Creating a Web of Trust and Change: Testing the Gamson Hypothesis on Politically Interested Internet Users

Abstract

This study used an online survey of politically interested Internet users to examine the Gamson hypothesis, which asserts that those who are low in political trust and high in political self-efficacy can be most easily mobilized into political action. Previous studies have focused on behavioral effects of trust and efficacy, whereas this study also included an affective measure, feelings of political involvement. This study also employed reliance on Internet components as a measure of political activity. Internet users in general were almost equally divided between being an Assured (high in trust and efficacy) and a Dissident (low in trust and efficacy). This study found mixed support for the Gamson hypothesis.

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