Social Networking Sites and Civic Participation: Analyzing the Mediating Role of Online Bridging Social Capital

Abstract

Technological advancements have introduced creative communication media with social media being one of its kind. Since its introduction, the use of social media is rising in India providing people a better penetrating medium to share their views and ideas. These networking sites have given people a wide range of options to share views about social issues as well. Civic participation is a personal or group effort to resolve a social issue. With the onset of social media, offline civic participatory activities have made a transition to the online space as well. With the soaring influence of social media, this study aims to determine the extent to which Social Networking Sites (SNS) usage influences social capital and civic participatory behaviour. It aims to examine whether SNS use aids in the development of behavior that fosters civic participation. Further, the mediating role of online bridging social capital is analyzed in the relationship between SNS use intensity and civic participation of users. The results show the role of SNS in positively influencing online and offline civic participatory behaviour of the users with online bridging social capital acting as a mediating variable. However, the cross-sectional nature of this study constrained the ability to infer causal associations. The study concludes with recommendations and directions for future research. The different SNS can be compared to learn about their respective influence on civic participatory behavior and infer this phenomenon in an enhanced manner.