Facebook use and online political participation among youth in Nigeria: the moderating role of political interest

The Facebook can increase political participation of the politically apathetic youth online. However, little evidence were shown from research on the use of Facebook for online political participation (OPP) among youth. The objectives of this study are to identify the level of online political participation among youth in Nigeria, to determine gender difference in the participation, to examine whether there is a significant relationship between their Facebook usage in terms of cognitive, social integrative usage, personal integrative usage, affective usage, escapist usage Facebook intensity, Facebook perception and OPP. It also analyses the moderating role of Political Interest (PI) in the relationships. A survey was conducted on 473 undergraduate youth in Kaduna State University (KASU), Nigeria. A validated questionnaire was used to collect data which was analyzed using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The result revealed that there is a significant level of online political participation among youth on Facebook. The Facebook cognitive usage, social integrative usage, affective usage, escapist usage and perception leads to OPP among youth, except for the relationship of personal integrative usage and Facebook intensity. Political interest (PI) moderates the relationship between Facebook cognitive usage, social integrative usage, perception and OPP. There is a significant difference between male and female youth in OPP. The study provides an empirical based knowledge on the Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) and Civic Voluntarism Model (CVM) for exploring actual Facebook usage, intensity and perception for OPP. It also presents a model based on the UGT for understanding challenges to the Facebook use for online political participation. The acceptable validity and reliability values of the study instrument reinforce its suitability for its adaption or adoption in another context. The results on Facebook perception and Facebook usage by the youth for political participation might help political stake-holders to consider using Facebook in their activities

Moderating effects of political interest on the relationship between facebook usage and online political participation: Data screening and measurement model

The ultimate objective of this article is only to carry out an initial and preliminary examination on a study data collected for empirical research on the moderating effect of political interest on the usage of Facebook for online political participation for the purpose of structural equation modelling. 600 questionnaires were distributed to various respondent in Nigeria, and only 473 questionnaires representing 79% response rate were used for this analysis. Non response bias test, the common method variance test, normality test and confirmatory factor analysis were all conducted to determine the fitness of the data for further multivariate analysis. Therefore, the findings revealed that the data is adequate and fit for conducting PLS structural equation modelling analysis