A Configurational Approach for Local‐Government Policy Reinvention: A Study on Chinese <scp>PPP</scp> Policy

ABSTRACT Policy reinvention is a crucial issue in policy innovation, yet it has garnered little attention from scholars, particularly in the context of China. Focusing on public–private partnership (PPP) policies, this study adopts both qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and necessary condition analysis (NCA) to examine policy reinvention across 36 cities in China. An analytical framework that encompasses government capacity, intergovernmental relations (both vertical and horizontal), and policy attributes is developed to investigate the conditions for policy reinvention. The results identify four equifinal configurations that lead to high‐quality reinvention, with per capita GDP, marketization index, policy attention, and financial support as core conditions. Theoretically, the study enriches the literature on policy reinvention by emphasizing China's hierarchical governance and local adaptability. Practically, it reveals diverse PPP reinvention configurations, offering insights for policymakers to enhance policy adaptation and implementation.