Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In an attempt to explore empirical conditions under which on-line deliberation produces ideal outcomes for democracy, this study focused on the efficacy of discussion as an outcome of on-line discussion. ‘Display of social identity cues,’ ‘intervention of moderators in discussion’ and ‘reinforcement of discussion efficacy’ were assumed to function as structural and regulative conditions for producing subsequent outcomes. We argue that these conditions will affect communicator’s efficacy of deliberation as well as the quantity and quality of deliberation. A field experiment was conducted to test of the impacts of the structural and regulative conditions upon political discussion efficacy. We found that the efficacy increased under the conditions of ‘display of social identity cues’ and ‘reinforcement of discussion efficacy.’ The quantity and quality of deliberation also had independent effects on the efficacy. The implications of the findings were discussed in terms of possible contributions of heightened political discussion efficacy for democracy.