Who Speaks Out, Why, and How? The Influence of Hostile Media Perception, Attitude Extremity, and Political Efficacy on Social Media Outspokenness

Social media serves as a vital platform for facilitating dynamic public discourse. Drawing on hostile media perception and social identity theory, this study investigates the independent and combined effects of multiple predictors on individuals’ willingness to express opinions and their preferred modes of expression on social media, with a focus on Hong Kong’s National Flag and National Emblem Ordinance issue. A representative population survey (N = 1,244) revealed that respondents’ perception of hostile bias in Ordinance-related news coverage was positively correlated with their increased engagement in opinion sharing and debate on social media. Furthermore, this relationship was moderated by respondents’ sense of political efficacy, that is, the belief in personal capacity to influence political outcomes, and their attitude extremity, that is, the degree of opinion polarization. Notably, highly polarized individuals showed a marked preference for opinion sharing over opinion debate, especially when coupled with strong political efficacy. Both theoretical contributions and practical implications emerging from the research findings are discussed to advance our understanding of opinion expression dynamics in digital space.