Developing a Model of Citizens’ Electoral Participation Based on a Qualitative Approach and the Capacities of Social Networks

Abstract

This study aimed to develop and explain a model of citizens’ electoral participation by emphasizing the capacities, opportunities, and challenges of social networks and identifying the mechanisms through which electoral engagement is shaped and strengthened within the digital environment. This applied qualitative study employed grounded theory based on the systematic approach of Strauss and Corbin. The participants consisted of 10 experts from political science, sociology, communication, media management, information technology, social psychology, and public policy, selected through purposive and theoretical sampling until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed concurrently with data collection. Analysis was conducted through open, axial, and selective coding. During axial coding, the extracted categories were organized within a paradigmatic framework comprising causal conditions, contextual conditions, intervening conditions, strategies, consequences, and the core phenomenon. The analysis yielded 35 main indicators and 118 sub-indicators. The analytical findings indicated that electoral participation in social networks emerges from the interaction of several mechanisms, including the shift of political exposure from traditional media to digital platforms, reconstruction of political identity, perceived political agency, linkage of everyday experiences with politics, political-media literacy, platform architecture, and structures of trust. Conversely, polarization, echo chambers, information pollution and misinformation, legal and technical restrictions, and cognitive-emotional pressure were identified as factors capable of undermining the quality of participation. Social networks can facilitate electoral engagement by expanding access to information, political interaction, reconsideration of preferences, and social mobilization; however, under weak media governance, they may also intensify distrust, polarization, and reactive forms of political engagement. Electoral participation in the digital era is a multidimensional and network-based phenomenon that cannot be explained solely by the extent of social media use. Rather, interaction quality, media literacy, trust, platform characteristics, and institutional conditions jointly shape electoral engagement. Accordingly, using social networks to facilitate electoral participation requires a balanced approach that simultaneously considers their informational and mobilizing capacities and their potential risks related to misinformation, polarization, and erosion of trust.