The Micro-Politics of “Party Building into Articles of Association” in Non-State-Owned Enterprises: Evidence from China

Strengthening party building in non-state-owned enterprises (NSOEs) is a critical task to support economic and social development in the new era of China. Through the quasi-natural event of “the Communist Party of China’s Party Building into Articles of Association” (PBAA) of the 2018 Code of Corporate Governance for Listed Companies in China, this paper examines the mechanism of the institutional change of party building in China’s NSOEs from the perspective of “micro-politics”. The results show that local government is not the only actor driving institutional change in PBAA in NSOEs; local government, majority shareholders, and other groupings of actors all play a part in this game acting around their own goals and interests, more realistically manifested as a series of micro-political processes. Further, it is found that PBAA in most NSOEs is a strategic catering behavior.