Research on How Internet Political Participation Influences Government Trust in Emergencies Using Mobile Internet Environment as Basis

Abstract

In the mobile network era, governments at all levels realize that after incidents, the attention and participation of Internet users on the incidents through their mobile phones significantly influence political trust. How to deal with the adverse effects of Internet political participation during emergencies has become a focus in academia. This study investigates the effects of Internet political participation on government trust using quantitative analysis methods, including questionnaire survey and data analysis, and explores whether government information disclosure moderates the effects. Results show that after emergencies, the more relevant information the public obtains from mobile Internet, the higher the public assessment on the ability and benevolence dimensions of government trust. However, such information negatively affects assessment on the integrity dimension. In addition, the more political behaviors the public express through mobile Internet, the lower they view the ability dimension. The findings also suggest that government information disclosure positively moderates all the relations. Nevertheless, human interaction with others through mobile Internet is not directly and significantly related to government trust.