The Relationship between Political Efficacy and Offline and Online Social Capital: Results from a General Population Survey of Internet Users.

Abstract

In the era of digital communications, the relationship between political efficacy (generally defined as the belief that citizens can understand and influence politics) and social capital (generally defined as networks of relationships that sustain a sense of belonging and offer support in achieving common goals) has been studied in terms of offline and online processes. I present a study of this relationship using data from the 2016 wave of the World Internet Project in Cyprus, a general population survey of representative samples from the Greek-Cypriot and the Turkish-Cypriot communities (N=1926). A latent variable representing perceived internet-mediated political efficacy is regressed on three dimensions of offline social capital—specifically, offline bonding (spending time with relatives, friends and acquaintances), offline bridging (spending time with colleagues) and offline linking (membership in organized groups)—and three dimensions of online social capital—specifically, online bonding (using the internet to conserve relationships with family or friends), online bridging (using the internet to expand professional ties or to meet people from other occupations, lifestyles or cultures) and online linking (using the internet to connect with political parties, NGO's, public officials or social movement organizations)—in multivariate models with trust in people and institutions, digital literacy and a digital generation effect variable as key theoretical covariates. The analysis shows that different dimensions of social capital have different effects on political efficacy. Online linking social capital is the most consistent positive predictor of perceived efficacy in both communities, while measures of offline and online bridging social capital behave similarly, albeit less consistently. These findings are discussed in the context of the increasingly important role of online communications and networking in political participation.