Analysis of Influencing Factors of Public Participation in Social and

Public Affairs Discussion in Network Environment

Fuyan Hong

and Jiaqi Li

Harbin University of Commerce, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Keywords: Public Affairs, Public.

Abstract: With the development of information technology, information media has penetrated deeply into the work and

life of the public. The rapid development of digital government is promoted by the enhancement of

information technology, which provides the public with a more convenient platform to participate in the

management of public affairs and accelerates the process of social democratization, and also helps to improve

the efficiency of the government's public administration and make its work more convenient for the public.

This paper uses questionnaires to collect the attitudes of different social groups towards participation in public

affairs through the Internet, analyses the relevance of different factors on citizens' participation in public

affairs, and proposes relevant suggestions for optimising each influencing factor.

1 INTRODUCTION

Public participation in public affairs through the

internet refers to the public's access to information

and expression of opinions on public affairs through

third-party platforms such as WeChat and Weibo, as

well as their monitoring of the work carried out by

public administration subjects through the internet

and their expression of will to influence the direction

of their decisions. Social affairs is often defined as

public affairs, including government social

administration and public service social affairs, and

involves the work of social welfare, social assistance,

and other social service organisations. It covers social

and public services in science and technology,

education, culture, health and sports, and many other

aspects of the public's daily life.

The use of network media affects the behavior of

the public to participate in social public affair. (Fang

2013) Compared to the public's participation in the

management of public affairs online, the lack of

access to offline channels for the public to express

their views on public affairs and the limited ways in

which they can be discussed have to a certain extent

affected the public's initiative to participate in public

affairs through the Internet. The availability of a large

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2743-9326

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8745-1215

number of professionals, the rapid development of

online information technology and the strengthening

of the popularity of social networks have not only

greatly affected the public's daily life and access to

information, but have also provided an efficient

platform and equal opportunities for the public to

participate in national public administration .This has

greatly reduced the barriers to and costs of public

participation in public administration, making it

increasingly easy for the public to participate in the

management of social and public affairs. As a result,

the internet has become an important means of

dialogue and information exchange between the

public and the government, greatly increasing the

level of public participation in public affairs and

improving the efficiency of government management

and the quality of public services.

Although the rapid development of online

technology has provided the public with convenient

opportunities to discuss public affairs, the level of

public participation still varies greatly. The quality

and efficiency of overall public administration is

affected by the public's ability to participate actively

in public affairs through the Internet, and it is

therefore important to analyse the factors that

influence public participation in public affairs

discussions in the online environment.

250

Hong, F. and Li, J.

Analysis of Inﬂuencing Factors of Public Participation in Social and Public Affairs Discussion in Network Environment.

DOI: 10.5220/0012072900003624

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Public Management and Big Data Analysis (PMBDA 2022), pages 250-255

ISBN: 978-989-758-658-3

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

2 STUDY DESIGN

The data for this paper was collected through

questionnaires, designed on the Questionnaire Star

platform and formally placed through the WeChat

platform, with a total of 437 questionnaires, of which

437 were valid. A research model of the factors

influencing public participation in social and public

affairs through the Internet was constructed from four

dimensions: public willingness to participate,

subjective norms, perceived ease of use and

information sources. The model examines the

correlation between the above four dimensions and

the themes in the process of public participation

through the Internet for different levels of society.

Willingness to participate --- refers to the public's

driven behaviour to participate in public affairs

discussions via the Internet, including the subjective

tendency to browse relevant policy news, actively

participate in current affairs discussions, and

participate in the evaluation and monitoring of public

affairs in the community.

Subjective norms - refer to whether the public is

influenced by other aspects of public affairs

participation through the internet, such as whether

acquaintances, friends or the frequency of

information posted online motivate the public to

participate in public affairs.

Perceived ease of use - refers to the convenience

of the website and the ease of access to information,

such as the popularity of the website, as perceived by

the public in the process of participating in public

affairs via the internet.

Source of information - refers to the extent to

which the public's judgement of the credibility of the

source of information, etc., influences their behaviour

in the process of participating in public affairs via the

internet.

3 ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH

FINDINGS

3.1 Basic Information About the

Sample

The software uses spss version 24.0 to implement the

frequency analysis process.

Table 1: Frequency analysis of demographic variables.

Variables Options Number of times Percentage

Avera

Standard

deviation

Gender

Male 115 26%

1.74 0.44

Female 322 74%

Age

18-29 119 27%

2.37 1.06

30-39 114 26%

40-49 130 30%

50-65 74 17%

Education

Lower secondary

and below

75 17%

3.05 1.25

h School 72 17%

Specialties 77 18%

Undergraduate 182 42%

Postgraduate

students

31 7%

Living

Cities

Mega Cit

78 18%

2.95 1.13

Big Cities 43 10%

Medium-sized

cities

149 34%

Small towns 156 36%

Rural areas 11 3%

Political

affiliation

Communist Party

membe

121 28%

2.95 1.27

Group members 96 22%

The Crow

220 50%

Analysis of Inﬂuencing Factors of Public Participation in Social and Public Affairs Discussion in Network Environment

251

The numerical characteristics of the demographic

variables can be seen based on the results of the above

analysis, reflecting the distribution of the respondents

to this survey. Based on the results of the frequency

analysis of each variable it can be seen that the

questionnaire contains different strata of social

groups and that the distribution basically meets the

requirements of the sample.

The number of valid questionnaires for this

research was 437, 115 (26%) for men and 322 (74%)

for women. (As shown in the table above)

In terms of age distribution, according to the

actual questionnaire, the number of participating

members of the public was 119 (27%) for young

people, 114 (26%) for middle-aged people, 130 (30%)

for middle-aged people and 74 (17%) for middle-

aged and elderly people.

In terms of educational distribution, according to

the actual situation of the questionnaire, among the

public who participated in the research, the number

of junior high school and below was 75, accounting

for 17%; the number of high school (including

secondary school and technical school) was 72,

accounting for 17%; the number of specialist was 77,

accounting for 18%; the number of undergraduate

was 182, accounting for 42%; and the number of

postgraduate was 31, accounting for 7%.

In terms of the distribution of the cities in which

they live, according to the actual questionnaire, 78

people 18% participated in the study, 78 in mega-

cities, 43 in large cities 10%, 149 in medium-sized

cities 34%, 156 in small towns 36% and 11 in rural

areas 3%.

In terms of the distribution of different political

profiles, according to the actual situation of the

questionnaire, the number of publics participating in

the research was 121 (28%) who were members of

the Communist Party, 96 (22%) who were members

of the league, and 220 (50%) who were members of

the public.

3.2 Reliability and Validity Analysis

3.2.1 Reliability Test

Reliability analysis, also known as reliability analysis,

refers to the consistency of the results obtained when

the same method is used to measure the reliability of

the sample's responses, i.e. whether the sample has

truly answered the scale type questions. This paper

uses SPSS 24.0 to analyse the reliability of the

questionnaire data, using the Cronbach's Alpha (α)

coefficient, which is commonly used in academic

research, as an indicator of reliability, with a

reliability coefficient preferably above 0.7, indicating

that the scale data are usable, and if the Cronbach's

alpha coefficient is below 0.6, a new questionnaire

should be considered.

The reliability analysis of the questionnaire in this

paper was carried out through spss 24.0 version:

Table 2: Questionnaire Standardised Reliability Analysis

Form.

Variables

Observed

variables

Alph

Willingness to

articipate

Questions 6-10 0.934

Sub

ective norms Questions 11-14 0.916

Perceived ease of use Questions 15-17 0.742

Information sources Questions 18-20 0.813

Summary table 0.941

The analysis table shows that the alpha values for

all dimensional variables are all greater than 0.7 or

more, indicating a high degree of internal uniformity

in the structural scalar. The standardised reliability

coefficient of the total scale is 0.941. The range of the

reliability coefficient is between 0 and 1, and the

closer it is to 1, the higher the reliability. The results

of the analysis of this scale are 0.941, and the

reliability coefficient is very reliable.

3.2.2 Validity Analysis

Validity analysis is used to measure the validity and

correctness of data. A higher validity indicates that

the results of the questionnaire are true and valid. The

validity analysis mainly adopts factor analysis, which

is divided into exploratory factor analysis and

confirmatory factor analysis. This model mainly

adopts exploratory factor analysis (EFA), which is

mainly to find out the number of factors affecting the

observed variables and the degree of correlation

between each factor and each observed variable, so as

to reveal the internal structure of a relatively large set

of variables. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test

and Bartlett's test of sphericity are the two main

indicators used for validity analysis.

The validity analysis of the questionnaire in this

paper was achieved through spss version 24.0, an

exploratory factor analysis approach to the testing

process.

Table 3: KMO values and Bartlett's sphericity test.

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test for sampling

suitabilit

.931

Bartlett

The last s

uare card rea

5460.089

df 136

nificance .000

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252

Based on the results of the above exploratory

factor analysis, it can be seen that the coefficient

result of the KMO test is 0.931. The coefficient of the

KMO test takes values in the range of 0-1, and the

closer to 1 means that the validity of the questionnaire

is better.

Based on the significance of the sphericity test it

is also evident that the significance of this test is

infinitely close to 0, reaching the level of significance

and rejecting the original hypothesis. This indicates

that the sample data of the study is highly correlated

and that the data of the observed variables in the

questionnaire have high validity.

3.2.3 Relevance Analysis

Table 4: Correlation analysis between dimensions.

Variabl

Releva

nce

Willing

ness to

particip

ate

Subjec

tive

norms

Percei

ved

ease

of use

Informa

tion

sources

Willing

ness to

particip

ate

Pearso

Subjecti

norms

Pearso

.812** 1

Perceiv

ed ease

of use

Pearso

.461** .600** 1

Informa

tion

sources

Pearso

.540** .626**

.584*

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).

Based on the results of the correlation analysis

above, it can be seen that each variable is

significantly correlated at the 99% significance level

and the correlation coefficients are all greater than

zero, so they are all positively correlated.

For example, the correlation coefficient between

subjective norms and willingness to participate is

0.812, which is a positive correlation. By analogy this

can explain the correlation between all other variables.

4 CONCLUSION AND

DISCUSSION

Based on the above experimental hypothesis, it is

concluded that the public's willingness to participate,

subjective norms, perceived ease of use and

information sources are positively related to each

other and to the public's participation in public affairs

through the Internet, Therefore, it is proved that these

variables are closely related to each other, and

reasonable planning of the above factors can

effectively guide the public to participate in social

affairs through reasonable channels. By improving

the four relevant dimensions of the questionnaire

survey (participation intention, subjective norms,

perceived ease of use, and information sources), the

enthusiasm and initiative of citizens to participate in

public policies through the network can be optimized

and the following optimization path is proposed

based on the results of the model analysis.

4.1 Increase Public Willingness to

Participate and Promote Active

Public Participation

Public participation in the management and

discussion of public affairs is positively correlated

with the public's willingness to participate, indicating

that the public's willingness to participate in public

affairs through the Internet is influenced by the

process of participation. At this stage, the number of

citizens who can voluntarily and actively participate

in the discussion and management of public affairs

via the internet is low, including some who participate

blindly. In the current context, the overall

effectiveness of public participation will be

influenced by the values and qualities of those who

are in charge of public administration (Gao 2021).

The public's awareness of public participation in

public affairs is weak, and the influence of the

government's role in traditional public management

has not yet been eliminated, with most of the public

holding a wait-and-see attitude towards public affairs,

believing that whether or not they participate in

public affairs will have no significant impact on their

own interests. Muhammad et al. demonstrate that

behavioural attitudes and perceived behavioural

control have a positive impact on behavioural

intentions, and that behavioural intentions have a

positive impact on actual behaviour, based on rational

behaviour theory (Muhammad 2011).

In order to increase the public's willingness to

participate and to guide the public to participate in the

management of public affairs in society, it is

necessary to enhance the public's understanding of

their rights, responsibilities and obligations, and to

raise the citizens' awareness of participation.

Community public activities can strengthen public

participation and make the public understand that the

operation of public affairs is related to the citizens'

own interests. For example, the public has the right to

demand that the government ensure that relevant

prices are stable and reasonable, the public has the

right to demand that the government provide

Analysis of Inﬂuencing Factors of Public Participation in Social and Public Affairs Discussion in Network Environment

253

guarantees for the soundness of public facilities, the

public has the right to demand that the government

protect the public environment, etc.

In addition to

strengthening the efficiency of the government, it is

also conducive to safeguarding the fundamental

interests of the broad masses of the people and

strengthening citizens' awareness of exercising their

own rights and interests. Therefore, we must

extensively mobilize and rely on the masses to raise

citizens' awareness of participation and expand

residents' participation so as to gather the wisdom and

strength of the whole society.

4.2 Increase Social and Cultural

Awareness and Improve the Impact

of the Community Atmosphere

Public participation in the management and

discussion of public affairs is positively correlated

with the subjective norms of the public, indicating

that the process of public participation in public

affairs through the Internet will be influenced by its

aspects, such as the social environment, network

environment, school education, etc. Due to the

influence of individual factors of social members,

there are certain differences in the quality of

information, understanding ability and the realization

of policy goals. As a result, the actual ability of

citizens to participate in public management is

inconsistent with the participation standards, and the

participation efficiency is relatively low. On this basis,

the influence of the environment of citizens on their

participation in public affairs plays a very important

role. If the community where citizens live does not

pay attention to such events, and there are behaviors

such as inadequate political publicity, inadequate

establishment of community political activities, and

opaque and open community activities involving the

political field, the enthusiasm of citizens to

participate in public affairs will be greatly affected.

To give full play to the supporting role of science

and technology and to make good use of the new

generation of information technology represented by

the Internet, big data and artificial intelligence, etc.,

to continuously strengthen and innovate social

governance should strengthen the social environment.

The community can strengthen citizens' awareness of

public morality and ethics through lectures and

seminars, build a good social environment,

strengthen the general social environment for the

public's independent behaviour, use advanced social

governance models to improve the public's

enthusiasm and initiative to participate in the

management of public affairs, and lead by example,

constantly promote reform in the field of social public

governance, so as to improve the effectiveness of

public participation in the management of public

affairs. Master the basic skills of using the Internet,

learn to collect social opinion on the Internet,

understand the thoughts and expectations of netizens,

and let social governance in the Internet era resonate

with the concerns of netizens.

4.3 Improve the Information

Transmission Mechanism and

Build a Bridge for Citizen

Participation

Public participation in the management and

discussion of public affairs is positively correlated

with perceived ease of use, indicating that public

participation in public affairs via the internet is

influenced by the ease of use of websites and the

extent of information coverage on the internet. The

construction of government information network not

only greatly improves the efficiency and

effectiveness of government work, but also provides

good services for the society and plays a good role in

the network release of government information.

However, the function of the information released by

some government websites is still not fully developed,

the content of the government website is limited, the

long-term update is not updated, has lost the function

of the information carrier. The fact that some

members of the public are willing to participate in

public affairs and activities, but do not have access to

such content, suggests that there are currently poor

online information delivery channels and

inconvenient access to online information for public

participation.

Firstly, residents should be made fully aware of

the channels for participating in online public affairs.

For example, community bulletin boards, community

public numbers and community WeChat groups can

be used to publish information on digital government

APPs, relevant public numbers and websites in order

to improve the channels for public participation in

online public affairs, so that residents can understand

how to participate and how to take part in online

public affairs discussions.

The government website is

the window for the government to face the society

and the channel for the public to interact with the

government. It is of great significance for promoting

the openness of government affairs, accepting public

supervision and fully performing government

functions. We will strive to make government

websites an important window for the openness of

government affairs and an important platform for

PMBDA 2022 - International Conference on Public Management and Big Data Analysis

254

government service and efficiency. It is also

important to strengthen the design of online platforms

so that older public groups have access to more

concise and easy-to-understand online platforms,

thereby strengthening the initiative of public online

participation in public affairs for all age groups.

4.4 Strengthening the Regulation of the

Online Environment and

Optimising the Sources of

Information on Government

Affairs

Public participation in the management and

discussion of public affairs is positively correlated

with the source of information, suggesting that the

credibility of information sources in the process of

public affairs through the internet can have an impact

on public participation. With the rapid development

of online information technology, users are often

troubled by unofficial websites pushing untrue

information in the current state of the internet. This

makes it impossible for the public to distinguish the

authenticity of information provided by real websites,

thus reducing the public's motivation to participate in

online information discussions.

Therefore, public management subjects need to

provide a safe and reliable official online platform to

the public to eliminate information distortion caused

by the secondary transmission of information. When

Fang Fujian et al. studied the behaviour of internet

users in online public opinion, they believed that one-

sided information or one-sided understanding of

information would have a negative impact on the

public's public opinion participation behaviour (Fang

2010). Publish official government-run websites and

evaluate and screen information on the online

environment. From the perspective of government

information construction leadership, the government

should coordinate and promote the sharing of

government data at the open level of government

affairs, strive to break the old concept of "private

departments" of government affairs data, establish

the new concept of "public" and "shared value-

added" of government affairs data, and continue to

strengthen the learning and publicity of relevant

policies on the sharing and application of government

affairs big data. We will guide all departments to fully

understand the purpose and significance of this work,

include the sharing and application of government big

data in the government performance assessment, hold

"inaction" accountable, and form a mechanism to

effectively enhance cross-departmental and cross-

level collaboration. Strengthen and improve laws and

regulations on online governance to effectively

punish the act of distributing false information.

Strengthen the self-regulatory management of the

media industry, and improve the professional ethics

and social responsibility of relevant editors through

the unified management of relevant industry

associations. In order to increase citizens' enthusiasm

for participating in public administration activities,

the public sector should, in addition to safeguarding

the interests of the public and the public. The public

sector should not only reduce interference in citizens'

participation under the normal order of its own

management, but also start from the perspective of

the public masses' interests, comprehensively deal

with various problems in the public masses'

participation in public management, and actively

respond to the ideas and opinions put forward by the

public masses and implement them one by one

(Huang 2021). Optimise the sources of information

on citizens' participation in public affairs through the

above means, so as to increase the public's The

initiative to participate in public affairs through the

network channel.

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