The applicability of positive information in negative opinion management: An attitude-laden communication perspective

Haixin Ding and Li Xie

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2024, vol. 645, issue C

Abstract: Emergencies are often accompanied by negative public opinion or even public opinion crises. To effectively deal with emergencies, negative opinion management should not be ignored; positive information seems to be a natural opinion control strategy, but its nature and applicability remain to be explored. Based on social judgment theory, the possible negative influence and the applicability of positive information are exposed conceptually. From an attitude-laden communication perspective, opinion evolution with mass communication is modeled. A Java-based Agent-based Modeling approach is applied to conduct extensive simulation experiments. Experiment data-based results indicate that both communication and attitude aspects of positive information are essential, and the strategy has its conditional applicability: under some conditions, the strategy is usually able to effectively achieve its expected effects; under other situations, it may not meet the expectation, or may even produce obviously negative effects; and non-positive information strategies and non-intervention are also management options.

Keywords: Public opinion; Positive information; Innovation diffusion; Opinion dynamics; Attitude; Agent-based modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:645:y:2024:i:c:s0378437124003480

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2024.129839

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