Universal service policy in China (II): Case study and institutional variables

• Specific projects of China's rural informatization program are studied.
• China has succeeded, at best, in the supply-side of the rural informatization ecosystem.
• The Chinese model has primarily emphasized the formal side of institutions.
• Various institutional variables are identified.
• The Chinese case invites intellectual and practical inquiries into new horizons.

Our companion paper developed an institutional conceptual framework for the analysis and assessment of China׳s rural informatization regime and projects. Following the conceptual work and based on the case study of specific projects, this paper documents the institutional idiosyncrasies and identifies institutional variables affecting implementation effectiveness in China. If is found that China has fared well in some projects (usually at the construction or technical level) while encountered difficulties in some others (at semantic, service, and even higher levels), due to variance in the enforceability of differing institutional arrangements. China has arguably succeeded, at best, in the supply-side (“access” level) of the rural informatization ecosystem; this is partly because that the Chinese model has emphasized primarily on the formal side of institutions but considerably less so on the informal side. Accordingly, factors contributing to implementation success have, path-dependently, highlighted the functioning of regulative institutions but considerably less so of the normative-cognitive institutions. Policy implications are offered which call for a shift to the demand-side of the rural informatization ecosystem.