Cumulative electoral participation and procedural differentiation among migrants from authoritarian contexts

Abstract To what extent are procedural evaluations among migrants associated with democratic institutional exposure? This study examines ethnic Korean Chinese migrants (Joseonjok) in South Korea who were raised under China’s authoritarian system yet participate in Korean local elections. Using an original survey with an embedded vignette experiment, the analysis draws on naturally occurring variation in cumulative electoral participation to evaluate its association with procedural evaluations. Individuals reporting higher levels of participation assign more favourable evaluations to participatory and representative decision rules and impose larger penalties on non-participatory procedures. These patterns are observed consistently across measures of legitimacy, fairness, trust, and acceptance. The findings suggest that electoral participation is associated with sharper procedural differentiation among migrants exposed to contrasting institutional contexts, providing insight into how political attitudes may vary across regime environments.