Analysis of Factors Influencing Residents’ Satisfaction with Pairing Aid Policy in Xinjiang: Based on the Data from Three Prefectures in Southern Xinjiang

Osman YUSAN

Urumqi Vocational University, Urumqi 830001

Abstract This article concentrates on evaluating residents’ satisfaction with the implementation of the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.It introduces the key factors influencing the evaluation of residents’ satisfaction with the performance of the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang by investigating the related data acquired from 12 field studies.It builds a binary logistic regression model via modern econometrics theory and utilizes the regression model to conduct the empirical analysis of influencing factors.The results reveal that there is no variation between the residents’ education level, ethnicity, location, and satisfaction with the work of village cadres on the residents’ evaluation of the implementation effect of the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang.Besides, ten variables such as residents’ gender, age, revenue, occupation, whether they are rural residents, and satisfaction level(pairing aid policy in Xinjiang, state subsidy policy, medical improvement, education improvement, housing condition improvement)are steady and significant factors affecting residents’ satisfaction with the implementation effect of pairing aid policy in Xinjiang.Finally, based on the analysis and findigns, it proposes corresponding countermeasures.

Key words Xinjiang, Pairing aid policy, Satisfaction, Influencing factors, Logistic model

1 Introduction

In March 2010, the State Council of China gathered the leaders of relevant departments to hold a working conference on pairing aid in Xinjiang Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which launched a new round of pairing aid in Xinjiang.In May, the Party Central Committee and the State Council conducted a seminar on the work in Xinjiang, which indicated the two major historical tasks at this step, one was long-term public security, and the other was to fulfill leapfrog development in Xinjiang.However, the economic development of Xinjiang is still restricted by many factors such as the severe natural environment, the multi-ethnic social structure, and the unique historical background.The most prominent factors are the slow construction of social civilization and the large revenue gap between urban and rural areas.Because of the inadequate social security system, challenges in employment and re-employment of the surplus rural labor force and the unemployed urban population, backward public facilities and inferior poverty relief work, and other livelihood issues have turned into a significant livelihood issue.Consequently, the government of Xinjiang should take a new round of pairing aid policy in Xinjiang as an opportunity to actively strengthen the implementation and construction of livelihood projects to advance the living standards and increase the per capita disposable income of people from all over Xinjiang and all ethnic groups.

After a five-year practice, the pairing aid policy has accomplished specific results and laid a stable foundation for Xinjiang’s social stability and leapfrog development.Nevertheless, there are still several difficulties in the implementation of the new round of aid policy.Many scholars have analyzed the performance and problems of the new round of pairing aid policy under field research.For example, Chen Xiaokun and Tang Wuying carried out a questionnaire survey on 15 prefectures in Xinjiang to find out the satisfaction of residents in the recipient regions with the implementation of pairing aid policy in Xinjiang and the work of the local government and conducted an empirical analysis, and reached the conclusion that residents were satisfied with the policy implementation of local government, but were less satisfied with its management concept and clean government, and were commonly satisfied with its service consciousness and law enforcement behavior; furthermore, the residents of the recipient places assumed that the effectiveness of industrial aid to Xinjiang was low, the effectiveness of education aid to Xinjiang was better, the effectiveness of medical aid to Xinjiang was the highest, and the policy of talent aid to Xinjiang has not been put into practice.Based on the field research in Kashgar, Aksu, and Hotan of Xinjiang, we strived to know the implementation of pairing aid programs in Xinjiang and the response of grassroots cadres.For the problems faced in the implementation of pairing aid policy in Xinjiang, such as unclear project mechanism, defective project management, shortage of transparency in project justification, lack of communication and coordination among the aid provinces and cities, shortage of participating departments, duplication of project development, and the inability of projects to absorb the employment of minority youths fully, the corresponding suggestions were proposed.Gu Suna

et

al.

conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the new round of pairing aid policy implemented in Hotan City of Xinjiang by completing a questionnaire survey and utilizing the resident satisfaction measurement method as the starting point.The evaluation results revealed that: in terms of one-way policies, the implementation performance of policies such as education and subsidies had high performance, while the implementation of infrastructure, employment training, agricultural technology training, and medical standards required to be enhanced.Overall, the resident satisfaction with the implementation performance of aid policies in China was in the intermediate to upper level.Gao Zhigang

et

al.

investigated the social public’s evaluation of the economic effects of pairing aid policy in Xinjiang and the local government’s ability to achieve it by conducting questionnaire surveys and character visits to the Altay region in Xinjiang.Eventually, the article indicated that ethnicity, occupation, income level, and regional(urban and rural)differences greatly influenced the economic effect and the evaluation of government policy implementation.Above all, the public possessed a comparatively high overall evaluation of assistance for Xinjiang, and pairing aid policy in Xinjiang was more supportive.Li Dashuang

et

al.

made an empirical analysis of the satisfaction with executing the pairing aid policy in Yumin County, Xinjiang, by a questionnaire survey utilizing cross-tabulation and factor analysis methods.They summarized that: rural residents were more satisfied with the improvement of housing projects, water conservancy facilities, medical care, and education; urban residents were more satisfied with the improvement of transportation, social security, employment, and urban infrastructure; residents of ethnic minorities were less satisfied with the aid effect in Xinjiang; those with low education level were less satisfied with the aid policy.

From the previous research findings, domestic scholars have studied the effect of the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang and residents’ satisfaction by applying quantitative analysis methods.However, no analysis has been executed from the prospect of the factors influencing residents’ satisfaction.In view of this, we focused on the residents’ satisfaction with the effect of the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang and adopted the design principle of the satisfaction index system to create a questionnaire that reached the actual condition.By distributing 1 800 questionnaires to the three prefectures in southern Xinjiang and collating the data, we applied modern econometric theory to compose a multinomial logistic regression model of the factors influencing residents’ satisfaction with the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang.Moreover, we conducted an empirical analysis to discover the key factors affecting residents’ satisfaction with the implementation effect of the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang, so as to present certain reference opinions and recommendations for implementing the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang and the solution of livelihood problems in the future.

2 Variable selection, the construction of model and data

2.1 Selection and definition of variables

In this study, we concentrated on the analysis of factors influencing residents’ satisfaction with the implementation effect of the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang, taking the residents’ satisfaction with the implementation effect of the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang as a dependent variable.At the same time, the individual characteristics of respondents, resident factors, cognitive factors, and objective fact factors were the principal influencing factors that affected residents’ satisfaction with the implementation effect of the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang.In choosing independent variables for this study, the related indicators were largely chosen from these four perspectives to estimate each factor that affected residents’ satisfaction with the implementation effect of the pairing aid policy.

The independent variables chosen from the individual characteristics of the respondents were gender, age, education level, and average annual household revenue of the respondents.The independent variables chosen for the indicators of resident factors were ethnicity, occupation, region, and whether the respondent was a rural resident.Cognitive factors were calculated by residents’ attitudes toward the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang, their satisfaction with the work of village cadres, and their satisfaction with the national subsidy policy.The satisfaction with the objective facts of implementing the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang was calculated by the residents’ satisfaction with the improvement in medical treatment, the satisfaction with the education improvement, and the satisfaction with the housing advancement.

Based on the above analysis, we selected 14 explanatory variables in four broad categories: individual characteristics of the surveyed residents(gender, age, education, household revenue), resident factors(ethnicity, occupation, region, and whether they are rural residents), cognitive factors(trusting attitudes toward the national policy on the pairing aid in Xinjiang, job satisfaction of village cadres, and national subsidy policy), and objective factual factors(perspective of medical, educational, and housing)(Table 1).

Table 1 Variable settings and descriptions of the evaluation model of residents’ satisfaction with the pairing aid policy in the three prefectures in southern Xinjiang

2.2 Selection of an econometric model

The survey data of residents’ satisfaction with the implementation effect of the pairing aid policy were principally categorized as discrete data, which could be separated into five levels(very dissatisfied, dissatisfied, average, satisfied, and very satisfied).The satisfaction dependent variable comprised of five types of discrete values, and the independent variables were also dominated by discrete data, so it is required to use a discrete selection model to investigate such problems.The most common expression in the discrete selection model was to determine the best of two available options.Hence, the dependent variable had only two values and was named a binary choice model.The binary choice model was to analyze the probability that an individual with a given physical characteristic to do a specific and not another choice.Accordingly, this paper’s important factor was the response probability of the dependent variable(

i.e.

, the dependent variable takes 0 or 1):

(1)

where

X

denoted the vector composed of the sample data of all the analytic variables over the sample observation

i

, the vector made by the coefficients.In order to gain insight into the influence probability, the linear probability model can be discussed.That is, it was assumed that the probability on the right-hand side of equation(1)was a linear combination of the independent variable

X

and the coefficient

i

.In other words,

y

=

X

1+

X

2+…+

X

.After mixing the above analysis results and analyzing various factors such as the items themselves,we eventually decided to solve the quantitative calculation of the questionnaire data utilizing a logistic binary regression model to reach the status of each dimension on the explanatory variables.

X

,

X

, …,

X

were treated as a set of multidimensional variables, and

y

designated the amount of variation with the variables in the set.We wrote the satisfaction case as

y

=1, and on the contrary, when dissatisfied,

y

was written as 0.The logistic regression model of satisfaction based on multidimensional variables could be represented as below:

(2)

where

P

designated the probability coefficient for the occurrence of a satisfactory situation equivalent to

y

=1, and

α

represented the randomly generated disturbance during the occurrence of the event.

(3)

Or equivalently:

(4)

2.3 Sample analysis

Quota sampling is a survey of the overall sample according to certain signs of classification or stratification to define the sample amount of each type(layer)of units within the quota of arbitrary sample selection sampling method.In this study, we applied the quota sampling method in three prefectures to carry out a quota survey on the residents of three prefectures(sample size of 100 people)in southern Xinjiang.The survey comprised of four perspectives: individual characteristics, resident factors, cognitive factors, and objective factors.A total of 1 800 questionnaires were distributed in this survey, 1 728 questionnaires were recovered, with the response rate of 96%; meanwhile, there were 1 498 valid questionnaires with an effective rate of 86.68%.In the sample surveyed, the number of males was 833, accounting for 55.6% of the total, and the number of females was 665, accounting for 44.6%; in the distribution of education level, the number of people at primary school and below was 445, accounting for 29.7%, the number of junior high school students was 464, accounting for 31%, the number of high school students was 466, accounting for 31.3%, the number of junior college, college and technical college was 74, accounting for 4.9%, and the number of undergraduates and above was 49, accounting for 3.3%; in the revenue distribution, the number of people below 5 000 yuan was 250, accounting for 16.7%, the number of people between 5 000-10 000 yuan was 326, accounting for 21.8%, the number of people between 10 000-20 000 yuan was 603, accounting for 40.3%, the number of people over 20 000 yuan was 319, accounting for 21.29%; in the distribution of occupational structure, the number of farmers and herdsmen was 844, accounting for 56.3%, the number of civil servants and employees of institutions was 239, accounting for 15.95%, the number of employees of private enterprises was 39, accounting for 2.6%, and the number of other occupations was 376, accounting for 25.1%.In the distribution of ethnic structure, the number of the Uyghurs was 842, accounting for 56.2%, the number of Han people was 391, accounting for 26.1%, and the number of other ethnic groups was 265, accounting for 17.7%.From the above data, it can be observed that there were more males than females in the surveyed sample, the proportion of high school and junior high school in education was higher.Additionally, the revenue was principally between 5 000-20 000 yuan, which was comparatively low and in line with the basic characteristics of the resident groups in southern Xinjiang, and the sample has influential typicality and representativeness.

3 Empirical analysis

3.1 Evaluation of model parameters

With the aid of SPSS 20.0 statistical analysis software, we executed binary logistic regression on the research data of the residents’ satisfaction of three prefectures in southern Xinjiang with the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang.The results of Hosmer and Lemeshow tests explicated that the likelihood ratio chi-square(LR statistic)of the model was 66.33, more prominent than 1% significance level.The log likelihood rate(LR)statistic was 107.488, which indicated that the model fit was satisfactory.The regression results were revealed in Table 2, and the influence direction of the explanatory variables was as expected.

Table 2 Logistic regression results of influencing factors of residents’ satisfaction with pairing aid policy in Xinjiang

From the analysis results, it can be observed that: residents’ education level, ethnicity, region, and satisfaction with the work of village cadres did not have a significant effect on residents’ satisfaction with the implementation effect of the pairing aid policy, and did not reach the 5% significance level, which revealed that there was no distinction in their satisfaction with the implementation effect of the aid policy.Thus, the ten variables of gender, age, revenue, occupation, whether they were rural residents, and residents’ attitudes(pairing aid policy, national subsidy policy, medical improvement, educational perspectives, and housing renovation)were the steady significant factors that influence residents’ satisfaction with the implementation effect of the pairing aid policy.

3.2 Result analysis

(i)The influence of individual characteristics on satisfaction with the policy effect.Among the individual characteristics, gender had a negative influence on residents’ satisfaction with the aid policy, while age and average annual household revenue positively impacted their satisfaction, and the effect of education level was not notable.By assessing whether the relevant results satisfied the coefficient constraints, the test results explained that the effects of residents’ gender, age, and revenue on satisfaction were notable.If the coefficient of the explanatory variable of residents’ gender was negative, it was inversely proportional to the explanatory variable(residents’ satisfaction with the aid policy),

i.e.

, the satisfaction of male residents was lower than female residents.Meanwhile, previously, women from the three prefectures in southern Xinjiang seldom engaged in social activities because of traditional cultural practices and religion, but this phenomenon improved greatly with economic development.If the explanatory variable of residents’ age was positive, the older the local residents were, the higher their satisfaction.When the explanatory variable of residents’ household revenue level was positive, it was also positively proportional to the explanatory variable(residents’ satisfaction with the assistance measures).In the meantime, the higher the household revenue level of residents, the more they appreciated the advantages produced by implementing the measures, the more they accepted the implementation of the assistance measures.(ii)The influence of resident factors on satisfaction with the implementation effect of the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang.Among the resident factors, residents’ occupation and whether they were rural residents harmed the satisfaction of the aid policy, and residents’ ethnicity and region did not have a notable effect on it.By estimating whether the relevant results met the coefficient constraint, the test results indicated that resident occupation and whether or not rural residents significantly influenced residents’ satisfaction with the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang.When the explanatory variable of residents’ occupation was negative, it was inversely proportional to the explanatory variable(residents’ satisfaction with the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang).In other words, the satisfaction of local civil servants and employees of institutions was lower than that of farmers, and the satisfaction of employees of private enterprises was lower than that of civil servants and employees of institutions.This was because the largest beneficiaries of this pairing aid in Xinjiang were the majority of farmers, the medical care, education, and housing in rural areas were much better than before.At the moment, the advancement in cities was lower than that in rural areas, and the revenue of private-sector employees was lower than those of civil servants and institution employees, and their jobs were not well-built.When the coefficient of the explanatory variable of whether or not rural residents was negative, it was inversely proportional to the explanatory variable(residents’ satisfaction with the aid policy),

i.e.

, the satisfaction of local urban residents was lower than that of rural residents.Since this aid policy executed mostly rural infrastructure improvement projects, thus enhancing the quality of life of rural residents.While medical care, education, and transportation in cities originally approached a specific degree, although schools, hospitals, and transportation have been improved after the implementation of the pairing aid policy, the degree of improvement was lower than that in rural areas, so it was challenging for urban residents to observe the significant variations.(iii)The influence of cognitive factors on the satisfaction of the implementation effect of the aid policy in Xinjiang.Among the cognitive factors, the attitude toward the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang and the satisfaction with the national subsidy policy had positive effects on the residents’ satisfaction with the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang, and the satisfaction with the work of village cadres possessed irrelevant effects on the residents’ satisfaction with the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang.Since the irregular work of grassroots organizations in the three prefectures in southern Xinjiang and their comparatively low problem-solving ability, residents had a denial attitude toward local grassroots organizations.By assessing whether the relevant results satisfied the coefficient constraints, the test results determined that the trust in the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang and the satisfaction with the national subsidy policy contributed to the overall satisfaction status at a statistically significant level of 5%.If the explanatory variable of residents’ trust in the aid policy was positive, it was positively proportional to the explanatory variable(residents’ satisfaction with the aid measures).The satisfaction of residents who had trust in the aid policy was higher than residents who had distrust.When the coefficient of the explanatory variable of residents’ satisfaction with the state subsidy policy was positive, it was positively proportional to the explanatory variable(residents’ satisfaction with the aid measures),

i.e.

, residents who were happy with the national subsidy policy were more satisfied than those who are dissatisfied.

(iv)The influence of objective factors on the implementation effect of the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang.Among the degree of satisfaction with the specific implementation perspectives of the pairing aid policy, the degree of satisfaction of residents with the improvement of medical care, education, and housing possessed a positive effect on residents’ satisfaction with the aid policy.By estimating whether the relevant results met the coefficient constraints, the test results determined that medical care, education, and housing had a statistically significant level of contribution to the overall satisfaction status of 5%.Suppose the coefficient of the explanatory variable of residents’ satisfaction with medical perspectives was positive.In that case, it was proportional to the explanatory variable(residents’ satisfaction with the assistance measures).The satisfaction of residents who were satisfied with the medical situation was higher than the satisfaction of residents who were not satisfied with the medical situation.If the coefficient of the explanatory variable of residents’ satisfaction with education was positive, it was positively proportional to the explanatory variable(residents’ satisfaction with assistance measures), and the satisfaction of residents who were satisfied with the level of education was higher than the satisfaction of residents who were dissatisfied with the level of education.Suppose the coefficient of the explanatory variable of residents’ satisfaction concerning housing was positive.In that case, it was positively proportional to the explanatory variable(residents’ satisfaction with assistance measures).The satisfaction of residents who were satisfied with the level of housing was higher than the satisfaction of residents who were dissatisfied with the level of housing.

4 Conclusions and insights

4.1 Conclusions

We investigated the factors influencing residents’ satisfaction with the implementation effect of the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang by choosing research data of fourteen independent variables in four primary categories and setting up logistic multiple regression models, and came to the following conclusions: There was no significant effect of education level among individual characteristics, and the other three independent variables had a significant impact on the degree of satisfaction, and the coefficients of the degree of effect of every variable were-0.584, 0.299, and 2.875, respectively.Among the resident factors, ethnicity and region had no significant effect on them, while the other two independent variables had a significant impact on them, and the coefficients of the influence degree of each variable were-0.467 and-0.61.Among the cognitive factors, satisfaction with the work of village cadres had no significant effect on them.In contrast, the other two factors(attitude toward the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang and attitude toward the national subsidy policy)significantly influenced them, with the coefficients of the respective factors being 1.118 and 1.171.The objective factors all had a significant influence on implementing the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang, and the coefficients of the influencing factors were 1.853, 0.841, and 1.845, respectively.

4.2 Insights

First of all, the propaganda of the pairing aid policy in Xinjiang shall be enhanced.In specific operations, the implementation and effect of the policy depend on the policy understanding by the policymakers, executors, and the masses.In a sense, the level of residents’ awareness of the new round national policy on the pairing aid in Xinjiang determines the actual effects of the policy and whether the residents are satisfied with the policy implementation.Although the national assistance for Xinjiang continues to expand, residents know little about the policies executed by the country during the actual implementation process.Consequently, thus governments at all levels should zealously apply mass media(Internet, TV, radio,

etc.

)to publicize the policy of counterpart support to Xinjiang and expand the influence of the policy so that local residents can more precisely know the content and purpose of the national policy of Xinjiang aid.

Next, it is recommended to actively increase the efficiency of grassroots organizations.Among the influencing factors of residents on the implementation effect of the pairing aid policy, the degree of satisfaction with the work of village cadres is not notable.There are still many insufficiencies in the implementation of aid measures by the grassroots cadres in general.The personal quality of grassroots leaders and cadres broadly determines whether assistance measures can be executed easily.Their unqualified work quality hinders the realization of assistance measures, discredits the public image of grassroots governments and organizations, and lowers the status of the government in the hearts of the public.The survey results show that the most important concerns of the public are: first, the difficulties of the public in getting things done; second, the fairness and impartiality of the choice and appointment of grassroots cadres; third, the increase of farmers’ income.Consequently, grassroots cadres at all levels shall increase their integrity, enhance their personal quality and work efficiency, and truly achieve the responsibilities of a people’s servant, to embark on a path of grassroots cadres leading rural areas out of poverty into wealth.This has a meaningful influence on enhancing the residents’ satisfaction with the implementation effect of the aid policy.