Mainframes and mandarins: The impact of internet use on institutional trust in East Asia

Yi-Hui Christine Huang, Yuanhang Lu*, Lang Kao, Christine Hiu Ying Choy, Yu-tzung Chang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The roles of contextual determinants such as culture and political regime in existing studies of Internet use and institutional trust remain underexplored. Adopting a cultural-institutional perspective, we ask: How does Internet use relate to institutional trust? Under what conditions is the impact of Internet use on institutional trust most potent? Do authoritarian orientation and perceived institutional responsiveness mediate the relationship? Is this mediating process moderated by the degree of democratic freedom? A total of 20,667 respondents from 14 East Asian countries/territories completed questionnaires. Our results show that the indirect effect of Internet use on institutional trust via authoritarian orientation was stronger for countries/territories with a low degree of democratic freedom, while the indirect effect of Internet use on institutional trust via perceived institutional responsiveness was stronger for countries/territories with a higher degree of democratic freedom.
Original languageEnglish
Article number101912
Number of pages18
JournalTelecommunications Policy
Volume44
Issue number2
Early online date7 Feb 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2020

User-Defined Keywords

  • Internet use
  • Institutional trust
  • Authoritarian orientation
  • Institutional responsiveness

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