Understanding Policy Instruments for Steering Nonprofit Organizations in China: Only Carrots and Sticks?

Government–nonprofit relations in China have transformed over the past three decades. Building on policy instrument theory, this article explores which policy instruments have been used to steer nonprofits at the central level and how the use of policy instruments has changed over time. This article is based on a content analysis of 300 central-level policy documents for nonprofits using NVivo. The results show that 22 kinds of policy instruments have been used to steer nonprofits. A steep upward trend is evident in the use of four categories of policy instruments for nonprofits: authority, incentive, information, and organization. Policy instruments for nonprofits have advanced in diversity, emphasizing indirect control. The central government continues to show a significant predisposition toward regulatory instruments, which have evolved from ex ante regulation to process and ex post regulation. This article contributes to the public management literature by identifying which policy instruments governments use to shape government–nonprofit relations.