Peripheral elaboration model: The impact of incidental news exposure on political participation

ABSTRACT

This study places the “cognitive elaboration model” on news gathering and political behavior within the dual-processing “elaboration likelihood model” to derive hypotheses about the effects of incidental news exposure and tests them using two-wave panel data. Results indicate incidental news exposure predicts online participation but not offline participation – underlining the importance of differentiating between political behaviors in the two environments. The key finding, however, is that news elaboration mediates the positive relationship between incidental exposure and political participation, which is theorized as taking place through the peripheral route of elaboration – as opposed to intentional exposure, which engages the central route.

KEYWORDS:

• Incidental exposure
• social media
• political participation
• elaboration likelihood model
• cognitive elaboration model

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Saif Shahin

Dr. Saif Shahin is Assistant Professor in the School of Communication at American University, Washington DC, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Information Technology & Politics. His research interests include critical data studies, digital culture, and global media and politics.

Magdalena Saldaña

Dr. Magdalena Saldaña is Assistant Professor in the School of Communications at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and Researcher at the Millennium Institute for Foundational Research on Data. Her research interests include digital journalism, social media, political communication, and Latin American studies.

Homero Gil de Zúñiga

Dr. Homero Gil de Zúñiga is Distinguished Research Professor at University of Salamanca where he directs the Democracy Research Unit (DRU), Professor at Pennsylvania State University, and as Senior Research Fellow at Universidad Diego Portales, Chile. His research addresses the influence of information and communication technologies (i.e., digital and social media) over people's daily lives, as well as the effect of such use on the overall democratic process.