The power of relative performance information in competing communications

The public administration literature has long recognized the importance of reference points in interpreting performance information. However, little is known about whether invoking reference points can change citizens’ perceptions of performance in competitive information environments. Across three survey experiments with Chinese respondents, we showed that providing informational cues about China outperforming other countries improve citizens’ ratings of government performance. Moreover, competing information does not balance the positive effects. Findings from an independent experiment refute the likelihood that the treatment effect is an artefact of demand characteristics, thus strengthening the internal validity of our findings.