Abstract
Social media offer various opportunities for civic engagement by, e.g., liking, sharing, or posting relevant content. Users’ motivation to contribute to relevant topics is quite divers and can stem from an intrinsic motivation to do good or external incentives such as being recognised and rewarded by other users. In our study, we adopt self-determination theory, which defines motivation as broad continuum ranging from intrinsic motivation to external regulation. We conducted a quantitative survey with 667 Facebook users to identify how the different kinds of motivation impact the users’ behaviour in terms of reading, liking, sharing, commenting, and posting topics relevant to civic engagement. Our results suggest that social media users are mainly driven by intrinsic motivation while different forms of extrinsic motivation play a less important role.
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Appendix
Scale items with mean, standard deviation and standardized loading.
Construct and scale items | Mean | S.D | Loading |
|---|---|---|---|
I read, like, share, comment, or post topics relevant to civic engagement on Facebook… | |||
Extrinsic Motivation: External Regulation | |||
1… because other people will be upset if I don’t | 2.50 | 1.75 | 0.918 |
2… because I get recognition from others in doing so | 2.62 | 1.69 | 0.911 |
3… because my friends expect me to do so | 2.49 | 1.73 | 0.944 |
4… to avoid being criticised | 2.33 | 1.70 | 0.941 |
Extrinsic Motivation: Introjected Regulation | |||
1… because I feel bad about myself if I don't | 2.70 | 1.78 | 0.856 |
2… because I feel dissatisfied with myself if I don't | 3.11 | 1.79 | 0.883 |
3… because I feel internal pressure that compels me to | 3.67 | 1.82 | 0.790 |
4… because I feel uncomfortable if I don't | 3.14 | 1.84 | 0.915 |
5… because I regret it if I don’t | 2.98 | 1.77 | 0.899 |
6… to calm my consciousness | 2.87 | 1.81 | 0.859 |
Extrinsic Motivation: Identified Regulation | |||
1… because I feel it is important for me personally to do it | 5.18 | 1.48 | 0.914 |
2… because it has great personal significance for me | 4.77 | 1.59 | 0.908 |
3… because I experience it as personally important | 5.06 | 1.55 | 0.916 |
Extrinsic Motivation: Integrated Regulation | |||
1… because it is a well-established habit of mine | 3.07 | 1.76 | 0.885 |
2… because it is now quite natural for me | 4.08 | 1.76 | 0.801 |
3… because it is now an entrenched habit of mine | 3.12 | 1.75 | 0.891 |
Intrinsic Motivation: Intrinsic Regulation | |||
1… because I enjoy doing it | 3.78 | 1.76 | 0.865 |
2… because I find that it is a pleasurable experience | 3.95 | 1.75 | 0.892 |
3… because I like the feeling when contributing to civic engagement | 4.00 | 1.72 | 0.869 |
4… because I experience pleasure in contributing to civic engagement | 4.43 | 1.66 | 0.835 |
Reading | |||
1 Whenever I see a post relevant to civic engagement on Facebook, I read it | 5.32 | 1.21 | 0.927 |
2 It is likely that I read a post relevant to civic engagement when it is displayed in my newsfeed on Facebook | 5.34 | 1.24 | 0.899 |
3 I read all posts relevant to civic engagement that I see on Facebook | 4.68 | 1.53 | 0.833 |
Liking | |||
1 Whenever I see a post relevant to civic engagement on Facebook, I like it | 4.54 | 1.30 | 0.926 |
2 It is likely that I like a post relevant to civic engagement when it is displayed in my newsfeed on Facebook | 4.61 | 1.33 | 0.915 |
3 I like all posts relevant to civic engagement that I see on Facebook | 3.86 | 1.73 | 0.883 |
Sharing | |||
1 Whenever I see a post relevant to civic engagement on Facebook, I share it | 4.06 | 1.50 | 0.945 |
2 It is likely that I share a post relevant to civic engagement when it is displayed in my newsfeed on Facebook | 4.03 | 1.52 | 0.945 |
3 I share all posts relevant to civic engagement that I see on Facebook | 3.52 | 1.79 | 0.909 |
Commenting | |||
1 Whenever I see a post relevant to civic engagement on Facebook, I comment on it | 3.75 | 1.47 | 0.942 |
2 It is likely that I comment on a post relevant to civic engagement when it is displayed in my newsfeed on Facebook | 3.75 | 1.51 | 0.946 |
3 I comment on all posts relevant to civic engagement that I see on Facebook | 3.30 | 1.73 | 0.919 |
Posting | |||
1 Whenever I see a contribution relevant to civic engagement on the Internet, I post it on Facebook | 3.77 | 1.54 | 0.942 |
2 It is likely that I post a contribution relevant to civic engagement on Facebook when I see it on the Internet | 3.72 | 1.56 | 0.954 |
3 I post all contributions relevant to civic engagement that I see on the Internet | 3.25 | 1.78 | 0.915 |
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Hofmann, S., Pappas, I.O. (2021). Understanding Civic Engagement on Social Media Based on Users’ Motivation to Contribute. In: Edelmann, N., et al. Electronic Participation. ePart 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12849. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82824-0_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82824-0_3
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