TY - JOUR
T1 - Stoking the Fires of Participation
T2 - Extending the Gamson Hypothesis on Social Media Use and Elite-challenging Political Engagement
AU - Zhang, Xinzhi
AU - Lin, Wan Ying
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was funded by the Research Expense Grant offered by the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong. The authors would like to thank Professor Jen-Her Wu and the four anonymous reviewers of Computers in Human Behavior, as well as Dr. Zhou He, Dr. Fen Lin, Professor Steve Guo, Professor Francis Lee, Dr. Fei Shen, Dr. Marko Skoric, and Dr. Erik Nisbet. All the responsibilities of the manuscript are the authors' own. An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the 2017 Annual Convention of the International Communication Association (ICA) on 29 May 2017, San Diego, the US.
PY - 2018/2
Y1 - 2018/2
N2 - The present study examines the conditional and differential effects of social media use on elite-challenging political participation, such as petitions, demonstrations, and protests. It applies the Gamson hypothesis (i.e., a combination of high internal political efficacy and low political trust creates optimal conditions for political mobilization) and extends the differential political implications of new media. This study demonstrates how two types of social media use (i.e., capital-enhancing use and recreational use) and the trust-efficacy typology jointly affect political participation, with empirical reference to three Asian societies (i.e., mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan). Results from a comparative survey echoed previous literature indicating that capital-enhancing social media use facilitated political engagement, whereas recreational use might dampen engagement. The Gamson hypothesis was supported in the Taiwan sample: Dissidents who had high political efficacy and low political trust were more politically active, and for these people, capital-enhancing social media had a stronger political impact. In mainland China, the recreational use of social media had a stronger political implication for Assureds, who were politically self-efficacious and had stronger political trust.
AB - The present study examines the conditional and differential effects of social media use on elite-challenging political participation, such as petitions, demonstrations, and protests. It applies the Gamson hypothesis (i.e., a combination of high internal political efficacy and low political trust creates optimal conditions for political mobilization) and extends the differential political implications of new media. This study demonstrates how two types of social media use (i.e., capital-enhancing use and recreational use) and the trust-efficacy typology jointly affect political participation, with empirical reference to three Asian societies (i.e., mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan). Results from a comparative survey echoed previous literature indicating that capital-enhancing social media use facilitated political engagement, whereas recreational use might dampen engagement. The Gamson hypothesis was supported in the Taiwan sample: Dissidents who had high political efficacy and low political trust were more politically active, and for these people, capital-enhancing social media had a stronger political impact. In mainland China, the recreational use of social media had a stronger political implication for Assureds, who were politically self-efficacious and had stronger political trust.
KW - Gamson hypothesis
KW - Political efficacy
KW - Political participation
KW - Political trust
KW - Social media
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85033575355&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.chb.2017.10.036
DO - 10.1016/j.chb.2017.10.036
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85033575355
SN - 0747-5632
VL - 79
SP - 217
EP - 226
JO - Computers in Human Behavior
JF - Computers in Human Behavior
ER -