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Examining the influence of mobile applications and interpersonal discussions towards political

participation

Joseph Jai-sung Yoo, Pei Zheng,Hyeri Jung, Victoria Y. Chen, Shuning Lu

& Thomas J. Johnson

Introduction

Mobile is ubiquitous.

Using mobile device -> civic engagement

But how?

Interaction & Mediation

The goal of this study

The influence of mobile application use on political participation, from the perspective of the Differential Gains Model and the Communication Mediation Model.

Mobile Communication & Politics

• Political use of mobile phone technology

• The low cost, easiness and portability • The pattern of mobile application use for political news and

information and its impact on political participation

Interpersonal Communication

• Soul of democracy• Online and offline• Mobile devices: sources for the public to

consume political information and engage in interpersonal communication

Differential Gains Model (Scheufele, 2002)

The political effects of news media messages are contingent upon media’s interaction with interpersonal communication.

Communication Mediation Model (Shah, Cho, Eveland, Kwak, 2005)

Mass Communication has an influence on political engagement but such relationship is indirect: Interpersonal communication mediates the effects of news media toward political participation.

Hypotheses

H1: The interaction between mobile application use and online communication is positively related to H1a) online and H1b) offline participation. H2: The interaction between mobile application use and face-to-face communication is positively related to H2a) online and H2b) offline participation.

Hypotheses

H3: Online communication mediates the relationship between mobile application use and a) online and b) offline political participation. H4: Face-to-face communication mediates the relationship between mobile application use and a) online and b) offline political participation.

Methodology

• From one week before to one week after the 2012 presidential election

• N=1267• Hierarchical linear regression (Differential Gains)

& Path analysis (Communication Mediation)

Independent variables

• Age, Gender, Race, Education, Income• Party ties, ideology and political interests• Reliance on mobile applications• Online & face-to-face discussion• Interaction (App x discussion): Differential Gain

Figure (Communication Mediation)

Dependent variables

Results (Differential Gain)

• Online & offline political participations are predicted by reliance on news applications X online discussion (H1 supported).

• Online discussion: direct effects toward both forms of participation• Face-to-Face discussion: direct effects toward offline participation

but no interaction effects with mobile apps (H2 rejected).• Mobile application: direct effect toward both forms of

political participations

Results (Communication Mediation)

• The path from reliance on mobile applications toward online participation is mediated by online discussion.

• The path from reliance on mobile applications toward offline participation is mediated by online & face-to-face discussions.

• H3 fully supported, H4 partly supported

Discussion

• Mobile application and online discussion -> Both mediation and moderation effects• Portability, connectivity and personalization of mobile • Smartphone for online political discussion -> larger network size through weak ties• Mobilizing individuals in online activities

Conclusion

• Mobile could complement face-to-face talk.• Need for clearer causal relationships & panel study• News media companies: development of mobile news

applications to elicit more engagement