經濟感知對民主滿意與支持的影響：網路使用的干擾效果之探討

The Impact of Economic Perceptions on Democratic Satisfaction and Support: The Moderating Impact of Internet Usage

本文旨在探討個人的經濟感知與其對國家民主發展的滿意與支持之影響，以理解個人的經濟感知是否影響個人對國家民主發展的滿意與支持，並進一步理解網路使用是否會干擾此影響。本文使用亞洲民主動態調查第2波、第3波及第4波的數據，並特別針對亞洲四小龍（香港、韓國、新加坡和臺灣）檢驗假設。結果顯示，個人在經濟狀況感知上的經濟差距，不一定會影響個人對國家民主的滿意與支持，而網路使用與經濟感知的交乘作用，不一定會影響亞洲四小龍的民主滿意與支持。研究發現將有助於產官學對於現代化理論在亞洲四小龍在應用上之瞭解，以及政府當局和相關組織為滿足公民需求所做的努力，將有助於提高公民滿意與支持之瞭解。

This article aims to analyze the relationship between individuals’economic perceptions and their satisfaction and support toward a nation’s democratic development to comprehend the impacts of individuals’perceived economic improvement on their satisfaction and support toward national democratic development and to further comprehend whether Internet usage can moderate such impacts. This article examines hypotheses using data from Waves 2-4of the Asian Barometer Survey on the four Asian tigers (Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan). The evidence reveals that the economic gap in perceptions of individual and national economic conditions may not necessarily affect an individual’s level of satisfaction with and support for the nation’s democracy. Internet usage may not necessarily interact with economic perceptions to significantly affect democratic satisfaction and support in the four Asian tigers. The findings provide academics and practitioners with evidence concerning modernization and efforts of government authorities and agencies to meet citizens’needs, which may aid in increasing citizens’satisfaction and support.