Political Participation of Young Voters: Tracing Direct and Indirect Effects of Social Media and Political Orientations

Rehan Tariq, Izzal Asnira Zolkepli and Mahyuddin Ahmad
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Rehan Tariq: School of Communication, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Izzal Asnira Zolkepli: School of Communication, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Mahyuddin Ahmad: School of Communication, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Social Sciences, 2022, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-21

Abstract: Political participation in Pakistan was expected to rise because of the enormous democratic potential of social media; nevertheless, a drop has been observed following an initial increase. This scenario encourages investigation of the decisive factors that might draw disengaged citizens into participatory politics. Therefore, this study illustrates the results of a Pakistani sample (n = 410) regarding the role of social media in influencing political participation in online and offline platforms. Five variables were examined using partial least squares (PLS) to see how they influenced online and offline political participation. The OSOR model of communication mediation was used for this purpose. Its implications were extended by simultaneously incorporating three outcome orientations—political expression, political efficacy, and partisanship—as mediators. In addition, we included political interest as an antecedent orientation and social media use as stimuli. Online and offline political participation were placed under response as endogenous variables. Our findings acknowledged nine direct and five indirect correlations out of ten direct and six indirect relationships. Political efficacy neither influenced offline political participation nor proved to be a mediator between social media use and offline political participation. We conclude with study implications, limitations, and recommendations for future scholars.

Keywords: OSOR model; partisanship; political efficacy; political expression; political interest; political participation; social media use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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