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.