Understanding the effects of social news use on citizen participation among young Singaporean adults: A communication mediation model approach

ABSTRACT

Adopting the Orientation–Stimuli–Reasoning–Orientation – Response (OSROR) communication mediation framework, this survey study examines the mediating roles of communication processes and political orientations on the relationship between social news consumption and offline/online citizen participation among young adults in Singapore. Findings through regression and mediation analyses indicate that the relationship between social news consumption and offline/online citizen participation was mediated by communication processes in social news production and interpersonal discussion, as well as efficacy. Social news participation only mediated the relationship between social news consumption and online citizen participation, whereas public affairs knowledge was not found to have a significant effect on either citizen participatory measure. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Social news
• news production
• citizen participation
• communication mediation model
• young adults
• Singapore

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Winston Jin Song Teo

Winston Teo was a doctoral candidate in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Auckland. He is currently a design analyst at Statistics New Zealand