The influence of media use on different modes of political participation in China: political trust as the mediating factor

ABSTRACT

Studies demonstrate that political trust and media use are important predictors of political participation. In this study, we leverage Asian Barometer Survey data on China to clarify how media use to obtain political information predicts how citizens participate in politics and whether political trust mediates these relationships. This study finds that traditional and new media use have distinct relationships with electoral and non-electoral participation. In addition, trust in local government is negatively related to non-electoral. These findings may demonstrate how media use predicts different modes of participation and the influence of political trust.

KEYWORDS:

• Traditional media
• new media
• political trust
• electoral participation
• non-electoral participation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. We tested the statistical relationship between political efficacy, traditional values, democratic values, and political trust and participation, respectively, using our survey data and found that internal and external political efficacy is not related to the use of traditional media, nor traditional values or democratic values, so political trust is chosen as a mediator in the influence of media use on political participation.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hongna Miao

Hongna Miao is an Associate Professor of Department of Political Science at School of Government, Nanjing University. She received his Ph.D. from the Nanjing University, China. Her research interests are Political psychology and Political Culture. Her publications have appeared in Youth Studies, Journal of Chongqing University (Social Science Edition), Forum of World Economics & Politics, Politics, Culture and Socialization, Journal of Henan University (Social Science), Teaching and Research, Pacific Journal, etc.

Hsin-Che Wu

Hsin-Che Wu, (Corresponding author) is an Associate Professor at School of Political Science and Public Administration, Shandong University. He received his Ph.D. (2013) from the University of Durham, UK. His research interests are China studies, East Asia politics and Democratization. His publications have appeared in Journal of Contemporary China, Asian Survey, Journal of Local Self-Government, Comparative Economic & Social Systems, and Jiangsu Social Science, etc.

Osbern Huang

Osbern Huang completed his Ph.D. at the Department of Political Science, National Taiwan University in 2021. His Ph.D. thesis was on the cultural values which link inequality and democratic support. He has since worked at the Asian Barometer Survey as a research fellow. His research interests include political culture, democratization, democratic consolidation and their interaction with economic development and inequality, with a focus on East Asia and post-communism East Europe region.