Grievances, resources, or values? Predicting online citizen-initiated government contacts in China

Abstract

The development of information technology not only allows people to contact government more easily, but also provides researchers with new opportunities to investigate the pattern of interaction between citizens and government. Using data spanning eight years from a Chinese nationwide political forum, we examined how citizens’ government contacting behavior relates to a series of theoretically relevant factors such as resources, social problems, and value systems. The data show a substantial increase in online citizen-initiated contacts in China from 2011 to 2018, with vast regional variation. In addition, we find that resources, social problems, and political value play important roles in explaining citizen contact frequency. More specifically, resource is positively associated with the number of citizen contact; high levels of social problem urge people to contact government; and people from provinces with more intense traditional political value are more likely to contact the government.