Liao, Qinying, et al. "Chinese online communities: Balancing managementcontrol and individual autonomy." Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 2010.

This paper investigates the distinct characteristics of Chinese online communities compared to their U.S. counterparts, hypothesizing that the differences stem from the unique social beliefs and behaviors inherent to Chinese culture. It encompasses three studies: a structured observation of community governance practices across 32 Chinese and American social sites (Study I), a cross-cultural survey involving 208 participants to gauge attitudes towards these practices (Study II), and interviews with 38 Chinese users to understand the balance between management control and individual autonomy within these communities (Study III). The findings not only support the hypothesis but also highlight two critical design implications for social software tailored to the Chinese context.