Effects of online citizen participation on legitimacy beliefs in local government. Evidence from a comparative study of online participation platforms in three German municipalities

IF 4.1 1区文学 Q1 COMMUNICATION

Policy and Internet Pub Date : 2023-11-09 DOI:10.1002/poi3.371

Tobias Escher, Bastian Rottinghaus

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract In order to generate legitimacy for policies and political institutions, governments regularly involve citizens in the decision‐making process, increasingly so via the Internet. This research investigates if online participation does indeed impact positively on legitimacy beliefs of those citizens engaging with the process, and which particular aspects of the participation process, the individual participants, and the local context contribute to these changes. Our surveys of participants in almost identical online consultations in three German municipalities show that the participation process and its expected results have a sizeable effect on satisfaction with local political authorities and local regime performance. While most participants report at least slightly more positive perceptions that are mainly output‐oriented, for some engagement with the process leads not to more, but in fact to less legitimacy. We find this to be the case both for those participants who remain silent and for those who participate intensively. Our results also confirm the important role of existing individual resources and context‐related attitudes such as trust in and satisfaction with local (not national) politics. Finally, our analysis shows that online participation is able to enable constructive discussion, deliver useful results, and attract people who would not have participated offline to engage.

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网络公民参与对地方政府合法性信念的影响。来自德国三个城市在线参与平台比较研究的证据

为了使政策和政治制度具有合法性，政府经常让公民参与决策过程，并越来越多地通过互联网进行决策。本研究调查在线参与是否确实对参与过程的公民的合法性信念产生积极影响，以及参与过程的哪些特定方面，个人参与者和当地环境促成了这些变化。我们对三个德国城市几乎相同的在线咨询参与者的调查表明，参与过程及其预期结果对当地政治当局和地方政权表现的满意度有相当大的影响。虽然大多数参与者报告至少有一些积极的看法，主要是产出导向的，但参与这个过程的一些人并没有带来更多的合法性，而实际上是更少的合法性。我们发现，对于那些保持沉默的参与者和那些密集参与的参与者来说，情况都是如此。我们的研究结果也证实了现有的个人资源和与环境相关的态度，如对地方(而不是国家)政治的信任和满意度的重要作用。最后，我们的分析表明，在线参与能够促成建设性的讨论，提供有用的结果，并吸引那些不会在线下参与的人参与进来。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Policy and Internet Multiple-

CiteScore

8.40

自引率

10.20%

发文量

期刊介绍： Understanding public policy in the age of the Internet requires understanding how individuals, organizations, governments and networks behave, and what motivates them in this new environment. Technological innovation and internet-mediated interaction raise both challenges and opportunities for public policy: whether in areas that have received much work already (e.g. digital divides, digital government, and privacy) or newer areas, like regulation of data-intensive technologies and platforms, the rise of precarious labour, and regulatory responses to misinformation and hate speech. We welcome innovative research in areas where the Internet already impacts public policy, where it raises new challenges or dilemmas, or provides opportunities for policy that is smart and equitable. While we welcome perspectives from any academic discipline, we look particularly for insight that can feed into social science disciplines like political science, public administration, economics, sociology, and communication. We welcome articles that introduce methodological innovation, theoretical development, or rigorous data analysis concerning a particular question or problem of public policy.