Cross-Cutting Discussion on Social Media and Online Political Participation: A Cross-National Examination of Information Seeking and Social Accountability Explanations

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630512110356
Author(s):  
Michael Chan ◽  
Hsuan-Ting Chen ◽  
Francis L. F. Lee

The question of whether cross-cutting discussion engenders or depresses political participation has offered mixed findings in the literature. Following recommendations from a meta-analysis, this study tests two competing arguments: the information seeking explanation for engendering participation and the social accountability explanation for attenuating participation. Probability surveys were conducted among young adults in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China, and analyses examined the relationship between cross-cutting discussion on social media and online political participation. For the Taiwan and Hong Kong samples, political information seeking positively mediated the relationship, but desire to avoid social conflict also attenuated the relationship. Neither mechanism was significant for the China sample. The findings suggest that the competing explanations are not mutually exclusive, and they highlight the importance of examining the variety of contingent conditions that influence the relationship between cross-cutting discussion and political participation in different national contexts.

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (s1) ◽  
pp. 671-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffael Heiss ◽  
Johannes Knoll ◽  
Jörg Matthes

AbstractBased on the Social Media Political Participation Model (SMPPM), this study investigates the relationship between four key motivations behind the use of Social Network Sites (SNS) and political engagement among adolescents. We collected our data in a paper-pencil survey with 15- to 20-year-old adolescents (N=294), a highly underexplored group, which is most active on social media. We theorize that adolescents’ user motivations are related to political engagement via two modes of exposure: The intentional mode, which is related to active information seeking, and the incidental mode, in which adolescents run into politics only by accident. We found that political information and self-expression motivations were positively related to political engagement via the intentional mode. By contrast, entertainment motivations were negatively related to offline, but not to online engagement via the incidental mode.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630511984361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masahiro Yamamoto ◽  
Alyssa C. Morey

This study, derived from campaign communication mediation models, examines how incidental news exposure on social media affects political participation. Analysis of two-wave panel data collected before the 2016 US presidential election shows that incidental news exposure on social media is associated with increases in offline and online political participation (1) through online political information seeking and (2) through online political information seeking and online political expression in serial. Interestingly, results show that incidental news exposure on social media also has a direct negative relationship with offline and online political participation. Implications for the political utility of social media are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 1885-1902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masahiro Yamamoto ◽  
Seungahn Nah ◽  
Soo Young Bae

This study examines the extent to which social media prosumption, an integrated act of consumption and production, is associated with online political participation. Data from an online panel survey of American adults reveal that social media prosumption has a positive relationship with online political participation indirectly through online political information seeking. Social media prosumption is also positively related to online political participation through online political information and online discussion heterogeneity in serial. Implications are discussed for the role of prosumptive use of social media in online political participation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinzhi Zhang ◽  
Wan-Ying Lin

Do social media help individuals without organisational memberships to engage more in politics or do they only facilitate political participation for those already involved? We examine how social media use and organisational membership jointly affect participation. Comparative surveys in Hong Kong and Taipei reveal that information sharing and virtual political engagement on social media mobilised users to engage in collective political actions. The influence of social media on individual-based participation is conditional on organisational membership, as reflected by the number of organisations joined. Organisational membership moderates the relationship between social media use and political behaviours differently in Hong Kong and Taipei.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 602-617
Author(s):  
Sukanya Sharma ◽  
Saumya Singh ◽  
Fedric Kujur ◽  
Gairik Das

In this digital era, the internet, and Social Media (SM) has had a radical impact on the shopping behavior of “costumers” The SM provides a platform where “costumers” are exposed to the best product with the best price along with reviews and opinions about the merchandise. So, we can turn our heads and look at a brand in a way as if the brand is speaking to us. This study was an attempt to explore the Social Media Marketing Activities (SMMA) that are being used for the marketing of fashionable products like apparel and to what level the SMMA activities of brands truly strengthen the relationship with customers and motivate purchase intention. Moreover, SMMA has a robust application in developing a marketing strategy for business. It has become a significant tool that collaborates with businesses and people. It is concluded that the “costumer”-brand relationship does have a positive and statistically significant impact on consumers’ purchase intention through SM.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 806-817
Author(s):  
Patrick Amfo Anim ◽  
Frederick Okyere Asiedu ◽  
Matilda Adams ◽  
George Acheampong ◽  
Ernestina Boakye

Purpose This paper aims to explore the relationships between political marketing via social media and young voters’ political participation in Ghana. Additionally, this study examines the mediating role political efficacy plays in enhancing the relationship. Design/methodology/approach With a positivist mindset, and adopting the survey strategy, data gathered from the questionnaire administered from the sampled 320 young voters (18-29 years) in Greater Accra were quantitatively analyzed. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to assess and confirm the proposed scales validity and the relationships of the research model. Findings The study revealed that a political party or candidate’s ability to achieve political participation from Ghanaian young voters’ is dependent on how effective they build customer relationship or gaining visibility through social media. In addition, the study showed that political efficacy mediates the relationship between customer relationship building or gaining visibility through social media and political participation among Ghana young voters. Thus, young voters in Ghana must see themselves to have a say in the affairs of political parties through the political messages they gather from social media platforms to enhance their political participation activities. Practical implications The results of this paper will enable political marketers and politicians not only in Ghana but across the globe, to better understand how social media as a communication tool could be used to positively influence users’ political participation. Originality/value Considering the uniqueness of this study in a Ghanaian context, this paper is the first of its kind to use the social capital theory in examining the mediating role political efficacy plays in enhancing the relationship between political marketing on social media and young voters’ political participation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-51
Author(s):  
Simran Kaur Madan ◽  
Payal S. Kapoor

The research, based on uses and gratifications theory, identifies consumer motivation and factors that influence consumers' intention to follow brands on the social media platform of Instagram. Accordingly, this study empirically examines the role of need for self-enhancement, the need for entertainment, and deal-seeking behaviour on the intention to follow brands on Instagram. Further, the study investigates the mediation of social media usage behaviour for consumption decisions on eliciting brand following behaviour. Moderation of consumer skepticism on the relationship of deal-seeking behaviour, and intention to follow brands is also investigated. Findings reveal a significant direct effect of need for self-enhancement, need for entertainment, and deal-seeking behaviour on intention to follow brands. Indirect effect of social media usage behaviour for consumption decisions was also significant; however, moderation of consumer skepticism was not found to be significant. The study will help marketers create engaging content that enables consumer-brand interactions.


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