Content creation on the Internet: a social cognitive perspective on the participation divide

Abstract

Sociodemographic variables are held to impact Internet users’ willingness and ability to productively use online media. This effect can create a ‘participation divide’ between distinct user groups. Recently, studies have enhanced our understanding of the participation divide by differentiating types of online content creation. They found that sociodemographics may only affect specific forms of online participation. We suggest that social cognitive theory (SCT) helps explain why and how sociodemographic variables influence different forms of online participation. Based on SCT, we analyze the mediating effect of two cognitive constructs, self-efficacy and privacy concerns, on different types of online content creation. We conduct a survey among German Internet users and apply structural equation modeling to compare three distinct theoretical models. We find that considering the mediating effects of cognitive constructs, based on SCT, improves our understanding of which sociodemographic variables affect which type of online content creation – and why.

Keywords:

• online participation
• participation divide
• social cognitive theory
• content creation
• social media
• digital divide

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Christian Pieter Hoffmann is an assistant professor at the Institute for Media and Communications Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and a lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich. His research is focused on online communication, social media, and political communication. [email: [email protected]]

Christoph Lutz is a Ph.D. student in media and communication at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). His dissertation focuses on online participation and his other research interests include social media in science and public administration, online privacy and trust, and digital serendipity. [email: [email protected]]

Miriam Meckel is a professor for communication management and director of the Institute for Media and Communications Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Her research focuses on online communication, social media, corporate communications, and the transformation of journalism. [email: [email protected]]