Although several studies have used sentiment analysis to examine social media content, relatively few have complemented this work with sociological theories. This study employed the diffusion of innovation (DOI) framework to provide a deeper understanding of the recent debate on whether women in Saudi Arabia should be granted the right to drive. The outlook of proponents and opponents was considered by using detailed Arabic Twitter data. The sentiment analysis approach was used. The findings were analyzed on the basis of DOI stages, and the innovation–decision process demonstrated that 60% of Twitter users supported the governments' approval of women's right to drive and 40% either opposed the order or had a neutral opinion. The finding of our analysis suggests that Saudi society corresponds the DOI stages and exhibits the tendency to support the right of women to drive. This study contributes to DOI research, particularly concerning the use of social media for studying opinions on important unsettled social matters.

尽管有几项研究使用情感分析来检验社交媒体的内容，但很少有社会学理论对这项工作进行补充。这项研究采用了创新扩散（DOI）框架，以使人们对最近有关是否应授予沙特阿拉伯妇女驾驶权的辩论有更深入的了解。支持者和反对者的观点通过使用详细的阿拉伯Twitter数据进行了考虑。使用情绪分析方法。在DOI阶段的基础上对调查结果进行了分析，创新决策过程表明，有60％的Twitter用户支持政府批准妇女的驾驶权，而40％的人反对该命令或持中立意见。我们的分析结果表明，沙特社会与DOI阶段相对应，并表现出支持妇女驾驶权的趋势。这项研究为DOI研究做出了贡献，特别是在使用社交媒体研究重要的未解决社会问题的意见方面。