Governing Credit in the Digital Age: Public Perceptions and Engagement in China's Credit Systems

ABSTRACT There is a global trend toward embedding personal credit systems and their scoring mechanisms within broader governance infrastructures. A prominent and controversial example is China's Social Credit System (SCS), which plays a central role in the country's data‐driven financial and social governance. This study examines how Chinese citizens conceptualize “credit” and “social credit” and to what extent they engage with various personal credit systems, drawing on a large‐scale survey ( N = 5538). Our findings reveal a strong emphasis on the social attribute of both “credit” and “social credit,” with respondents perceiving a close relationship between personal credit and reputation. This perception highlights the growing convergence of financial and reputational metrics. We observe significant variations across systems: participants are most engaged with commercial credit scoring systems, while they exhibit the least engagement with administrative credit rating systems. Notably, income emerges as a strong predictor of engagement, suggesting that wealthier individuals tend to engage more actively with personal credit rating systems and may derive more perceived benefits. This disparity raises the possibility of deepening financial and economic inequalities. By contextualizing China's experience within broader discussions of algorithmic regulation and data‐driven financial systems, this study contributes to the ongoing discourse on digital inequality, algorithmic power, and financial stratification in non‐Western contexts.