How to Drive the Digital Co-production: An Empirical Study Based on “I Find Mistakes for Government Websites”

Digital co-production is an important way to utilize digital technology to promote citizen co-production efficiently and effectively. The General Office of the State Council of China initiated the platform “I Find Mistakes in Government Websites”, which provides a window to observe citizen co-production in the digital era. Based on the 2023 netizen “mistakes-finding” data released by the platform and the annual data on the supervision of government websites published by the Chinese government website, the study explores the factors that affect citizen co-production in the provision of services. The study finds that there is an imbalance in citizens’ participation among administrative levels, and citizens are more willing to participate in “mistakes-finding” on high-level government websites than on low-level governments, and ministerial-level websites receive a higher level of co-production. Regulatory and assessment mechanisms have a significant negative impact on ministerial websites, but not on provincial, municipal and county websites. The regional culture is an important variable, which significantly and positively influences co-production at the provincial, municipal and county levels. The study reveals that government departments should take the lead in promoting the standardization of government websites, exploring the establishment of a performance-oriented model of citizen co-production, creating a relaxed environment and guiding the public to actively collaborate.