Promoting Research Utilization Through Social Media: Evidence from U.S. Public Administration and Policy Researchers

Abstract

Public affairs research has explored how researchers communicate their findings to practitioners, notably through social media. Many researchers use social media as one means of communicating with practitioners, but to what extent do social media postings affect research utilization? Few studies, if any, provide evidence about the effectiveness of social media communication in promoting research utilization by public policy and public administration practitioners. Our study seeks to address this gap in knowledge regarding the effects of social media on perceived utilization by policy practitioners. Data for the present study come from an original survey, developed and implemented at Arizona State University from November 2020 through February 2021. Since the basic unit of analysis for the study was a specific research article drawn systematically from seven leading peer-reviewed journals associated with public affairs research, the study was anchored in a discrete referent: the published article. Online questionnaires were sent to the authors of each article appearing in the journals. Using the article as the data point, a response rate of 47.5% was obtained. Questions were asked about perceived research utilization by practitioners and various issues related to motives and communication strategies, including whether the researchers posted their published results on social media. We find that researchers’ social media use has no significant impact on perceived research utilization by practitioners; however, strong policy research motivations and contacts initiated by policymakers may increase it.