Political empowerment among young voters: Social media, partisanship and the moderating role of political interest

Tariq, Rehan and Zeib, Fakhta Political empowerment among young voters: Social media, partisanship and the moderating role of political interest. Comunicar, 2023, vol. 31, n. 74, pp. 101-112. [Journal article (Paginated)]

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English abstract

Despite recent efforts to examine the political outcomes of social media use, little is known about the reinforcement of political empowerment and moderating effect of political interest. It is vital to understand the elements that influence the level of political empowerment. Therefore, this paper used a sample of Pakistani voters (n=410) aged 18-29 to offer insight into how social media use alongside other political behaviors, such as partisanship, political expression, and political interest, affect political empowerment. Social Identity Theory (SIT) and rational choice theory provided the theoretical underpinning for the variables of this study. The statistical analyses were performed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) to assess the effects of four variables i.e., social media use, political partisanship, political expression, and political interest, on political empowerment. This study made a significant contribution to the research literature by combining SIT and rational choice theory in one framework. This study also expands the literature on political interest by introducing political interest as a moderator between the inconsistent relationship of political expression and political empowerment. Our results demonstrated that partisanship and social media use positively influenced political expression among young voters. Moreover, political interest positively moderated the relationship between political expression and political empowerment.

Spanish abstract

A pesar de los recientes esfuerzos para examinar los resultados políticos del uso de las redes sociales, se sabe poco sobre el refuerzo del empoderamiento político. Es vital comprender los elementos que influyen en el nivel de empoderamiento político. Por lo tanto, este documento utilizó una muestra de votantes paquistaníes (n=410) del grupo de edad de 18 a 29 años para ofrecer información sobre cómo el uso de las redes sociales junto con otros comportamientos políticos, como el partidismo, la expresión política y el interés político, afectan al empoderamiento político. La Teoría de la Identidad Social (TIS) y la Teoría de la Elección Racional proporcionaron la base teórica para las variables de este estudio. Los análisis estadísticos se realizaron utilizando mínimos cuadrados parciales (PLS) para evaluar los efectos de cuatro variables, es decir, el uso de las redes sociales, el partidismo político, la expresión política y el interés político, en el empoderamiento político. Este estudio hizo una contribución significativa a la literatura de investigación al combinar ambas teorías en un solo marco. El trabajo también amplía la literatura sobre el interés político al introducirlo como moderador entre la relación inconsistente de la expresión política y el empoderamiento político. Los resultados demostraron que el partidismo y el uso de las redes sociales influyeron positivamente en la expresión política entre los votantes jóvenes. Además, el interés político moderó positivamente la relación entre la expresión política y el empoderamiento político.

Item type: Journal article (Paginated)
Keywords: Young voters; political empowerment; social media; partisanship; political interest; political expression; Votantes jóvenes; empoderamiento político; redes sociales; partidismo; interés político; expresión política
Subjects: B. Information use and sociology of information > BJ. Communication
G. Industry, profession and education.
G. Industry, profession and education. > GH. Education.
Depositing user: Alex Ruiz
Date deposited: 09 Jan 2023 06:30
Last modified: 09 Jan 2023 06:30
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/43883

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