A Study on Empathy, Credibility, and Political Attitude in Social Media: Focused on the Relationship between Empathetic Intention and the Motivation of Belonging on Intended Pro-Social and Political Behavior

SeoYoung Lee, Sang Hee Kweon

Department of Mass Communication & Journalism, Sungkyunkwan.
Graduate School of Information, Yonsei university, Seoul, Korea.

DOI: 10.4236/ajc.2013.13004                

Abstract

This study explores the relationship how SNS through empathetic intentions and motives affect political participation and foster positive attitudes. In addition, this research explores how online and offline inter- action affects attitudes in political participation. The theoretical background of the research is based on the theory of planned behavior, in which the behavior of individuals is determined by attitudes towards behavior, and the subjective norms that influence intended behavior. Depending on how much time is spent on personal online activities, you can predict offline behavior through online attitudes, which can help to increase the explanatory power of the theory of planned behavior. In this study, there is a verifica- tion of offline political action related to the attitudes formed through social media. Social network service (hereafter SNS) could have important implication for modern society as a predictive tool. The research was conducted on 291 members of an SNS community and based on the survey data gathered, a hierarchi- cal regression analysis was applied. The analysis was found to significantly predict the behavioral tenden- cy of the subjects to cooperate and share information online when there is an intent and motive towards personal empathy. Online cognitive behavior control shows that the higher level of information sharing and trust, the higher the offline intent to participate in political action. Finally, there is a high correlation between online and offline political attitudes. The more positive the political attitudes, either online or offline, the more intent to participate in offline political action.

Keywords

SNS; Trust; Empathy; Pro-Social Behavior; Political Participation

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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