Weibo to the Rescue? A study of social media use in citizen–government relations in China

Vincent Homburg,Rebecca Moody

doi:10.1108/tg-06-2021-0101

Abstract

PurposeIn this study, the authors explain citizens’ adoption of social media in citizen–government relations in China, a country that blends an authoritarian governance regime with limited tolerance of and responsiveness to online citizen participation.Design/methodology/approachOriginal survey data were gathered using a vignette survey among 307 respondents living in the People’s Republic of China. Multivariate analysis of the data was used to test four hypotheses and identify antecedents of Chinese citizens’ social media adoption for “thin” participation purposes.FindingsCitizens’ perceived impact of “thin” participation, citizens’ skills and capabilities and citizens’ trust in institutions are significantly associated with citizens’ social media adoption. Social media anxiety was found not to be associated with Chinese citizens’ social media adoption.Research limitations/implicationsThis study demonstrates how vignettes can be used to study adoption of technological and institutional innovations in an authoritarian governance regime and how in this context existing adoption theories can be extended with notions of institutional trust to adequately explain citizens’ adoption of technological and institutional innovations in citizen–government relations.Social implicationsAlthough some argue that social media activity could potentially mitigate democratic deficits caused by the state, in the case of China, the intertwinement of state and social media platform renders this argument unsustainable.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few systematic survey studies focusing on Chinese citizens’ adoption of social media in citizen–government relations.

Highlights

Throughout the world we find social media platforms being used for online conversations between governments and citizens (Mergel 2013, Feeney, Porumbescu 2020, Silva et al 2019)
Apart from its massive user base (close to 1 billion users of domestic social media platforms, 600.000 Party and government social media accounts (Qin, Strömberg & Wu 2017)), China is of interest because central and local governments have adopted electronic channels for administrative communication for decades (Qin, Strömberg & Wu 2017, Harwit 2014, King, Pan & Roberts 2013); it has been argued that in countries lacking strong democratic institutions, social media platforms may serve as alternative platforms for participation and public accountability (Reuter, Szakonyi 2015, Schlæger, Jiang 2014)
We have tested various hypotheses regarding citizens’ ‘thin’ online political participation efforts on social media platforms in China, a country with a large social media user base, and in which authoritarian rule is blended with encouragement of participation at especially local levels (Schlæger, Jiang 2014)

Summary

Introduction

Throughout the world we find social media platforms being used for online conversations between governments and citizens (Mergel 2013, Feeney, Porumbescu 2020, Silva et al 2019). Apart from its massive user base (close to 1 billion users of domestic social media platforms, 600.000 Party and government social media accounts (Qin, Strömberg & Wu 2017)), China is of interest because central and local governments have adopted electronic channels for administrative communication for decades (Qin, Strömberg & Wu 2017, Harwit 2014, King, Pan & Roberts 2013); it has been argued that in countries lacking strong democratic institutions, social media platforms may serve as alternative platforms for participation and public accountability (Reuter, Szakonyi 2015, Schlæger, Jiang 2014) In this respect, China’s blend of (1) an authoritarian governance regime with relatively low scores on democracy indices (ranked on position 153 out of 167 countries in the Economist’s Democracy Index, and on position 153 out of 163 countries on Transparency International’s corruption index) and (2) encouragement and appreciation of ‘beta-version’ local digital grassroots initiatives (Homburg et al 2020, Schlæger, Jiang 2014, Ma 2013) and (3) government investments in electronic channels and services generally (Zhang, Zhu 2020) make China a relevant point in case. Our aim with this article is to contribute to an explanation of citizen-initiated digital participation in China’s political and societal context by confronting hypotheses derived from innovation theories, political theory and institutional theories with original survey data that was gathered in the People’s Republic of China

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