Online incivility, argument quality and public expression in China: Exploring the moderating role of education level and opinion congruency

IF 7.6 2区管理学 Q1 INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE

Telematics and Informatics Pub Date : 2023-08-01 DOI:10.1016/j.tele.2023.102010

Chen Min , Fei Shen

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Uncivil comments are prevalent in Chinese cyberspace. Many studies have explored the impacts of online incivility and argument quality on public expression, but very few studies have been conducted in authoritarian societies. We conducted two online experiments with different topics in China. The results showed that after being exposed to uncivil content, people's intentions to make comments online changed depending on their education level and opinion congruency. The less-educated people are more likely to express whereas the well-educated tend to remain silent. Besides, incivility and argument quality can work together to influence public expression. A strong argument with a civil tone can promote people's enthusiasm for expression. But a strong argument with an uncivil tone can decrease people's expression willingness. However, uncivil comments with weak arguments increase less-educated people's willingness to express themselves publicly. Besides, opinion congruency moderates the relationship between argument strength and online expression. But the pattern was contingent upon the nature of the discussion topics.

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中国网络不文明、争论质量与公共表达:教育水平和意见一致性的调节作用

不文明言论在中国的网络空间很普遍。许多研究探讨了网络不文明和争论质量对公众表达的影响，但很少有研究在专制社会中进行。我们在中国进行了两个不同主题的在线实验。研究结果表明，在接触到不文明内容后，人们在网上发表评论的意愿会随着他们的教育水平和意见一致性而改变。受教育程度较低的人更有可能表达，而受过良好教育的人往往保持沉默。此外，不文明和争论质量可以共同影响公众表达。用文明的口吻进行有力的辩论可以提高人们的表达热情。但是，语气不文明的激烈争论会降低人们的表达意愿。然而，带有软弱论据的不文明言论增加了受教育程度较低的人公开表达自己的意愿。此外，意见一致性调节了论点强度与网络表达之间的关系。但这种模式取决于讨论主题的性质。

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

Telematics and Informatics INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE-

CiteScore

17.00

自引率

4.70%

发文量

104

审稿时长

24 days

期刊介绍： Telematics and Informatics is an interdisciplinary journal that publishes cutting-edge theoretical and methodological research exploring the social, economic, geographic, political, and cultural impacts of digital technologies. It covers various application areas, such as smart cities, sensors, information fusion, digital society, IoT, cyber-physical technologies, privacy, knowledge management, distributed work, emergency response, mobile communications, health informatics, social media's psychosocial effects, ICT for sustainable development, blockchain, e-commerce, and e-government.