Public Attitude and Opinion Leaders: Mapping Chinese Discussion of EU's Energy Role on Social Media

Li Zhang and Peinan Wang

Journal of Common Market Studies, 2022, vol. 60, issue 6, 1777-1796

Abstract: The EU and China are both pioneers in energy transition and are major energy consumers. However, we know little about the attitude of the Chinese public toward EU's energy role or EU–China energy cooperation. The paper contributes to the study of relationship between agenda‐setting and public opinion in the context of Chinese social media. Using empirical data, it finds that energy cooperation, energy trading, energy politics, and energy technology&service are the four co‐occurrence networks of Chinese public discussion on the topic. Yet the opinion leaders differ on these issues. While verified media accounts are key opinion leaders setting the agenda in EU energy politics and trade issues, in energy technology and service issues, verified individual accounts lead opinions. The study helps understand the role of online opinion leaders in EU–China energy relations and argues that key opinion leaders need to play more active roles in communicating the issues and guiding public discussions.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13350

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:60:y:2022:i:6:p:1777-1796

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0021-9886

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Common Market Studies is currently edited by Jim Rollo and Daniel Wincott

More articles in Journal of Common Market Studies from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().