Influence model of economic development on collective morality from the perspective of social media big data

Abstract

Morality refers to the consistent customs and habits or some behavioural tendencies within a social group; it is not only a psychological characteristic but also an ideology. Furthermore, cultivating good collective morality contributes to national governance and social stability. Previous studies have revealed that morality is greatly influenced by economic factors, but the relationship between these economic factors and morality has always been controversial. In the field of social science, some scholars believe that economic factors and morality promote each other and develop together. However, other researchers believe that economic development is not conducive to morality. Previous studies indicate that research on moral values at the domestic and global levels is still scattered and especially lacks empirical mathematical research. This paper employs the big data analysis method to explore the relationship between economic development and moral values; further, this study also explores the influence model of economic development on morality. To examine the long-term impact of economic development on moral values, this study collected and utilised regional economic indicators and social media big data from 31 provincial regions in mainland China between 2011 and 2017. Through the analysis and calculation of the big data of social media, this study established the degree to which people in different regions attach importance to certain aspects of morality. Moreover, the economic indicators used in this study include (gross domestic product) GDP per capita, which represents the economic level of a region, and the GDP index, which measures the developmental speed of a region. This study first tested the correlation between the variables and then employed the PROCESS macro programme compiled by Hayes for SPSS to test the relationship between the regional GDP index, GDP per capita and collective moral values. The results reveal that the GDP index and moral values have a significant negative correlation; this relationship is mainly reflected in these moral dimensions, such as care ( β =−0.58, t =−10.16, P β =−0.65, t =−12.69, P β =−0.30, t =−4.29, P β =−0.65, t =−6.20, P β =0.14, t =2.68, P Furthermore, economic growth may be beneficial to moral development, but rapid economic development may damage collective morality. The negative impacts may be caused by the economic development of imbalance and inadequacy and people’s inadaptability to sudden changes in their way of living. Therefore, moral development should be considered in economic development. On the one hand, the speed of development should be controlled, and on the other hand, the gap between the rich and the poor should be reduced. Through big data analysis, this study tested the relationship between two types of economic indicators (the GDP index and GDP per capita) and the value of diversified morality. The influence model of economic development was employed to preliminarily reveal the impact of economic development on morality from a detailed perspective and to provide theoretical scientific support for the establishment of benign collective morality.