Digital participation, government responses, and public satisfaction: evidence from environmental appeals in China

Digital governance has reshaped state-society interactions by creating new channels for citizen engagement in environmental affairs. Using 23,655 environment-related message-reply pairs from the People’s Daily Online Local Leaders’ Message Board in China (2020-2022), this study examines government responsiveness and public satisfaction in digital participation. Results show significant temporal fluctuation during COVID-19 and substantial spatial variation across cities. Most appeals focus on local livelihood issues, whereas institutional topics receive less attention. Predictive analysis indicates that satisfaction is associated with city-level context, appeal characteristics, and government response characteristics. City-level factors have the greatest predictive importance, while appeal length, appeal type, response time, and reply length also matter. These findings suggest that satisfaction on digital participation platforms reflects both structural context and interactional features, enriching research on digital participation and government responsiveness.