The (indirect) effect of social media consumption on political distrust in Egypt

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Masoudnia, Hossein | Ghorbani, Maryam | Stockemer, Daniel^*

Affiliations: University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Daniel Stockemer, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. E-mail: dstockem@uottawa.ca.

Abstract: This article contributes to the debate on the effect of social media usage on political attitudes. Our research question is: Does the use of social media affect citizens’ political trust? We test this research question using Egypt’s Arab Barometer Wave V country data (2018–2019). We expect social media usage to increase political distrust among citizens through the three mediating variables: corruption perceptions, perceptions of poor government performance, and perceptions of missing guaranteed freedoms. Our quantitative study results confirm these mediating relationships; that is, social media usage significantly increases political distrust among Egyptian citizens by increasing corruption perceptions, perceptions of poor government performance, and perceptions of a lack of guaranteed freedoms.

Keywords: Social media, corruption perceptions, and perceptions of a lack of guaranteed freedoms, political (dis)trust

DOI: 10.3233/IP-210006

Journal: Information Polity, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 83-95, 2023