Social Media Use, Political Efficacy, and Political Participation in China: The Moderating Role of Need for Orientation

Abstract

This study aims to explore how social media use influences people’s political efficacy and political participation in China, and how such relationships are moderated by a need for orientation, “the most prominent of the contingent conditions for agenda-setting effects” (McCombs, 2004). Results show that social media use can boost all dimensions of political efficacy among Chinese netizens, including internal, external, and collective efficacy. Moreover, social media use has much stronger relationships with different dimensions of political efficacy than traditional media use. Social media use is also more strongly associated with online political participation than with offline participation. The need for orientation accentuates the relationship between social media use and political efficacy as well as political behaviors. As social media have become an increasingly important platform for Chinese people’s political life, this study has shed light on the political role of social media and its psychological conditions.