Community identity represents the core essence of community construction and enhancing the residents' community identity through affective governance practices is a crucial element in community construction. Although the role of affective governance in grassroots practices is increasingly prominent, existing research is confined to theoretical proposals or case studies, lacking a comprehensive understanding and an an analysis of the internal mechanisms.

To address this research gap, this study employed a two-stage questionnaire survey, collecting 854 valid samples from 52 representative communities in an East China city. The aim of this study is to examine the mechanism through which emotional governance practices enhance residents' community identity via governance performance expectations.

Through nested samples(community-residents) cross-level mediation analysis, our findings suggest the following: (1) The higher the degree of affective governance in a community, the higher the residents' level of community identity; (2) Residents' expectations of community governance, the performance level of governance, and the discrepancy of performance expectations all positively contribute to enhancing resident community identity, with the direct effect of performance expectation discrepancies being the most significant; (3) Community governance expectations, community governance performance, and the difference between performance and expectations partially mediate the relationship between affective governance and community identity, with governance performance showing the largest mediating effect.

This study reveals the potential mechanisms through which affective governance practices enhance community identity, reinforcing the crucial role of affective governance in community construction. Additionally, the study examines the differentiated moderating mechanisms of the three dimensions of the expectancy-disconfirmation model on the relationship between affective governance and community identity, contributing to advancing the practical guidance of this theory in grassroots governance scenarios.

By delving into the relationship between affective governance and community identity, this research provides theoretical support and practical insights for governance community construction, contributing valuable experiences and insights to further deepen the theoretical framework of grassroots governance.