Adopting microblogging solutions for interaction with government: survey results from Hunan province, China

Abstract

Authorities in the People’s Republic of China communicate with citizens using an estimated 600,000 Sina Weibo microblogs. This study reports on a study of Chinese citizens’ adoption of microblogs to interact with the government. Adoption results from trust and peer pressure in smaller-network ties (densely knit, pervasive social networks surrounding individual citizens). Larger-network ties (trust in institutions at large, such as the Chinese Communist Party, executive organizations, the judicial system, the media, etc.) are not associated with the adoption of microblogging. Furthermore, higher levels of anxiety are correlated with lower levels of use intention, and this finding underlines the impact of the Chinese authority’s surveillance and control activities on the lives of individual Chinese citizens. Based on these findings, we outline a theory of why citizens use microblogs to interact with the government and suggest avenues for further research into microblogs, state–citizen communication patterns and technology adoption. Points for practitioners Our research identifies trust in individual civil servants, citizens’ anxiety and peer pressure as drivers of Chinese citizens’ intentions to use the Weibo microblogging platform to interact with the Chinese government. This insight allows practitioners to better understand citizens’ drivers and obstacles in the use of social media in state–citizen relations in China.

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

“…Literature also states that social influence, the norms held by one's nearest and dearest, influences citizens' decisions to adopt technology (Homburg et al 2020, Kurfalı et al 2017, Venkatesh et al 2003, Venkatesh, Thong & Xu 2016, Yang et al 2018. This statement was supported in e-services studies (Rana et al 2016, Kurfalı et al 2017, Carter et al 2011 and social media adoption studies (Homburg et al 2020, Al-Debei, Al-Lozi & Papazafeiropoulou 2013. This leads to the formulation of hypothesis 3.…”

“…Thus, Chinese citizens, who are described as relatively wild and outspoken in their online behaviors (Hassid 2012), are individually free to express themselves on social media platforms like Sina Weibo, but collectively, they are chained to a practice of surveillance, censorship and possibly prosecution (King, Pan & Roberts 2013, Meng, Pan & Yang 2017. In Homburg et al's study, anxiety was found to be negatively associated with social media use in China (Homburg et al 2020). This leads to the final hypothesis: H5: The more a citizen experiences social media anxiety in citizen-state relations, the lower the likelihood a citizen uses social media to address concerns or issues in citizen-state relations [social media anxiety].…”

“…Adoption of social media is measured with three items which register the respondents' likeliness of acting the same as the protagonist in the vignette did. All variables were measured using multiple Likert items based on constructs found in existing studies (Homburg et al 2020, Carter, Bélanger 2005, McKnight, Choudhury & Kacmar 2002, Osman et al 1994), yet slightly adapted to fit the context of social media use in Chinese citizen-government relations. All items are reported in Appendix B.…”

“…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; furthermore, 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, Schlaeger, 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, Schlaeger, 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.…”

“@Government There’s a pothole in my street!”: Canadian citizens’ adoption choices of social media use in citizen‐government relations

“…Whereas academic studies have produced explanatory accounts for the relative paucity of social media adoption by governments, citizens' motivations and attitudes towards using social media platforms for interaction with governments have largely gone unnoticed. With few exceptions (Homburg et al 2020;Lu et al 2016), studies have yet to begin to explain why citizens would use social media to initiate conversations with government (Gintova 2019) whereas, arguably, governments' well-intentioned initiatives to foster civic engagement and have actual open dialogues with citizens could benefit from a better understanding of why citizens choose to use social media platforms to initiate conversations with government-or of what it is that discourages citizens to do so (Clarke 2019) This article attempts to fill this gap in the literature and examines what factors explain Canadian citizens' adoption of social media platforms to communicate with Canadian government agencies. On a more societal level, this article aims to provide a solid, empirical background on citizens' motivations and attitudes relating to interaction with government on social media platforms, on which, in a later stage, recommendations and government practices can be based.…”