Goal reasonableness and grassroots civil servants’ blame-avoidance behavior: Roles of felt accountability and power–responsibility matching

Blame-avoidance behavior in the context of different goal-setting and accountability pressures has become a hot topic in academia. We employed the theory of planned behavior to explore how goal reasonableness affects blame-avoidance behavior in a sample of 394 grassroots civil servants in China. We found a negative relationship between goal reasonableness and grassroots civil servants’ blame-avoidance behavior, with felt accountability acting as a mediator. Further, power–responsibility matching moderated the relationship between goal reasonableness and felt accountability. This study will help to improve the incentive assessment mechanism for grassroots civil servants and motivate them to maintain accountability for their work.