Can e-participation stimulate offline citizen participation: an empirical test with practical implications

ABSTRACT

E-participation is often flagged for its potential to stimulate greater citizen participation. Yet, whether e-participation contributes to more widespread offline citizen participation or reinforces existing patterns of offline citizen participation remains unclear. Drawing upon a representative sample of US citizens, the results of our analysis demonstrate that greater e-participation, operationalized using different forms of online expression and interaction, is associated with greater offline citizen participation. We also find that this relationship is strongest among those who are less affluent. These results suggest e-participation may play an important role in mobilizing a broader spectrum of citizens to engage in public affairs.

KEYWORDS:

• E-participation
• citizen participation
• mobilization
• reinforcement

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr Gregg Van Ryzin, Dr Pengju Zhang, and Dr Yahong Zhang for their thoughts on framing the regression models.

Disclosure statement

Pew Research Center bears no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations of the data presented here. The opinions expressed herein, including any implications for policy, are those of the authors and not of Pew Research Center.

Notes

1. The percentage of the final sample size, the same as below.

2. The original questionnaire of this item also requires respondents to indicate the source, such as someone knows personally or public figure. For the research purpose of consistency, four types of positive responses with different sources were recoded to ‘1’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kuang-Ting Tai

Kuang-Ting Tai is a doctoral student from the Scholl of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark. His research interests include e-participation, e-government, open data, and nonprofit issues. His work has been presented in the annual conferences of American Society for Public Administration, Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management, Midwest Political Science Association, and Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action.

Dr. Gregory Porumbescu is an Assistant Professor of the Scholl of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark. His research interests primarily relate to public sector applications of information and communications technology, transparency and accountability, and citizens’ perceptions of public service provision. Dr. Porumbescu’s work has appeared in The Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, Policy & Internet, and Public Performance and Management Review.

Dr. Jongmin Shon is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University–Newark. His research and teaching interests lie in public budgeting and financial management. His work has been published in Public Performance & Management Review, Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, Local Government Studies, and Public Policy and Administration Review.