Effects of Online and Offline Discussion Networks and Weak Ties on Civic Engagement
Homero Gil de ZúñigaSebastián Valenzuela
School of JournalismUniversity of Texas at Austin
ISOJ 2010INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ONLINE JOURNALISM
Research Goals
Investigate the direct relationship between two different network settings: interpersonal vs. computer-mediated
Explore the direct relationships between two types of networks (strong vs. weak).
Learn whether the effect of interpersonal and computer-mediated networks is mediated by access to weak ties
Test this mediating role, we explore which setting is more predictive of civic engagement.
Brief Literature Review
Demographics & Civic Engagement
Social Orientations and Civic Engagement
Media Use and Civic Engagement
Citizen Communication Networks
Strong Ties & Weak Ties
Hypotheses
H1. Larger interpersonal discussion networks will be positively related with civic participation.
H2. Larger computer-mediated discussion networks will be positively related with civic participation.
H3: Weak-tie discussion networks will be positively related with civic participation.
H4: Weak ties will mediate the relationship between interpersonal/computer-mediated networks and civic participation.
H5: The relationship between computer-mediated networks and weak ties will be stronger than the relationship between interpersonal networks and weak ties.
Methods
Web-based surveyNational dataSample was matched with demographic variables of the U.S.
National Census (we compared with Pew as well).Valid cases 1,482 (17.3% response rate)
Variables/MeasuresDemographicsSocial OrientationsMedia ConsumptionDiscussion AttributionsDiscussion SizeCivic Participation
Measures
DemographicsAge (M = 45.79), Gender (67% Females), Education (Mdn = 2-
year college), Income (Mdn = $50,000 to $59,999), Race (84% Whites).
Social OrientationsStrength of Partisanship (folded item, M = 3.31, SD = 1.79),
Trust Political Institutions (3 items, Cronbach’s α = .86), Life Satisfaction (3 Items, Cronbach’s α = .83).
Media Consumption News media use (7 items, α = .68).
Measures
Discussion AttributionsStrong Tie (inter-item correlation = .57, M = 9.75, SD = 5.17);
Weak Tie (inter-item correlation = .55, M = 5.24, SD = 4.6)
Discussion SizeOffline (M = .77, SD = .46); Online (M = 11.33, SD = 63.71)
Civic ParticipationSix items (Cronbach’s α = .81, M = 18.7, SD = 11.7)
Hypotheses
H1. Larger interpersonal discussion networks will be positively related with civic participation.
H2. Larger computer-mediated discussion networks will be positively related with civic participation.
Findings
Civic Engagement
Demographics R2 = 5.3
Social Orientations ∆R2 = 5.4
Media Consumption ∆R2 = 7.1
Offline Network Size β = .178***
Online Network Size β = .198***
N = 1,159 Model Total R2 = 27.1%
Age, Gender, Education, Income, Race.
Strength of Partisanship, Trust Political Institutions, Life Satisfaction.
News Use
∆R2 = 9.4 (Network Size)
*p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001
Hypotheses
H3: Weak-tie discussion networks will be positively related with civic participation.
Findings
Civic Engagement
Demographics R2 = 5.3
Social Orientations ∆R2 = 5.4
Media Consumption ∆R2 = 7.1
Strong Tie Discussion β = .081*
Weak Tie Discussion β = .222***
Offline Network Size β = .080**
Online Network Size β = .129***
N = 1,159; Total Model R2 = 31.5%
Age, Gender, Education, Income, Race.
Strength of Partisanship, Trust Political Institutions, Life Satisfaction.
News Use
∆R2 = 11.6 (Discussion Attributes)
∆R2 = 2.1 (Network Size)
*p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001
Hypotheses
H4: Weak ties will mediate the relationship between interpersonal/computer-mediated networks and civic participation.
Findings
χ 2 = 1.95 with p =.16 and df = 1, RMSEA = .029, SRMR = .009, CFI = .999, TLI = .992.
Strong Ties (R2 = 24.8%), Weak Ties (R2 = 26.1%), Civic engagement (R2 = 16.3%)
Hypotheses
H5: The relationship between computer-mediated networks and weak ties will be stronger than the relationship between interpersonal networks and weak ties.
Findings
Weak Ties Strong Ties
Demographics R2 = 1.4 R2 = 3.9
Social Orientations ∆R2 = 3.0 ∆R2 = 2.4
Media Consumption ∆R2 = 9.9 ∆R2 = 10.6
Offline Network Size β = .245*** β = .027
Online Network Size β = .354*** β = .492***
N = 1,159
Age, Gender, Education, Income, Race.
Strength of Partisanship, Trust Political Institutions, Life Satisfaction.
News Use
*p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001
∆R2 = 22.9 (Weak Ties) for Total 37.3%
∆R2 = 21.5 (Strong Ties) for Total 38.4%
Findings
Weak Ties Strong Ties
Offline Network Size .245a .027b
Online Network Size .354a .493b
(a) Superscript denotes that their difference is statistically significant at the p < .05 level. (b) Superscript denotes that their difference is statistically significant at the p < .01 level
Conclusions
Network size, both online and offline, is positively related with civic engagement.
Weak-tie discussion is the strongest predictor of civic engagement.
Weak-tie discussion largely mediates the association between online and offline networks and civic participation.
Online networks entail greater exposure to weak ties than offline networks.