The purpose of Internet usage as a moderator in the relationship between Internet usage and social justice perceptions: a comparative study of China and Malaysia

Background

In the age of post-pandemic Covid-19, people are spending more and more time on the Internet. The number of Chinese Internet users has reached 989 million (70.6% of the total population), and the average daily time of Internet usage has reached 3.7 hours. In Malaysia, there are about 28.7 million Internet users (88.7% of the total population), and 73.8% Internet users spend over 5 hours online (data from IUS 2020). There is no doubt that the access to information has been overturned by Internet, and people can get information more easily, quickly, conveniently than before. However, with the explosive growth of Internet users and the rapid development of new media, many negative influences of Internet occurred, and lots of problems have been taken into concern, such as fake news, information cocoon, the filter bubble, social media and the political campaign, pros and cons of online education, etc. Among them, the amplification effect of Internet is a double-blade sword, the negative aspect of which does harm to the social stability. It is not difficult to see that many new media amplify social problems through ‘shocking titles’, ‘unverified videos’ and ‘provocative contents’ to attract more people for the high yield brought by Internet traffic, which obviously can influence people’s perceptions about the society. So, this study aims to explore the relationship between Internet usage and social justice perceptions, and whether the purpose of Internet usage plays a moderating role.

Statement of Research Problem

Several studies have been conducted to identify the factors that influence social justice perceptions. Theories of distributive justice claim perceptions of justice have a comparative basis, which suggest that the degree to which individuals perceive their earnings as just or unjust depends on the degree to which their earnings differ from those of similar others. Besides, one Scottish survey identifies democratic participation and institutional trust as primary contributors (Carman 2010), while a study for China pinpoints social security and income distribution policies (Sun & Xiao, 2012). In addition, degree of corruption, unemployment, and upward comparison are regarded as the primary generators of perceived injustice (Tao 2015). Correspondingly, relationship between the frequency/purpose of Internet usage and social justice perceptions is paid less attention and few empirical study has been conducted.

In this study, the author aims to clarify the relationship between Internet usage and perceived social justice from a general and a micro perspective:
H1: Frequency of Internet usage is correlated with social justice perceptions.
H1a: Frequency of Internet usage is correlated with social justice perceptions. (general)
H1b: Frequency of Internet usage is correlated with income gap perceptions. (micro)

Further more, according to the theory of use and gratification, the author consider the purpose of Internet usage as a moderator and proposes the hypothesis:
H2: The purpose of Internet usage plays a moderating role in the relationship between Internet usage and social justice perceptions.

Significance of the Study

Positive social justice perceptions serve as a basis for societal stability because perceived social justice affects human thinking, feeling, decision-making, and behavior. However, societal problems, such as wealth disparity, political corruption, and unemployment may have a negative impact on these perceptions, putting the balance between social progress and social stability in a dilemma. Therefore, creating a harmonious society and sustaining long-term economic growth requires a thorough understanding of the antecedents that affect individual social justice perceptions. Internet usage, as a significant infrastructure in the modern society, affect users’ daily lives in many aspects, including positive benefits such as online entertainment (e.g., music, video, and games), online communication (e.g., email, Wechat and Facebook), and easy access to diverse information and online shopping, which may help to reduce depression, maintain social relationships, and save time and money, respectively. On the other hand, negative influences of Internet usage exist, such as decreasing time available for face-to-face interaction and creating addictive behaviors (e.g., gambling, online gaming, and pornography), which are not only harmful to mental health but also increase social isolation. In addition, Internet usage may increase sadness and other negative emotional states. In the digital age, rapid information dissemination via the Internet regularly stimulates individuals to compare themselves with peers both in their immediate area and online, giving the Internet a crucial influence in views of social justice. In conclusion, clarifying the relationship between Internet usage, the purpose of usage and the social justice perceptions is important to provide vital information to policymakers to increase subjective well-being and facilitate social development and social stability.

Literature Review

Referring to the influence of Internet usage, there are several classic literature to identify that Internet usage have impacts on users’ perceptions and lives . (Brenner, 1997) found that Internet use might cause problems about time management, abuse and addiction. (Flanagin & Metzger, 2000) found that people considered Internet information to be as credible as that obtained for television, radio, and magazines, but not as credible as newspaper information. Meanwhile, they rarely verified web-based information, although this too varied by the type of information sought. (Shouten, Valkenburg and Peter, 2007) formed an ‘Internet-attribute-perception’ model and found that adolescents’ perceptions of the relevance of reduced nonverbal cues and controllability encouraged their feelings of dis-inhibition, which in turn increased their online self-disclosure, by using structural equation modeling on a sample of 1,203 Dutch adolescents.

Meanwhile, in the process of retrieving ‘social justice’ relative literature, many scholars use different keywords, mainly including social equity, social fairness, social equality and social justice, to express the similar meaning. In the following part, these 4 keywords represent a similar meaning. Many scholars have tried to identify the antecedents of social justice perceptions from kinds of perspectives. (Zhu, Miao & Li, 2018) pointed that compared with the traditional mass media, the “gatekeeper" effect of the Internet is weaker and therefore users can have more access to information about social inequality. On the one hand, it raises the perceived social inequality, thus reducing macro justice. On the other hand, this will reduce people’s relative deprivation and enhance their micro justice on the basis of downward comparison. (Cartabuke et al, 2019) explored the potential relationship between empathy and social justice, using a multifaceted operationalization of social justice, which includes management actions (corporate social responsibility and socially responsible attitudes) and social sympathies (distributive justice in US society and agreement with the goals of Occupy Wall Street). (Zhu et al, 2020) used Chinese Social Survey data for 6205 geographically distributed rural households to assess the impact of Internet usage on social fairness perceptions (SFPs) among Chinese farmers. And the result shows that Internet usage has a statistically significant and negative impact on farmers SFPs. This paper provides a micro mechanism about the relationship Internet usage and rural people’s SFPs.

Research Methodology

This study will use the quantitative method based on the questionnaire survey. Data in the Chinese part are from 2017 China General Social Survey (CGSS 2017), which is a official national representative continuous survey project run by academic institution in China mainland. To make a comparative study, a questionnaire survey, proposing same questions, would be conducted in Malaysia too. The main data collected from the survey will include:

Control variable: (basic demographic information) gender, age, race, religion, party, education, individual income, family income; (distribute justice perceptions) perceived stratum, perceived economic status

Independent variable: frequency of Internet usage

Moderating variable: purpose of Internet usage - social interaction, self-exhibition, online initiative, entertainment, information access, business activity

Dependent variable: social justice perceptions, income gap perceptions

Data cleansing, correlation/regression analysis and robustness test will be conducted after the data collection. In the end, there will be an interpretation comparative analysis between China and Malaysia.

Reference

Carman, C. (2010). The process is the reality: Perceptions of procedural fairness and participatory democracy. Political Studies_._ 58(4), 731–751.

Sun, F., & Xiao, J. J. (2012). Perceived social policy fairness and subjective wellbeing: Evidence from China. Social Indicators Research_._ 107(1), 171–186.

Tao, H. L. (2015). Multiple earnings comparisons and subjective earnings fairness: A cross-country study. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics_._ 57, 45–54.

V. Brenner. (1997). Psychology of computer use .47. Parameters of Internet use, abuse and addiction: The first 90 days of the Internet usage survey. _Psychological Reports. 80(_3). 879-882

A. J. Flanagin. & M. J. Metzger. (2000). Perceptions of Internet information credibility. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. 77(3). 515-540

A. P. Schouten., P. M. Valkenburg., & J. Peter. (2007). Precursors and underlying processes of adolescents’ online self-disclosure: Developing and testing an “Internet-attribute-perception” model. Media Psychology. 10(2). 292-314

B. Zhu., D. L. Miao., & L. L. Li. (2018). The Internet and Justice perception: A paradox and explanation. Journal of Renmin University of China. (06). 78-89

M. Cartabuke., J. W. Westerman., J. Z. Bergman., B.G. Whitaker., J. Westerman., & R. I. Beekun. (2019). Empathy as an antecedent of social justice attitude and perceptions. Journal of Business Ethics. 157(3). 605-615.

ZK. Zhu., WL. Ma., A. Souza-Poza., & CX. Leng. (2020). The effect of internet usage on perceptions of social fairness: Evidence from rural China. China Economic Review. 62.