Research on African perceptions of China often lacks a multidimensional framework and fails to systematically integrate the competing influences of media exposure and personal contact. This study addresses this gap by developing and empirically testing a dual-pathway model to examine how information exposure (the mediated path) and personal contact (the experiential path) shape African university students’ multifaceted image of China. An online survey was conducted between December 2022 and March 2023, yielding a valid sample of 817 university students from 42 African countries. The study utilized Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to deconstruct China’s image into four perceptual dimensions (economic partnership, political stance, cultural affinity, and technological prowess), trace their formation to the two antecedent drivers, and assess their impact on overall attitude. The structural model explained 28.6% of the variance in overall attitude toward China. Information exposure positively predicted all four perceptual dimensions, with the strongest impact on cultural affinity. Personal contact predicted all dimensions except political stance, indicating the presence of a “political firewall.” Perceived cultural affinity and technological prowess emerged as the strongest predictors of overall attitude. Mediation analysis revealed that the pathway from information exposure through cultural affinity to overall attitude was the dominant statistical mechanism driving positive perceptions. The findings support a Mediated-Experiential Model where mediated information, particularly through cultivating cultural affinity, is the primary driver of China’s positive image among African youth. The identification of a “political firewall,” in which abstract political perceptions appear resistant to change through interpersonal contact, provides a nuanced understanding of public diplomacy and national image formation in the Global South. The study suggests that a “culture-first” strategy amplified by media is highly effective for building goodwill.
Ou et al. (Wed,) studied this question.