China’s Public Human Resource Management: Selecting for Fit in Civil Service Examinations

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Daan Wang (City university of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

China’s Public Human Resource Management

Selecting for Fit in Civil Service Examinations

Daan Wang (City university of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

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English

Routledge
25 September 2025

Regional studies; Public administration; Personnel & human resources management

Series: Routledge Advances in Management and Business Studies

How do governments select the right people for public service? This book examines the evolving logic of civil service recruitment in contemporary China, focusing on the balance between fairness, competence, and political loyalty. Through a detailed case study of Shenzhen, it offers rare insights into the workings of a highly standardized selection system.

Spanning policy, practice, and perception, the book explores how China’s civil service examinations function in practice and whether they effectively match candidates with job and organizational requirements. Drawing on interviews with policymakers, examiners, and test designers, as well as a large-scale survey of civil servants, the study introduces a new theoretical concept—person–government fit—to explain hiring practices in state bureaucracies. It traces the historical development of the system, analyzes test content, and evaluates the outcomes of civil service selection using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Shenzhen, one of China’s most innovative and reform-oriented cities, serves as a revealing case to explore broader governance trends in the post-reform era. The book also offers a comparative perspective of the civil service examination in Hong Kong, providing practical lessons and policy improvements.

This book will be valuable for scholars, students, and practitioners in public administration, political science, and Chinese studies. It offers a grounded, empirical look at how state capacity is built from the ground up and provides new tools for understanding recruitment and human resource management in the public sector.

By: Daan Wang (City university of Hong Kong Hong Kong)
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 453g
ISBN: 9781032621197
ISBN 10: 1032621192
Series: Routledge Advances in Management and Business Studies
Pages: 190
Publication Date: 25 September 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Daan Wang is Research Assistant Professor at the Institute for Integrity, Southern University of Science and Technology, China. His research focuses on public administration, digital governance, and public sector human resource management. He has published on co-production, collaborative innovation, and integrity value co-creation in Journal of Contemporary China, Journal of Asian Public Policy, and Global Public Policy and Governance.