Living With Digital Government: Effects of Technology Anxiety on Public Support for Policy in China

Living with digital government is less of a technical issue but more of a political process. In political science, one new issue in need of greater theorizing and investigating is public anxiety about the use of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) by digital government which has become an emerging challenge for the country to obtain public support. Employing an online survey in China, we test whether technology anxiety influences public support for policy and examine the mechanisms within them, namely, political persuasion, interaction orientation, and people’s happiness. Survey evidence reveals that technology anxiety exerts a significantly negative effect on public support, especially in flexible employment and service industry. Additionally, technology anxiety indirectly influences public support for policy through the three abovementioned mechanisms, with political persuasion based on algorithm demonstrating the most pronounced mediating role. The findings contribute to understanding the relationship between public anxiety and political support in Chinese context and beyond, and enrich the studies of political psychology and legitimacy.