An analysis of online interaction in idea generation for public policies

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Liu, Helen K.

Affiliations: The University of Hong Kong, Room C946, The Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China | Tel.: +86 852 6447 4849; Fax: +86 852 2858 3550; E-mail: helenliu4@gmail.com

Abstract: Many governments now seek ways to generate ideas for public policies through online platforms. Although this concept is promising, further knowledge is needed to understand the factors associated with generating ideas within online communities in a public policy consultation setting. Building on existing theories and empirical findings, we empirically test how online interaction through commenting activities in the Open Government Dialogue might influence the likelihood of proposing accepted ideas. By crawling the interaction and contribution data from the online policy forum, our findings show that proposing accepted ideas is positively correlated with boundary-spanning activities and the receipt of feedback. In particular, for repeat contributors, the likelihood of proposing accepted ideas for government consultation is positively related to prior success but negatively related to the number of ideas posted. These findings provide implications for using commenting functions to facilitate usable and feasible ideas in the online public policy consultation setting.

Keywords: Online participation, online engagement, open government, crowdsourcing

DOI: 10.3233/IP-170411

Journal: Information Polity, vol. 22, no. 2-3, pp. 117-135, 2017