The power of app-driven mobile phones was first unleashed in 2011 when they were used to mobilize protesters and gain support for political movements in the United States and abroad. Mobile devices have since become the bedrock of political activism. To examine the influence of app reliance on offline and online political participation, this study builds on the Orientation-Stimulus-Reasoning-Orientation-Response (O-S-R-O-R) model by (a) applying the model to mobile apps, (b) testing whether trust in, and reliance on political discussion are mediators between reliance on apps and political participation, and (c) using trust in both offline and online discussion as measures of cognitive elaboration. This study’s path model suggests that app reliance is related to online political discussion, which, in turn, is related to online political participation, but not offline participation. Although both offline and online discussion are linked to offline and online trust in political discussion, trust in political discussion does not influence either offline or online political participation.

应用程序驱动的手机的功能在2011年首次释放，当时它们被用来动员抗议者并获得美国和国外政治运动的支持。此后，移动设备已成为政治行动主义的基石。为了研究应用程序依赖度对离线和在线政治参与的影响，本研究建立在“定向-激励-推理-定向-响应”（OSROR）模型的基础上，方法是（a）将模型应用于移动应用程序，（b）测试是否信任，以及对政治讨论的依赖是对应用程序的依赖与政治参与之间的中介，并且（c）使用对离线和在线讨论的信任作为认知阐述的手段。这项研究的路径模型表明，应用的依赖性与在线政治讨论有关，而在线政治讨论反过来又 与在线政治参与有关，但与离线参与无关。尽管离线和在线讨论都与离线和在线对政治讨论的信任相关，但是对政治讨论的信任不会影响离线或在线政治参与。