The accountability–blame avoidance nexus: Experimental evidence from public employees in China

Research on blame avoidance of public employees primarily focuses on its reactive nature, referring to justifying failures after they happen, while its anticipatory side has received less attention. Using data from 781 Chinese public employees, this study examines how four accountability features, namely, the number of forums, the type of authority, the initiation source, and the evaluative focus, shape their perceptions of anticipatory blame avoidance. Results indicate that political authority and outcome-focused accountability reduce the perceived likelihood of blame avoidance of public employees, whereas the number of forums and the initiation source have little effect. These findings contribute to the governance and policy literature by demonstrating how accountability features shape public employees’ anticipation of blame avoidance before misconduct.