Communication, political party perception and voting
behavior of the people keep congenial nexus. Grounded on this bond, the main
purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that impact political party
perception and voting behavior of the people in Nepal from the perspective of
communication, particularly residing on social networking sites: Facebook,
Twitter and YouTube. In purposive sampling method perception level detailed
data were obtained from 333 respondents aged 20years and above just before the historic constitutional assembly election
in Nepal. A set of questionnaires including multiple choices and Likert scale
questions were provided to obtain the information. Drawing the coherent
substance from Technological Determinism, Social Judgment, Agenda Setting, Uses
and Gratification, and Habermas’s Concept of Public Sphere and Political
Campaign theories, the research explores the roles of social media in political
party perception and voting behavior. The results show that political interest
is positively related to political party perception and voting behavior, which
infer that political party perception is influenced by political interest of
the politician. The analysis also indicates that political trust is also
positively related to political perception and voting behavior, which shows
that political trust highly influences political party perception. Likewise,
religion and social media are also positively related to political party
perception and voting behavior. The study roots on primary source of data and
contributes to understand the impact of social media in the society and
politics.
References
[1]
Anderson, M. R. (2010). Community Psychology, Political Efficacy and Trust. Political Psychology, 31, 59-84. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2009.00734.x
[2]
Balmas, M., & Sheafer, T. (2010) Candidate Image in Electiion CAMPAIGNS: Attribute Agenda Setting, Affective Priming, and Voting Intentions. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 22, 204-229. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edq009
[3]
Barber, B. (1998). Three Scenarios for the Future of Technology and Strong Democracy. Political Science Quarterly, 113, 573-589. https://doi.org/10.2307/2658245
[4]
Beckedahl, M., Lüke, F., & Hirsch, S. (2008). Politik in Web 2.0. http://www.newthinking.de/
[5]
Bélanger, é., & Nadeau, R. (2005). Political Trust and the Vote in Multiparty Elections: The Canadian Case. European Journal of Political Research, No. 44, 121-146. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2005.00221.x
[6]
Bimber, B., & Davis, R. J. (2003). Campaigning Online: The Internet in U.S. Elections. NY: Oxford University Press.
[7]
Boeckman, R., & Tyler, T. R. (2002). Trust, Respect, and the Psychology of Political Engagement. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32, 2067-2088. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2002.tb02064.x
[8]
Campus, D., Pasquino, G., & Vaccari, C. (2008). Social Networks, Political Discussion, and Voting in Italy: A Study of the 2006 Election. Political Communication, 25, 423-444. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600802427039
[9]
Chadwick, A. (2006). Internet Politics: States, Citizens, and New Communications Technologies. New York: Oxford University Press.
[10]
Christmann, S., Melcher, J., Hagenhoff, S., Stock Gissendanner, S., & Krumbein, W. (2010). In Web 2.0-Technologien in politischen Meinungsbildungsprozessen von Parteien: Ein Beispiel aus der Praxis (Fahnrich, K.-P. and Franczyk, B. Eds.), 687-698, INFORMATIK 2010 - Service Science - Neue Perspektiven für die Informatik, Band 1, Leizpig, Germany.
[11]
Davis, R. (1999). The Web of Politics: The Internet’s Impact on the American Political System. New York: Oxford University Press.
[12]
Davis, R., & Owen, D. (1998). New Media and American Politics. New York: Oxford University Press.
[13]
Dunn, S. W. (2009). Candidate and Media Agenda Setting in the 2005 Virginia Gubernatorial Election. Journal of Communication, No. 59, 635–652. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2009.01442.x
[14]
Foot, K. A., & Schneider, S. M. (2006). Web Campaigning. Cambridge. MA: MIT Press.
[15]
Howard, P. N. (2006). New Media Campaigns and the Managed Citizen. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
[16]
Hutcheson, G., & Sofroniou, N. (1999). The Multivariate Social Scientist. London: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857028075
[17]
Jansen, H. (2004). Is the Internet Politics as Usual or Democracy’s Future? Candidate Campaigns Web Sites in the 2001 Alberta and British Columbia Provincial Elections. The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 9, 1-20.
[18]
Karpf, D. (2009). Blogosphere Research: A Mixed-Methods Approach to Rapidly Changing Systems. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 24, 67-70.
[19]
Kilinenberg, E., & Perrin, A. (2000). Symbolic Politics in the Information Age: The 1996 Republican Presidential Campaigns in Cyberspace. Information, Communication & Society, 3, 17-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/136911800359400
[20]
Lilleker, D. G. (2006). Key Concepts in Political Communication. London: Sage.
[21]
Margolis, M., & Resnick, D. (2000). Politics as Usual: The Cyberspace “Revolution”. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
[22]
McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36, 176-187. https://doi.org/10.1086/267990
[23]
Nesbitt-Larking, P. W. (2010). The Role of the Media in Electoral Behavior: A Canadian Perspective. Policy and Society, 29, 53-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polsoc.2009.11.005
[24]
Nwabueze, C. D., & Ezebuenyi, E. E. (2012). Appraising the Relevance of ICTs in Awareness Creation during Election. Journal of Linguistics and Communication Studies, 2, 293-302.
[25]
Pabjan, B., & Pekalski, A. (2008). Model of Opinion Forming and Voting. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications, 387, 6183-6189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2008.07.003
[26]
Papacharissi, Z. (2002). The Virtual Sphere: The Internet as a Public Sphere. New Media and Society, 4, 9-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614440222226244
[27]
Pye, L. W. (1966). Aspects of Political Development. New Delhi: Ameren Publishing Co.
[28]
Rommele, A. (2003). Political Parties, Party Communication and New Information and Communication Technologies. Party Politics, 9, 7-20. https://doi.org/10.1177/135406880391002
[29]
Schmitt-Beck, R., & Mackenrodt, C. (2010). Social Networks and Mass Media as Mobilizers and Demobilizers: A Study of Turnout at a German Local Election. Electoral Studies, 29, 392-404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2010.03.011
[30]
Stieglitz, S., & Linh, D.-X. (2012a). Political Communication and Influence through Microblogging—An Empirical Analysis of Sentiment in Twitter Messages and Retweet Behavior. In Proceedings of the 45th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 3500-3509). Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
[31]
Tewksbury, D. (2006). Exposure to the New Media in a Presidential Primary Campaign. Political Communication, 23, 313-332. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600600808877
[32]
Tolbert, C. J., & McNeal, R. S. (2003). Unraveling the Effects of the Internet on Political Participation. Political Research Quarterly, 56, 175-185. https://doi.org/10.1177/106591290305600206
[33]
Wattal, S., Schuff, D., Mandviwalla, M., & Williams, C. (2010). Web 2.0 and Politics: The 2008 U.S. Presidential Election and an E-Politics Research Agenda. MIS Quarterly, 34, 669-688.
[34]
Wimmer and Dominik (2011). Mass Media Research: An Introduction. New Delhi: Engage Learning India Pvt. Ltd.
