Strong-tie discussion, political trust and political participation: A comparative study of mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan

Abstract

This study examined the relationships between social media use, strong-tie discussion, and political participation in three Chinese societies, mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Our findings showed that strong-tie discussion is positively related to collective action participation across the three societies. More importantly, strong-tie discussion mediates the effect of political use of social media on political participation in mainland China and Taiwan, but not in Hong Kong. Furthermore, we explored the moderation role of political trust, finding that it narrows down the participation gap between those who use social media more and those who use less in Hong Kong and Taiwan, while enlarges the participation gap in mainland China. This study contributes to the theory of deliberative and participatory democracy by examining the role of strong tie in Chinese contexts and suggests that strong-tie discussion may exert a more important effect on political participation in a more collectivistic society.