Individual Traits and the Leap from Personal Experience to General Attitude Formation: Evidence from China’s Healthcare Service

Abstract

Personal experience is directly relevant to the development of recognition or attitudes. Unlike most previous studies that have treated people as identical objects, this study extends the current knowledge of the influence of personal experience on attitude formation by incorporating individual traits. Using a large-scale household survey dataset from China, we empirically tests the hypothesized relationships among personal experience, individual traits and attitude formation, particularly examining the interactive effects between personal experience and individual traits (measured with self-reported health status in this study). The empirical results reaffirm that either personal experience of or satisfaction with public service greatly influences citizens’ general attitudes toward government. Individuals with better health status tend to show more positive attitudes toward government than individuals with poorer health status. More importantly, self-reported health status moderates the relationship between personal service experience and general attitudes toward government: the relationship is stronger for those who report poorer heath status.

Keywords: Personal Experience; Individual Traits; Attitude Formation; Moderating Effects