Facebook and political participation in Cambodia: determinants and impact of online political behaviours in an authoritarian state

ABSTRACT

Along with the explosive growth of Facebook in Cambodia in recent years, analysts have noted the rise of online civic and political participation among Cambodians on this social networking platform. Empirical research focusing on the nature and effects of such online behaviour, however, remains scarce. Through a face-to-face survey of 500 urban residents, this study explores the forms, determinants and impact of online political participation by Cambodians on Facebook. Results suggest that while online political participation on Facebook took a variety of forms, the levels of engagement varied from one form of online activity to another. The study also demonstrates that some key sociodemographic, psychological and Facebook-related behavioural factors were associated with intense online participation, including socioeconomic status, age, online political efficacy and online news consumption habits. The findings, in addition, indicate that online political engagement on Facebook was a robust predictor of offline political behaviour in Cambodia. This study adds to a growing understanding of the determinants of online political participation, while also providing insights into the potential of Facebook in raising citizens’ political engagement, particularly in authoritarian political settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Social media
• Facebook
• political participation
• Cambodia
• authoritarianism

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Professors Jennifer Curtin and Luke Goode and Dr Lara Marie Greaves, my PhD advisors at the University of Auckland, for their expert advice on this research project. I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewer whose comments significantly improved this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Sereyvicheth Chunly http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0602-2169