Abstract

The factors that affect formation and dissemination of public opinion have been studied for a long time. However, the findings are disparate and fragmented, given the characteristics of netizens and new media in the Big Data era. To this end, this article introduces eight mechanisms working on formation and dissemination of public opinion on network. Based on system dynamics, this article further proposes a comprehensive causal relationship model to explore the factors affecting the consequence of public opinion on network. Particularly, the role of government is taken into consideration in this model. A simulation with Vensim PLE is conducted. The results of the simulation indicate that group polarization among netizens, opinion leaders, the quantity of media audience, the frequency of media report, government attention, and warning mechanism for public opinion crisis affect the consequence of public opinion on network significantly. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Highlights

  • Public opinion has been defined as a collection of views regarding an issue that affects many (Corbett, 1991)

  • This article introduces eight mechanisms working on formation and dissemination of public opinion on network

  • The results of the simulation indicate that group polarization among netizens, opinion leaders, the quantity of media audience, the frequency of media report, government attention, and warning mechanism for public opinion crisis affect the consequence of public opinion on network significantly

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Summary

INTRODUCTION

Public opinion has been defined as a collection of views regarding an issue that affects many (Corbett, 1991). Diverse models have been proposed for studying public opinion. Other than proposing models for studying public opinion, scholars have explored the factors that affect public opinion. Ding (2015) explores how public opinion transmission evolved in network via simulation. Scholars have explored the factors that affect formation and dissemination of public opinion on network from diverse perspectives, the findings are disparate and fragmented. To this end, this paper adopts system dynamics and explores the factors affecting the consequence of public opinion on network. We concludes the paper and suggests directions for future research

LITERATURE REVIEW
A COMPREHENSIVE CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP MODEL
A SIMULATION FOR THE PROPOSED MODEL
Findings
CONCLUSION
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