IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i20p13142-d940406.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Internet Use on the Happiness of Chinese Civil Servants: A Mediation Analysis Based on Self-Rated Health

Author

Listed:
  • Mengyuan Sui

    (School of Administration and Law, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410100, China)

  • Haifeng Ding

    (School of Administration and Law, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410100, China)

  • Bo Xu

    (School of Administration and Law, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410100, China)

  • Mingxing Zhou

    (School of Administration and Law, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410100, China)

Abstract

With the rapid socioeconomic development of China, studies related to Internet use and civil servants’ happiness have become a research hotspot in Chinese academia. This study empirically analysed the impact of Internet use on the happiness of Chinese civil servants using a sample of 3793 civil servants in Hunan Province, China. It showed that Internet use significantly enhanced the subjective well-being of Chinese civil servants. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis revealed significant heterogeneity in the effect of the Internet on civil servants’ happiness, which varied across civil service groups with different education and gender. Moreover, the effect of Internet use on the happiness of the male and better educated civil servant groups was more pronounced than in the female and less educated civil servant groups. Additionally, mediation analysis revealed that Internet use and the happiness of civil servants were not linear, with health having a significant mediating effect. This indicates that Internet use helps civil servants maintain good health, and thereby enhances the happiness of civil servants. In addition, we also use a propensity score matching model (PSM) to address the endogeneity problem due to sample selectivity bias. The results show that the estimates are more robust after eliminating sample selectivity bias. The effect of Internet use on civil servants’ subjective well-being would be underestimated if the sample selectivity bias is not removed.

Suggested Citation

  • Mengyuan Sui & Haifeng Ding & Bo Xu & Mingxing Zhou, 2022. "The Impact of Internet Use on the Happiness of Chinese Civil Servants: A Mediation Analysis Based on Self-Rated Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-16, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:20:p:13142-:d:940406
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13142/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13142/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert J. MacCulloch & Rafael Di Tella & Andrew J. Oswald, 2001. "Preferences over Inflation and Unemployment: Evidence from Surveys of Happiness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 335-341, March.
    2. Liqing Li & Haifeng Ding, 2022. "The Relationship between Internet Use and Population Health: A Cross-Sectional Survey in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-17, January.
    3. Claudia Senik, 2009. "Income Distribution and Subjective Happiness: A Survey," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 96, OECD Publishing.
    4. Andrew E. Clark & Paul Frijters & Michael A. Shields, 2008. "Relative Income, Happiness, and Utility: An Explanation for the Easterlin Paradox and Other Puzzles," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(1), pages 95-144, March.
    5. Carlos Salavera & Pablo Usán, 2021. "Relationship between Social Skills and Happiness: Differences by Gender," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-9, July.
    6. Liqing Li & Haifeng Ding & Zihan Li, 2022. "Does Internet Use Impact the Health Status of Middle-Aged and Older Populations? Evidence from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-13, March.
    7. Justin Wolfers, 2003. "Is Business Cycle Volatility Costly? Evidence from Surveys of Subjective Well‐Being," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 1-26, March.
    8. Justina A.V. Fischer, 2009. "Happiness and Age Cycles - Return to Start...?: On the Functional Relationship between Subjective Well-Being and Age," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 99, OECD Publishing.
    9. Brereton, Finbarr & Clinch, J. Peter & Ferreira, Susana, 2008. "Happiness, geography and the environment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 386-396, April.
    10. Lili Li & Yiwu Zeng & Zhonggen Zhang & Changluan Fu, 2020. "The Impact of Internet Use on Health Outcomes of Rural Adults: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-14, September.
    11. Gaëlle Ferrant & Alexandre Kolev & Caroline Tassot, 2017. "The pursuit of happiness: Does gender parity in social institutions matter?," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 337, OECD Publishing.
    12. Dolan, Paul & Peasgood, Tessa & White, Mathew, 2008. "Do we really know what makes us happy A review of the economic literature on the factors associated with subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 94-122, February.
    13. Alex Michalos, 2004. "Social Indicators Research and Health-Related Quality of Life Research," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 27-72, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & George Ward & Femke De Keulenaer & Bert Van Landeghem & Georgios Kavetsos & Michael I. Norton, 2018. "The Asymmetric Experience of Positive and Negative Economic Growth: Global Evidence Using Subjective Well-Being Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(2), pages 362-375, May.
    2. Gregor Gonza & Anže Burger, 2017. "Subjective Well-Being During the 2008 Economic Crisis: Identification of Mediating and Moderating Factors," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1763-1797, December.
    3. Shao-Hsun Keng & Shin-Yi Wu, 2014. "Living Happily Ever After? The Effect of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance on the Happiness of the Elderly," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 783-808, August.
    4. Yan Mei & Nuoyan Lin, 2023. "Internet Use and the Happiness of Rural Residents: The Role of Education and Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-15, February.
    5. Antje Mertens & Miriam Beblo, 2016. "Self-Reported Satisfaction and the Economic Crisis of 2007–2010: Or How People in the UK and Germany Perceive a Severe Cyclical Downturn," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 537-565, January.
    6. Yonas Alem & Gunnar Köhlin, 2014. "The Impact of Food Price Inflation on Subjective Well-being: Evidence From Urban Ethiopia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 116(3), pages 853-868, May.
    7. Blanchflower, David G; Oswald, Andrew, 2011. "International Happiness," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 39, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    8. Christopher Ambrey & Christopher Fleming, 2014. "Life Satisfaction in Australia: Evidence from Ten Years of the HILDA Survey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(2), pages 691-714, January.
    9. Cancho,Cesar A. & Davalos,Maria Eugenia & Sanchez,Carolina, 2015. "Why so gloomy ? perceptions of economic mobility in Europe and Central Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7519, The World Bank.
    10. Andrew E. Clark, 2018. "Four Decades of the Economics of Happiness: Where Next?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(2), pages 245-269, June.
    11. Helliwell, John & Huang, Haifang, 2011. "New measures of the costs of unemployment: Evidence from the subjective well-being of 2.3 million Americans," Working Papers 2011-3, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    12. Alpaslan Akay & Olivier Bargain & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2017. "Home Sweet Home?: Macroeconomic Conditions in Home Countries and the Well-Being of Migrants," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 52(2), pages 351-373.
    13. Bertram, Christine & Rehdanz, Katrin, 2015. "The role of urban green space for human well-being," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 139-152.
    14. Ekaterina Oparina & Sorawoot Srisuma, 2022. "Analyzing Subjective Well-Being Data with Misclassification," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 730-743, April.
    15. Andrew E. Clark & Claudia Senik, 2010. "Will GDP growth increase happiness in developing countries?," PSE Working Papers halshs-00564985, HAL.
    16. Christopher Mackie & Conal Smith, 2015. "Conceptualizing Subjective Well-Being And Its Many Dimensions – Implications For Data Collection In Official Statistics And For Policy Relevance," Statistics in Transition New Series, Polish Statistical Association, vol. 16(3), pages 335-372, September.
    17. Chen, Le-Yu & Oparina, Ekaterina & Powdthavee, Nattavudh & Srisuma, Sorawoot, 2022. "Robust Ranking of Happiness Outcomes: A Median Regression Perspective," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 672-686.
    18. Yingzhu Yang & Lexiang Zhao & Feng Cui, 2022. "How Does Public Health Investment Affect Subjective Well-Being? Empirical Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-19, April.
    19. Alberto Prati, 2024. "The Well‐Being Cost of Inflation Inequalities," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 70(1), pages 213-238, March.
    20. Juncal Cuñado & Fernando Gracia, 2013. "Environment and Happiness: New Evidence for Spain," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 112(3), pages 549-567, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:20:p:13142-:d:940406. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.