A New Framework for Social Media and E-participation in Public Administration

• In Event: Poster Session: Innovations in Public Administration Research & Experimental Research
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Innovations in Public Administration Research

Abstract

The last two decades witnessed the development of many e-participation initiatives, yet many failed to attain a reasonable level of public engagement in policy decision-making. E-participation is a novel way to promote democracy. It encourages two-way communication, consultation, and dialogue between the government and citizens, legitimizes government decisions, increases the scope of mutual learning, and changes the political landscape. In addition, social media established a new level of user engagement in public and social issues. However, even after adopting social media platforms, which promote improved networking, information sharing, and information distribution among users, the difficulty of increasing public participation persists. Therefore, it is crucial to comprehend how social media influences e-participation in literature. According to previous research, e-participation increases trust between citizens and governments. It is also connected to improved government transparency. However, few earlier studies have convincingly illustrated the link between social media and e-participation. That is why e-participation, especially on the social media platform is gaining increasing global attention. Despite the lack of unanimity about e-participation, the use of social media to facilitate connections between the government and its stakeholders is a typical general characteristic. This study categorizes the previous research into six major themes: frameworks for e-participation, social media and e-participation, e-participation and local government, e-participation and policy process/actors, e-participation and good governance, and e-participation and globalization. Then, we provide a theoretical perspective to explain e-participation from seven aspects, including ontology, epistemology, methodology, conceptualization, interdisciplinarity, measurement, and causality for each theme. There is virtually no doubt that social media have influenced the growth of e-participation. E-participation will become increasingly crucial in the future.

Author

• Jing He, Florida State University