Determinants of voters behaviour and voting intention: The mediating role of social media

Abstract

The dominant media ideology argues that the successful application of social media engagement in commercial marketing has the potential to influence customers buying decisions by X percentage. This can equally play a pivotal role in voters` voting decisions. Political marketing research scholars have proposed the need to study the role of social media in the voting decision. However, scholarly responses to this call have received limited attention with interesting debates and opposing arguments. The diverse opinion in the field complicates our understanding, making it difficult to draw a viable conclusion on its relevance and proper application. The authors, therefore, empirically examined the role of social media in the relationship between determinants of voters` behaviour and voting intention in Ghana. This is to help overcome the limited empirical understanding to stir up its relevance and proper application in the political space. The authors collected data from 600 Ghanaian voters, which were analyzed with the help of the Structural Equation Model (SEM) Smart PLS. We found a positive and significant relationship between determinants of voters` behaviour dimensions and voting intention. The study further established that social media engagement plays a vital role in the relationship between the determinants of voters` behaviour and voting intention. We, therefore, recommend that since the information displayed on social media platforms about political parties and their leaders has the potential to influence voters voting decisions, the media actors, political leaders, and political consultants should pay particular attention to media engagement and the kind of information placed in the media about the political leaders.

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