Search

Search by keyword or author

Exploring the Impact of Technology Affordability and Social Media Usage on Socialization and its Influence on Online Political Participation

Home > 2025, Volume 16, Issue 1, 2025 > Exploring the Impact of Technology Affordability and Social Media Usage on Socialization and its Influence on Online Political Participation
Published: September 20, 2025 | Views: 2811 | PDF Downloads: 114
Download PDF
Download XML | Download HTML

Authors

Kaman Kabir Singh and Andy Asare

DOI Number
https://doi.org/10.15415/jtmge/2025.161005
Keywords
Online political participation, Political self-efficacy, Social media, Online social capital, Structural equation modeling, Civic engagement

Abstract

Purpose: In an increasingly digital civic landscape, understanding the drivers of online political participation (OPP) has become critical. This study investigates the interplay between technological affordances, psychological dispositions, and social media behaviors in shaping citizens’ political engagement online.

Methods: Drawing on theories of social capital, self-efficacy, and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), a conceptual model was developed and tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) on survey data (N = 450) collected from active internet users. Results confirmed that use of social media significantly enhances online social capital, which in turn positively influences perceived benefits of political participation. Perceived ease of online participation and technological affordances also emerged as significant predictors of OPP. Notably, political self-efficacy (PSE) not only directly predicted OPP and social media use but also moderated the relationship between online social capital and political participation, amplifying its impact for individuals with higher efficacy.

Findings: These findings highlight the importance of both structural enablers (e.g., digital platforms, social networks) and individual agency (e.g., self-belief) in fostering meaningful online civic engagement.

Implications: The study offers theoretical insights and practical implications for platform designers, policymakers, and civic educators aiming to enhance democratic participation in the digital age.

Originality: The present study offers an original contribution by addressing a gap in existing literature and proposing a novel perspective on the subject. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools were employed in the preparation of this research to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and clarity. Statement on AI Use Artificial intelligence tools were used solely to assist with summarizing the research papers for the literature review, language editing, grammar refinement, model creation, and formatting of this manuscript. No AI tool was used to generate original research content, analyze results, or draw conclusions. All ideas, analyses, and interpretations are the sole work of the authors.

References

  • Alam, S. L. (2016). Empirical analysis of posts and interactions: A case of Australian government Facebook pages. Pacific Asia Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 8(4), 91–110.
  • Alodat, A. M., Al-Qora’n, L. F., & Abu Hamoud, M. (2023). Social media platforms and political participation: A study of Jordanian youth engagement. Social Sciences, 12(7), 402.
  • Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215.
  • Barkhuus, L., & Tashiro, J. (2010, April). Student socialization in the age of Facebook. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 133–142).
  • Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). Greenwood.
  • Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In K. A. Bollen & J. S. Long (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 136–162). Sage Publications.
  • Bucher, T., & Helmond, A. (2018). The affordances of social media platforms. In J. Burgess, A. Marwick, & T. Poell (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of social media (pp. 233–253). Sage.
  • Burt, R. S. (2001). Closure as social capital. In N. Lin, K. Cook, & R. S. Burt (Eds.), Social capital: Theory and research (pp. 31–55). Aldine de Gruyter.
  • Byrne, B. M. (2016). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming (3rd ed.). Routledge.
  • Cabiddu, F., De Carlo, M., & Piccoli, G. (2014). Social media affordances: Enabling customer engagement. Annals of Tourism Research, 48, 175–192.
  • Chadwick, A., & Dennis, J. (2017). Social media, professional media and mobilisation in contemporary Britain: Explaining the strengths and weaknesses of the Citizens’ Movement 38 Degrees. Political Studies, 65(1), 42–60.
  • Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319–340.
  • Dimitrova, D. V., & Bystrom, D. (2013). The effects of social media on political participation and candidate image evaluations in the 2012 Iowa Caucuses. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(11), 1568–1583.
  • Earl, J., & Kimport, K. (2011). Digitally enabled social change: Activism in the internet age. MIT Press.
  • Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143–1168.
  • Faraj, S., & Azad, B. (2012). The materiality of technology: An affordance perspective. In P. M. Leonardi, B. A. Nardi, & J. Kallinikos (Eds.), Materiality and organizing: Social interaction in a technological world (pp. 237–258). Oxford University Press.
  • Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50.
  • Genner, S., & SĂĽss, D. (2017). Socialization as media effect. In P. Rössler, C. A. Hoffner, & L. van Zoonen (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of media effects (Vol. 1, pp. 1–15). Wiley.
  • George, D., & Mallery, P. (2010). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference, 17.0 update (10th ed.). Pearson.
  • Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Pearson.
  • Halpern, D., & Gibbs, J. (2013). Social media as a catalyst for online deliberation? Exploring the affordances of Facebook and YouTube for political expression. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 1159–1168.
  • Hasrullah, H., Arya, N., & Hidayatullah, F. (2023). Digital literacy and social media engagement: Examining the impact on political participation in Indonesia. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 12(2).
  • Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6(1), 1–55.
  • Jenkins, H. (2006). Fans, bloggers, and gamers: Exploring participatory culture. NYU Press.
  • Kline, R. B. (2016). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (4th ed.). Guilford Press.
  • Leonardi, P. M. (2011). When flexible routines meet flexible technologies: Affordance, constraint, and the imbrication of human and material agencies. MIS Quarterly, 35(1), 147–167.
  • Leonardi, P. M., & Barley, S. R. (2010). What’s under construction here? Social action, materiality, and power in constructivist studies of technology and organizing. Academy of Management Annals, 4(1), 1–51.
  • Lu, X., & Jin, Y. (2020). Information vetting as a key component in social-mediated crisis communication: An exploratory study to examine the initial conceptualization. Public Relations Review, 46(2), 101891.
  • Majchrzak, A., & Markus, M. L. (2013). Methods for policy research: Taking socially responsible action (Vol. 3). Sage Publications.
  • Markus, M. L., & Silver, M. S. (2008). A foundation for the study of IT effects: A new look at DeSanctis and Poole’s concepts of structural features and spirit. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 9(10), 609–632.
  • Matthes, J. (2022). Social media and the political engagement of young adults: Between mobilization and distraction. Online Media and Global Communication, 1(1).
  • Mayfield, A. (2008, August). What is social media.
  • Newton, K. (1997). Social capital and democracy. American Behavioral Scientist, 40(5), 575–586.
  • Oser, J., Grinson, A., Boulianne, S., & Halperin, E. (2022). How political efficacy relates to online and offline political participation: A multilevel meta-analysis. Political Communication, 607-633. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2022.2107074
  • Prakasam, N., & Huxtable-Thomas, L. (2021). Reddit: Affordances as an enabler for shifting loyalties. Information Systems Frontiers, 23(3), 723–751.
  • Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. Journal of Democracy, 6(1), 65–78.
  • Sadat, M. N., Ahmed, S., & Mohiuddin, M. T. (2014). Mining the social web to analyze the impact of social media on socialization. In 2014 International Conference on Informatics, Electronics & Vision (ICIEV) (pp. 1–6). IEEE.
  • Scheufele, D. A., & Shah, D. V. (2000). Personality strength and social capital: The role of dispositional and informational variables in the production of civic participation. Communication Research, 27(2), 107–131.
  • Sharma, R., Verma, R., & Mehta, M. (2022). Online shopping site selection attributes and meta tags: An empirical analysis. International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management, 9(3), 236–247.
  • Song, Q., Wang, Y., Chen, Y., Benitez, J., & Hu, J. (2019). Impact of the usage of social media in the workplace on team and employee performance. Information & Management, 56(8), 103160.
  • Supriyanto, T. (2021). The influence of social media on political participation in the digital era. International Journal of Social and Political Sciences, 1(1).
  • Treem, J. W., & Leonardi, P. M. (2013). Social media use in organizations: Exploring the affordances of visibility, editability, persistence, and association. Annals of the International Communication Association, 36(1),
  • Vaast, E., & Kaganer, E. (2013). Social media affordances and governance in the workplace: An examination of organizational policies. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(1), 78–101.
  • Vaccari, C., & Valeriani, A. (2021). Outside the bubble: Social media and political participation in Western democracies. Oxford University Press.
  • Velasquez, A., & LaRose, R. (2015). Youth collective activism through social media: The role of collective efficacy. New Media & Society, 17(6), 899–918.
  • Waeterloos, C., Walrave, M., & Ponnet, K. (2021). Designing and validating the Social Media Political Participation Scale: An instrument to measure political participation on social media. Technology in Society, 64, 101493.
  • West, S. G., Finch, J. F., & Curran, P. J. (1995). Structural equation models with non-normal variables: Problems and remedies. In R. H. Hoyle (Ed.), Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications (pp. 56–75). Sage Publications.
  • Woolcock, M. (1998). Social capital and economic development: Toward a theoretical synthesis and policy framework. Theory and Society, 27(2), 151–208.
  • Zaheer, L. (2016). Use of social media and political participation among university students. Pakistan Vision, 17(1), 278–299.

How to Cite

Kaman Kabir Singh and Andy Asare. Exploring the Impact of Technology Affordability and Social Media Usage on Socialization and its Influence on Online Political Participation. J.Technol. Manag. Grow. Econ.. 2025, 16, 54-63
Exploring the Impact of Technology Affordability and Social Media Usage on Socialization and its Influence on Online Political Participation

Current Issue

PeriodicityBiannually
Issue-1June
Issue-2December
ISSN Print0976-545X
ISSN Online2456-3226
RNI No.CHAENG/2016/68678

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Articles in Journal of Technology Management for Growing Economies(J.Technol. Manag. Grow. Econ.) by Chitkara University Publications are Open Access articles that are published with licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- CC-BY 4.0 International License. Based on a work at https://tmg.chitkara.edu.in/. This license permits one to use, remix, tweak and reproduction in any medium, even commercially provided one give credit for the original creation.

View Legal Code of the above-mentioned license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

View Licence Deed here https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Creative Commons License

Journal of Technology Management for Growing Economies by Chitkara University Publications is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://tmg.chitkara.edu.in/

Visibility, Memberships and Ethics

Chitkara University

Chitkara University

India’s top rated university

Chandigarh-Patiala National Highway, Punjab 140 401

Chandigarh Information Center SCO 160-161, Sector 9-C, Chandigarh 160 009

Publisher

Corporate Office

Chitkara University Publications
Administrative Office, Saraswati Kendra
P.O. Box No. 70,
SCO 160-161, Sector- 9C, Chandigarh-160009, India.

Email: chitkarauniversitypublications@chitkara.edu.in

Editorial Office

Centre for Research Impact and Outcome
4th floor, Darwin Block
Chandigarh-Patiala National Highway, Rajpura
Punjab-140401, India
Email: editor.tmg@chitkara.edu.in, journals@chitkara.edu.in

For the journal, please visit the website: https://tmg.chitkara.edu.in/

The "Journal of Technology Management for Growing Economies" is a peer-reviewed, refereed, bi-annual open-access Journal of "Chitkara University Publications".

ISSN(p):0976-545X, ISSN(e): 2456-3226, RNI No.CHAENG/2016/68678

Copyright ©2026 Chitkara Educational Trust | All rights reserved
Explore Your Potential

Chandigarh-Patiala National Highway, Punjab 140 401

Chandigarh Information Center SCO 160-161, Sector 9-C, Chandigarh 160 009