Effects of Social Influence on Relationships among Citizens’ Expectation Confirmation, Satisfaction and Acceptance under Different Urban Renewal Compensation Modes

Abstract Both public administration researchers and practitioners have realized that citizens’ satisfaction with and acceptance of urban renewal compensation policy are critical for the local authorities to initiate urban renewal projects. However, little is known about the possible effects of social influence from citizens’ peers and referents on their satisfaction and acceptance. This research proposes a theoretical model that hypothesizes the relationships among citizens’ expectation confirmation, satisfaction and acceptance and introduces perceived distributive justice and subjective norms as representations of social influence. Two rounds of questionnaire surveys with a one-month time lag were conducted to collect data for testing the proposed model. Survey data from 314 citizens involved in different urban renewal compensation modes in China show that citizens’ expectation confirmation positively influences citizen satisfaction, which in turn determines the final public acceptance of the policy. The results also highlight the critical roles that perceived distributive justice and subjective norms play in different compensation modes. These findings provide researchers and administrators with theoretical and practical implications.