Internet Use and Political Engagement: The Role of E-Campaigning as a Pathway to Online Political Participation
Internet Use and Political Engagement: The Role of E-Campaigning as a Pathway to Online Political Participation
复制标题
互联网使用和政治参与：电子竞选作为在线政治参与途径的作用
DOI：
--
复制
发表时间：
2013
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Rachel Gibson
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Marta Cantijoch;D. Cutts;Rachel Gibson
本文使用2010年英国大选的原始调查数据，研究两个核心问题的电子参与：人们如何参与在线竞选活动，以及是否可以检测到任何动员电子竞选活动的影响，在增加个人的可能性参加选举后。在此基础上，本文对电子活动的测量模型进行了验证。通过探索性因素分析，我们确定了三个维度的电子竞选参与：电子信息，电子党和电子表达。然后，我们展示了这些活动如何差异预测随后的在线政治参与：电子捐赠，电子联系，电子请愿和电子讨论。我们使用一个小组研究设计，使我们能够对预先存在的政治参与水平施加强有力的控制。我们的研究结果表明，在大多数情况下，在选举前参与电子捐赠，电子联系和电子请愿解释了很多选举后的承诺，这样做，网上竞选活动的参与并没有显着增加这一意图。然而，我们发现，在竞选期间使用互联网获取信息似乎确实对讨论政治的可能性产生了持久的影响，即使事先对讨论的倾向进行了控制。我们进一步观察到，参与正式的电子竞选活动（电子政党）与后来倾向于参加在线直接民主倡议（电子请愿）之间存在显著的负相关。我们的研究结果符合一个越来越多的结论，即互联网在刺激参与方面的作用可能比简单的直接影响更复杂，并支持采用更细致入微的方法来分析动员效应的主张。
This paper uses original survey data from the 2010 UK General Election to examine two central questions about e-participation: how people engaged with the online campaign; and whether any mobilization effects of e-campaigning activity can be detected in terms of increasing individuals’ likelihood of participating after the election. Following our previous work, were-test and confirm a measurement model of e-campaign activities. Through exploratory factor analyses, we identify our three dimensions of e-campaign participation: e-information, e-party and e-expressive. We then show how these activities differentially predict subsequent online political participation: e-donate, e-contact, e-petition and e-discuss. We do this using a panel study design that allows us to impose robust controls on pre-existing levels of political engagement. Our results show that for the most part levels of pre-election engagement in e-donating, e-contacting and e-petitioning explain much of the post-election commitment to do so, and that online campaign involvement does not add significantly to this intention. However we have found that use of the internet during the campaign to obtain information does appear to have a lasting effect on the likelihood of discussing politics, even when prior propensity toward discussion is controlled for. We have further observed a significant negative association between engagement in formal e-campaign activities (e-party) and a later proclivity to take part in a direct democracy initiative online (e-petition). Our findings are in line with a growing conclusion that the internet’s role in stimulating participation is likely to be more complex than a simple direct effect andsupport the claim for adopting a more nuanced approach to the analysis of the mobilization effects.