Performance Feedback and Strategic Reporting—Evidence from China’s Government Work Report

Previous research on performance gaming behavior has primarily focused on data manipulation and effort manipulation. This article examines strategic reporting, a broad form of performance gaming in public organizations, by identifying four strategies: text-only reporting, social comparison benchmark shifting, historical comparison benchmark shifting, and absolute level absence. Drawing on theories of bounded rationality and blame avoidance, it investigates how positive and negative performance feedback shape strategic reporting behavior. Using data from Chinese municipal governments (2013–2019), logit model results suggest systematic variation across four strategic reporting strategies. All four strategies are positively associated with negative performance feedback, while all strategies but historical benchmark shifting are negatively associated with positive performance feedback. These findings contribute to the literature on performance gaming and performance feedback, while offering practical implications for strengthening governmental transparency and accountability.