Leveraging social media for new energy vehicle policy diffusion in China: A central-local government interaction analysis

Quande Qin, Zhibin Wen, Zhihao Zhou and Bi Fan

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2025, vol. 195, issue C

Abstract: Social media is increasingly associated with new energy vehicle (NEV) policy diffusion in China. One way to explore how social media and policy diffusion are linked is to review the government posts on different topics of the policy over time. To investigate the diffusion dynamics of NEV policies, this study proposes a central-local government interaction analysis, leveraging the government posts on social media. Dynamic topic model is deployed to unveil the evolving nature and intergovernmental disparities of policy topics. Subsequently, a net directional connectedness model is employed to construct information overflow networks of different policy topics among governments. A comprehensive examination of 5386 text posts is conducted using the proposed method. It is identified that the central government prioritizes guidance policies, emphasizing industry support and global cooperation, while local governments concentrate on specific implementation measures, following a trajectory of infrastructure development, research and development, and tax exemptions. In the policy diffusion network, central government serves as the primary driver of promotional signals, followed by Shanghai, Guangdong and Beijing, while Chongqing acts as a key recipient. Simultaneously, successful local implementation can feed back experiential knowledge to central policy, constituting a dual-directional diffusion mechanism of NEV policies between the central and local governments. These findings offer valuable insights into the understanding and diffusion of NEV policy in the digital era, revealing the complex interactions across diverse regions and administrative levels.

Keywords: New Energy Vehicle; Policy Diffusion; Central-Local Government Interaction; Social Media Analysis; Dynamic Topic Model; Net Directional Connectedness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856425000874
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:transa:v:195:y:2025:i:c:s0965856425000874

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2025.104459

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice is currently edited by John (J.M.) Rose

More articles in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().