Scholarship on political participation and the Internet has found that Internet use may foster both online and offline political participation, while also finding pronounced inequalities in online political participation based on demographic and psychological characteristics. The article advances our theoretical understanding of how inequalities in online and offline political participation emerge through cognitive pathways, by applying social cognitive theory to conceptualize the relationship between environmental influences, cognition and behavior. Using survey data from 1,488 Internet users in Germany, we investigate how the cognitive dispositions of social media self‐efficacy and online privacy concerns mediate the effect of socio‐demographics on Internet use, and online as well as offline political participation. Results indicate that younger citizens are more likely to engage in online political participation, while older, more educated, and male citizens are more likely to engage in offline political participation. Internet use is positively associated with online political participation, which is closely related to offline participation. Self‐efficacy fully mediates the effect of education and gender on Internet use and online political participation. Thus, Internet use simultaneously amplifies and mitigates pre‐existing participation divides, depending on users’ cognitive dispositions.

中文翻译：

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政治参与中的数字鸿沟：社交媒体自我效能和隐私问题的中介作用

有关政治参与和互联网的奖学金发现，互联网的使用可以促进在线和离线政治参与，同时还基于人口和心理特征发现在线政治参与中存在明显的不平等现象。本文通过应用社会认知理论来概念化环境影响，认知与行为之间的关系，从而提高了我们对在线和离线政治参与中的不平等如何通过认知途径出现的理论理解。使用来自德国1,488位互联网用户的调查数据，我们调查了社交媒体自我效能和在线隐私问题的认知倾向如何介导社会人口统计学对互联网使用，在线和离线以及政治参与的影响。结果表明，较年轻的公民更有可能参与在线政治参与，而年龄较大，受过良好教育的男性公民则更可能参与线下政治参与。互联网的使用与在线政治参与成正相关，而在线政治参与与离线参与密切相关。自我效能充分调解了教育和性别对互联网使用和在线政治参与的影响。因此，根据用户的认知倾向，互联网的使用会同时扩大和缓解现有的参与鸿沟。这与离线参与密切相关。自我效能充分调解了教育和性别对互联网使用和在线政治参与的影响。因此，根据用户的认知倾向，互联网的使用会同时扩大和缓解现有的参与鸿沟。这与离线参与密切相关。自我效能充分调解了教育和性别对互联网使用和在线政治参与的影响。因此，根据用户的认知倾向，互联网的使用会同时扩大和缓解现有的参与鸿沟。