supply goals. Moreover, to form synergy between the government and social organizations for the equalization of basic public services, the government should construct a good business environment and improve its own administrative efficiency. It is also necessary to allocate fiscal funds efficiently and reasonably, increase financial self-sufficiency, and accelerate the long-term participation of social organizations in the equalization of basic public services by improving the government governance capacity.