Variation in criteria of examination grades from the perspective of “control rights” theory: An analysis of the grading of history as a subject in the new gaokao

Existing literature on national governance models has focused on the analysis of long-term, stable public organizational processes between different levels of governmental and social organizations. In contemporary China, a considerable part of the organization and implementation process in public services relies on cooperation among different local governmental institutions and social groups. This type of process is characterized by short-termism and instability. This paper uses the perspective of the “control rights” theory to analyze the relationship between the three parties: the principal, management, and the implementation agency in the case of the phenomenon of grading criteria variation in the grading of history as a subject in the gaokao (college-entrance examination) of Province X. This paper shows that although the relationship shows a high degree of correlation, the three parties do not belong to the same bureaucratic organization and lack administrative oversight within the process, which increases the uncertainty in negotiation and maneuvering, resulting in two issues: First, the principal party and management party often have divergent views on targets. With the advantage of controlling incentive distribution, the principal party is able to involve itself in the inspection and evaluation of policy implementation, and therefore maintains the ability to arbitrarily intervene in the process. Second, implementation agency behavior is constantly influenced and modified by feedback from the principal party and the management party, and vice versa. In the process of continuous feedback and adjustment, the three parties gradually reach their own shared understanding of policy implementation that becomes the cause of local variation in grading standards. This paper suggests that unstable public organization process is an important area of study on contemporary Chinese governance. Control rights theory can be further explored as an analytic tool and strategies of various social forces in gaining organizational control should also be investigated in depth.