Shenzhen University, China.
Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong.
Public Underst Sci. 2024 Nov;33(8):1009-1026. doi: 10.1177/09636625241237927. Epub 2024 Mar 28.
The rise of new media technologies has reshaped the landscape of science communication. There is little research on scientists' outreach participation and its possible predictors in different media contexts. Based on a national survey of 8,533 scientists in China, this study examined multiple direct and personal norm-mediated predictors of scientists' intentions to participate in public outreach via legacy media versus social media. Our findings revealed two consistent direct predictors (past outreach participation and personal norms) and two inconsistent direct predictors (descriptive norms and intrinsic rewards) that are significant only for participating via social media in the Chinese context. Moreover, our findings suggest a significant mediation effect of personal norms on the influence of various social norms (descriptive and subjective) and rewards (intrinsic and extrinsic) on Chinese scientists' intentions to participate in public outreach via media. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
新媒体技术的兴起重塑了科学传播的格局。关于科学家在不同媒体环境中的外展参与及其可能的预测因素，研究甚少。本研究基于对中国 8533 名科学家的全国性调查，考察了多种直接和个人规范中介预测因素对科学家通过传统媒体和社交媒体参与公众外展的意愿的影响。研究结果显示，有两个一致的直接预测因素（过去的外展参与和个人规范）和两个不一致的直接预测因素（描述性规范和内在奖励），仅在中国背景下，这些因素对通过社交媒体参与具有重要意义。此外，研究结果表明，个人规范对各种社会规范（描述性和主观性）和奖励（内在和外在）对中国科学家通过媒体参与公众外展的意愿的影响具有显著的中介作用。讨论了这些发现的理论和实践意义。
