Report on Chinese Social Opinion and Crisis Management (eBook)

Series Preface 6
Preface 8
China in the Spotlight 8
Current State of Public Opinion Surveys in China 9
Advent of New Media and Emergence of Public Opinion 10
The Public Opinion Research Laboratory of Shanghai Jiao Tong University 11
Conclusion 15
Acknowledgements 16
Contents 18
1 2014 Chinese Social Opinion Survey: Report 20
1 Research Method and Sample Structure 21
2 Residents’ Concern Over Hot Button and Other Issues 23
2.1 Ranking of the Sixteen Hot-Button Issues by Respondent Concern Level 23
2.2 Respondents’ Concern Levels by Issue 25
3 Resident Satisfaction Survey on Hot-Button Issues 28
3.1 Ranking of Residents’ Satisfaction Level by Hot-Button Issue (Nine in Total) 28
3.2 Respondents’ Satisfaction Levels by Issue 29
4 Survey of Resident Expectations with Regard to Hot-Button Issues 32
4.1 Ranking of Nine Hot-Button Issues by Resident Expectations 33
4.2 Respondents’ Expectations in Terms of Various Hot-Button Issues 33
5 Respondent Satisfaction Levels and Expectations Vis-à-Vis Hot-Button Issues Are Related to Satisfaction with Government and Expectations for Political and Economic Trends 36
6 Residents’ Assessments of Spending Power, Propensity to Consume, and the Broader Consumption Environment 40
6.1 Survey of Residents’ Spending Power 41
6.2 Survey of Propensity to Consume 42
6.3 Residents’ Assessments of the Broader Consumption Environment 43
2 2013 Report on Online Public Opinion Incidents 45
1 Public Opinion Map, 2003–2013 46
2 Online Public Opinion Incidents and How They Spread, 2013 52
3 Government Responses to Online Public Opinion Incidents in 2013 60
4 The Rise of WeChat and Changes in the Broadcast Ecology 65
5 Network Governance 68
References 72
3 The Internet Has Changed China: Ten Years of Online Public Opinion Incidents in China, 2003–2012 73
1 The Internet Has Promoted Innovations in the Government’s Philosophy of Public Opinion Management 73
2 The Internet Has Helped to Promote Advances in China’s Legal System 83
3 The Internet Has Changed the Nature of Public Participation and How Government Affairs Are Conducted 92
4 The Internet Has Changed the Lives of These People 101
5 Conclusions 109
References 112
4 Ten Years of Online Public Opinion in China: From Hot Topics to Trend Analysis 113
1 Background 113
2 Study Method 114
3 Key Research Findings 115
3.1 The Number of Public Opinion Incidents Is on the Rise While the “Heat” Levels of Such Incidents Are also on an Upward Trend Over the Years, Albeit with Some Volatility 115
3.2 The Influence of New Media Is also Growing by the Day, Leading to Rapider Dissemination of Public Opinion, While the Advantages Enjoyed by Traditional Media Remain 118
4 Subjects of Public Opinion Incidents Have Improved Overall Response Time, Improved Intervention Capabilities, Achieved Better Intervention Effects 125
5 News Release System Steadily Improving, with Growing Diversity of Release Methods and Channels 132
6 The Impact of Public Opinion on Public Policy Has Grown, with Journalists and Opinion Leaders Playing a Key Role 138
6.1 There Is a Significant Relationship Between Public Opinion and the Corresponding State of Development Across Various Regions, with Differences Present Across Regions in Terms of Public Opinion 143
7 Levels of Attention Paid to Public Opinion Incidents Affected by a Number of Factors, with Factors Different for News Media and We-Media 147
8 Conclusions 158
References 159
5 A Study of How Information Spread During Public Incidents Among Social Media Users 161
1 Research Questions and Hypotheses 162
2 Study Methods 165
2.1 Data 165
2.2 Measurements 165
3 Study Results 167
3.1 Correlation Analysis and Comparison of the Mean 167
3.2 Logistic Regression Model 168
4 Discussion and Conclusion 170
6 The Impact of Sentiments in Weibo Posts on Commenting and Reposting Behavior on the Platform 172
1 Literature Review 172
2 Study Method 173
3 Study Results 174
3.1 Analysis of Sentiment Directionality 174
3.2 Analysis of Relationships Between Intensity of Sentiment Expressed and Other Variables 176
4 Factors that Have an Impact on Repost and Comment Counts on Weibo 183
5 Conclusions and Discussion 184
References 185
7 A Study of the Role of Online Opinion Leaders in Public Incidents 186
1 Stages of Development with Online Opinion Leaders in China 187
2 The Basic Functions that Online Opinion Leaders Serve in China 191
3 The Impact of Online Opinion Leaders in Public Events at Different Stages 193
3.1 Infancy Period: Gathering of Opinion, Drawing of Attention 193
3.2 Incident Proliferation Stage: Fueling Public Opinion 195
3.3 Peak Stage: Creating More Depth in Discussion, Turning Opinion Around 196
4 How to Give Full Play of the Positive Role of Online Opinion Leaders 197
References 199
8 Key Points in the Weibo Information Dissemination Process and Their Causal Mechanism: An Empirical Study of 30 High-Profile Opinion Incidents on Weibo 201
1 Study Background and Research Topic 201
2 Study Design 203
3 Structural Analysis of Key Nodes on Weibo 204
4 Factors Impacting the Influence of Key Nodes 206
5 Findings 209
6 Conclusions and Discussion 212
References 214
9 The Public’s Evaluations of the Government’s Emergency Management Capabilities: Ratings and Determining Factors 216
1 Study Background 216
2 Study Design 218
2.1 Research Question 218
2.2 The Variables 221
2.3 Methodology 221
2.4 The Sample 223
3 Study Results 224
3.1 Comparing the Public’s Ratings for Emergency Management Capabilities of Governments at All Levels and Related Departments 224
3.2 Differences in Evaluations of Emergency Management Capabilities of Governments at All Levels by Demographic Factors 225
3.3 Differences in Evaluations of Emergency Management Capabilities of Governments at All Levels by Preferred Media Source 229
3.4 Differences in Evaluations of Emergency Management Capabilities of Governments at All Levels by Levels of Crisis Awareness 229
3.5 Factors that Affect the Public’s Evaluations of the Central Government’s Emergency Management Capabilities 231
3.6 Relationships Between Respondents’ Ratings for the Emergency Management Capabilities of Various Departments and Their Ratings for Provincial/Municipal and Central Governments 234
4 Recommended Measures 236
References 239
10 A Study of the Relationship Between People’s Level of Satisfaction with Public Services and Sense of Happiness 241
1 Literature Review 242
2 Study Design 245
3 Study Results 246
4 Conclusions 251
References 253
11 A Study of Factors Related to Government Online Information Disclosure Platforms and How They are Rated 255
1 Literature Review 256
1.1 General Studies on the Implementation of Online Government Information Disclosure Platforms 256
1.2 Studies of Online Government Information Disclosure Platforms and Unexpected Incidents 257
1.3 The Public’s Use of Online Government Information Disclosure Platforms and Their Ratings of Such Platforms 258
1.4 Commentary on Related Studies 259
2 Study Design 260
3 Findings 263
3.1 General 263
3.2 Regression Analysis on Factors Related to the Public’s Use of Online Government Information Disclosure Platforms 265
3.3 Regression Analysis on Factors Related to the Public’s Ratings of Online Government Information Disclosure Platforms During Unexpected Incidents 268
4 Conclusions and Discussion 269
References 272
Bibliography 274
Chinese-language Monographs 274
Chinese-language Articles 276
Foreign-language Books and Reports 281