Purpose

This article explores how digital exclusion measured by citizens' occasional social media use and their skeptical social media attitude may affect their satisfaction with democracy (SWD), which is critical for public engagement and democratic stability in Europe.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employs multilevel regression to test the hypotheses proposed in the context of Europe and uses cross-level data sources. Individual-level data, including social media use frequency and attitude and SWD, come from the 2012, 2014 and 2016 Eurobarometer surveys. Country-level data are derived from multiple pre-existing datasets.

Findings

The empirical results suggest that digital exclusion measured by occasional use and skeptical attitude are negatively associated with the likelihood of SWD. Additionally, the negative effect of a skeptical attitude increases in importance over time. Finally, although government transparency can mitigate the negative effect of a skeptical attitude, its role in mitigating the negative effect of occasional use is effective only in countries with moderate or low transparency levels.

Originality/value

This study preliminarily explores the direct, changing and conditional impacts of digital exclusion in social media on SWD. It also deepens our understanding of digital exclusion by differentiating between its physical and motivational aspects, which relate to public engagement and equity and then comparing their relative importance.

中文翻译：

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社交媒体时代脱节的公民：解开数字排斥对欧洲民主满意度的影响

目的

本文探讨了通过公民偶尔使用社交媒体和他们对社交媒体持怀疑态度来衡量的数字排斥如何影响他们对民主 (SWD) 的满意度，这对欧洲的公众参与和民主稳定至关重要。

设计/方法/方法

本研究采用多级回归来测试在欧洲背景下提出的假设，并使用跨级数据源。个人层面的数据，包括社交媒体使用频率和态度以及 SWD，来自 2012、2014 和 2016 年欧洲晴雨表调查。国家级数据源自多个预先存在的数据集。

发现

实证结果表明，通过偶尔使用和怀疑态度衡量的数字排斥与 SWD 的可能性呈负相关。此外，怀疑态度的负面影响随着时间的推移变得越来越重要。最后，虽然政府透明度可以减轻怀疑态度的负面影响，但它在减轻偶尔使用的负面影响方面的作用仅在透明度中等或低的国家有效。

原创性/价值

本研究初步探讨了社交媒体中的数字排斥对 SWD 的直接、不断变化和有条件的影响。它还通过区分与公众参与和公平相关的物理和动机方面，然后比较它们的相对重要性，加深了我们对数字排斥的理解。