Abstract
Although studies suggest that the use of social media can promote political participation (PP), there is a lack of theorizing about the psychological processes underlying this relationship. This article attempts to fill this gap by suggesting a social media political participation model. Taking a goal systemic perspective, the model specifies a set of interrelated processes that need to be realized so that social media use affects PP. Furthermore, key contingent conditions are outlined and insights into fostering PP are offered. The article explains ways of testing the model with surveys and experiments. Implications for future research are discussed.
Highlights
Given a goal is explicitly formulated and activated, users appraise whether the goal is the dominant goal once they are in a behavioral situation (Kruglanski et al, 2015)
Instead of proposing a direct link between social media use (SMU) and PP, we argue that a series of steps need to take place
Social media users have to be exposed to political content
Summary
PP can generally be defined as any behavior ‘by ordinary citizens directed toward influencing some political outcomes’ (Brady, 1999: 737). Findings on motivation and user behavior indicate that demographics and predispositions largely determine how people use social media; people may either avoid or actively seek political information (Baek, 2015; Tang and Lee, 2013). Studies measuring political use of social media constantly found positive PP effects (Bachmann and Gil de Zuniga, 2013; Ekstrom et al, 2014). In contrast to intentional exposure, even relatively uninterested users may get incidentally exposed to political information. The ‘rise of social media has arguably further contributed to the phenomenon of accidental or unintentional exposure to public affairs content because such content are often “pushed” to people by their acquaintances’
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