Resident-reported evaluation of Party-Mass Service Centers in China: A cross-sectional analysis of participation and governance context

Party-Mass Service Centers (PMSCs) combine grassroots service delivery, participation, and Party-led community governance, yet little is known about how residents evaluate these institutions. Using a mixed-mode nonprobability survey of 2,688 residents linked to 140 PMSCs in Hanjiang District, Yangzhou, this study conceptualizes resident evaluation as a reported, reference-dependent judgment rather than a direct measure of institutional performance. Evaluation was strongly ceiling-concentrated (M = 4.747, median = 5.000; 63.3% strict top box). Center-clustered OLS showed that, relative to nonparticipants, residents who participated rarely, occasionally, often, or always reported evaluation scores higher by 0.298, 0.370, 0.343, and 0.406 points, respectively (all p < .001). A factor-score model and center-grouped binomial GEE yielded consistent results; adjusted top-box probability rose from 47.8% among nonparticipants to 82.6% among always-participants. Between-center variation was small (ICC = 0.011), and sensitivity analyses did not materially alter the participation pattern. The study contributes by separating reported evaluation from objective performance, showing the robustness of the participation-evaluation association under severe ceiling concentration, and demonstrating how center-aware inference can strengthen resident-centered analysis of grassroots governance. Findings remain associational because the design is cross-sectional and nonprobability-based.