Which Perceived Opinion Climates Influence the Participation in Online Political Discussions?

Based on the Spiral of Silence theory, we posit that people perceive opinion climates on three different levels: the opinion climate (1) in society, (2) among their friends, and (3) in a specific situation. Based on a three-wave panel survey with two embedded experiments (N = 1,286), we analyze whether these perceived opinion climates influence the participation in online political discussions. Results show that perceptions of the opinion climate in society and among friends do not have an effect. Instead, the perceived situational climate of opinion matters: Individuals in balanced or congruent opinion environments engage more often than those in incongruent environments.