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1 – 10 of over 30000This study aims to focus on how virtual campaigns are affecting voters in the elections of Kuwait, as well as whether such virtual campaigns will replace traditional campaigns in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to focus on how virtual campaigns are affecting voters in the elections of Kuwait, as well as whether such virtual campaigns will replace traditional campaigns in the post-COVID era.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative research adopts a purposeful sample when selecting participants from candidates and the managers of electoral campaigns in Kuwait. Fifteen participants were selected, which has been sufficient to achieve data saturation, and then, textual data were collected via semistructured interviews from 15 candidates and the managers of electoral campaigns in Kuwait during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Findings
The findings indicate that candidates preferred using virtual campaigns which enabled them to reach voters during the time of COVID-19’s lockdown. Majority of responses underlined that social media platforms do direct political messages to the voters. Hence, social media platforms should be perceived as preferred medium for communicating with supporters, especially in the post-COVID-19 era. However, some responses uphold the importance of keeping traditional political campaigns due to the peculiar nature of the Kuwaiti community where there is a need for socialization and meeting face-to-face with voters.
Originality/value
This research provides a new evaluation about the role of virtual political campaigns in Kuwait. It highlights the crucial and increasing role of virtual political campaigns in attracting voters; nevertheless, it found that virtual campaigns should be used as addendum to conventional political campaigns in the post-COVID-19 era in Kuwait.
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Tal Samuel-Azran and Moran Yarchi
This study examines the impact of gender on Facebook campaign strategies and the reception of these strategies during the 2018 Israeli municipal elections.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the impact of gender on Facebook campaign strategies and the reception of these strategies during the 2018 Israeli municipal elections.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyzed all the messages posted on 48 politicians' official Facebook pages during the week leading up to the elections. They analyzed messages posted by 152 candidates running for the position of head of a municipality, 68 of whom were women (48 had an active Facebook account), examining the amount of engagement they had created. The authors also analyzed the candidates' use of rhetoric and use of negative campaigning and the engagement it created.
Findings
Analysis of the overall engagement of Facebook users in respect to men versus women politicians showed that men politicians' posts were significantly more engaging in terms of the number of likes and shares they generated, although the multilevel analysis found no significant differences between engagement in the posts of men and women politicians. The Aristotelian rhetoric analysis revealed no significant differences between women and men contenders; however, in line with the role incongruity theory, the engagement analysis found that male candidates' logic-based posts attracted significantly more shares. The negative campaigning analysis found that, contrary to the study’s hypothesis, female candidates posted twice as many messages, attacking their opponents as their men counterparts. However, in line with the hypothesis based on the role incongruity theory, these posts gained significantly less engagement than those of their men counterparts.
Originality/value
The study highlights that female candidates do not conform to their perceived gender role as soft, emotional, and gentle in their social media campaigning. However, in line with role incongruity theory, they were not rewarded for this “unwomanly” behavior because they gained significantly less engagement with their logic-based posts and their attacks against other candidates than their men counterparts. Despite the fact that prior studies have indicated the potential of social networks service (SNS) to empower women leaders, the findings of the study highlight the continued gender discrimination and the validity of role incongruity theory during social media campaigning, particularly at the municipal elections level.
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Tal Samuel-Azran and Moran Yarchi
The study aims to examine the validity of the gender affinity effect on social media throughout election campaigns.
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to examine the validity of the gender affinity effect on social media throughout election campaigns.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper examines the role of gender in political discourse, using citizens' conversations on Facebook in the days leading up to Israel's 2021 elections as its case study. The analysis measured the engagement generated by male and female politicians in citizens' publicly open Facebook discussions (N = 1875) using a trend-tracking software. The analysis uses t-tests to examine differences in engagement between conversations about male versus female politicians and between posts written by male versus female authors. In addition, a two-way ANOVA analysis was conducted in an attempt to understand the shared impact of both the politicians' gender and posts authors' gender on the posts' engagement.
Findings
The study reveals that although more posts discuss male politicians, posts dealing with female politicians expressed significantly more support towards those politicians. The analysis also highlights that women tend to write more supportive posts and that most of their posts deal with female politicians. Furthermore, interaction effect analysis revealed that women's posts about female politicians generate more engagement in terms of likes, comments and number of participants than posts written by women that deal with male politicians.
Practical implications
The findings should encourage women politicians to run their campaigns via social media.
Originality/value
The study presents the first social media analysis for gender affinity effect and highlights the importance of the effect in online political communication studies.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2022-0199
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Sanne Kruikemeier, Guda van Noort, Rens Vliegenthart and Claes H. de Vreese
The purpose of this paper is to examine the causal relationship between interactive and personal campaigning on social media and political involvement, and the mechanisms that…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the causal relationship between interactive and personal campaigning on social media and political involvement, and the mechanisms that explain the effects. Specifically, this study examines whether personal and interactive communication on Twitter increases political involvement among citizens through social presence and perceived expertise.
Design/methodology/approach
An experimental design – a 2 (low vs high interactivity)×3 (depersonalized vs individualized vs privatized communication) between-subjects design – is used.
Findings
The findings show that interactive communication leads to a stronger sense of social presence and source expertise, which positively affect involvement. The effects of personal campaigning differ. Individualized communication positively affects involvement via source expertise. Interestingly, privatized communication positively affects involvement via social presence, but negatively via source expertise.
Originality/value
Although a growing body of work examines the political consequences of social media, there is still very little understanding why social media affect citizens. The current study fills this void by investigating how the use of social media affects political involvement among citizens.
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Leticia Bode, David S. Lassen, Young Mie Kim, Dhavan V. Shah, Erika Franklin Fowler, Travis Ridout and Michael Franz
Despite the growing use of social media by politicians, especially during election campaigns, research on the integration of these media into broader campaign communication…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the growing use of social media by politicians, especially during election campaigns, research on the integration of these media into broader campaign communication strategies remains rare. The purpose of this paper is to ask what the consequences of the transition to social media may be, specifically considering how Senate candidates’ use of a popular social network, Twitter, is related to their messaging via broadcast media in the form of campaign advertising, in terms of content and tone.
Design/methodology/approach
To address this research question, a unique data set combining every tweet (10,303) and every television ad aired (576,933 ad airings) by candidate campaigns for the US Senate during the 2010 campaign is created. Using these data, tweets and ads are analyzed for their references to issues as well as their overall tone.
Findings
Findings demonstrate that social messaging often resembles broadcast advertising, but that Twitter nonetheless occupies a unique place in modern campaigns in that its tone tends to be quite different than that of advertisements.
Research limitations/implications
This sheds light on a larger debate about whether online campaigning has produced a fundamental change in election practices or whether new media simply extend “campaigning as usual.”
Originality/value
This study uses a novel data set, encompassing the complete universe of ads and tweets distributed by candidates for Senate in 2010.
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Social media has become an indispensable part of modern politics. Its rise in the political arena has coincided with the decline in trust toward mainstream media. Today, more than…
Abstract
Social media has become an indispensable part of modern politics. Its rise in the political arena has coincided with the decline in trust toward mainstream media. Today, more than half of the population gets their political news and information through social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Social media offers a great marketing opportunity to politicians as they allow them to bypass traditional media and communicate directly with voters, engage citizens during campaign and noncampaign periods, and create a brand image. As social media's influence in politics grows, so has the research devoted to political marketing on social media. It is against this backdrop that this chapter is written, which provides readers with an overview of the academic domain and the current state of literature. The chapter highlights the various research areas that have been explored in the literature and the implications of social media for political marketing strategy, along with the domain's current limitations and possible avenues of further research.
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Nikos Smyrnaios and Athina Karatzogianni
This chapter explains how SYRIZA managed to build international support up to the January 2015 election with very limited resources, and against mainstream coverage, by relying…
Abstract
This chapter explains how SYRIZA managed to build international support up to the January 2015 election with very limited resources, and against mainstream coverage, by relying essentially on grassroots movements and social media. It also shows how, approaching to power, SYRIZA's political, but also communication strategy, became more institutionalised and relied less on grassroots campaigning. Methodologically, our research is based on the following research techniques: First, interviews with activists and members of the party as well as observations inside its social media team. Second, the study of online content and data from 2006 to 2015. Overall, this chapter shows that SYRIZA's campaign on the Internet relied mainly on alternative media activists who acquired a specific savoir faire and developed international networks during the intense antiausterity social movement that took place in Greece between 2010 and 2013. The campaign was also supported by young experts from the private sector that contributed on a voluntary basis. Nevertheless, its success was mainly due to the European political context and the opportunities it offered to the radical Left, rather than the communication strategy, which in any case suffered from a lack of means and from a somewhat chaotic (non) organisation.
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Jason Gainous, Andrew Segal and Kevin Wagner
Early information technology scholarship centered on the internet’s potential to be a democratizing force was often framed using an equalization/normalization lens arguing that…
Abstract
Purpose
Early information technology scholarship centered on the internet’s potential to be a democratizing force was often framed using an equalization/normalization lens arguing that either the internet was going to be an equalizing force bringing power to the masses, or it was going to be normalized into the existing power structure. The purpose of this paper is to argue that considered over time the equalization/normalization lens still sheds light on our understanding of how social media (SM) strategy can shape electoral success asking if SM are an equalizing force balancing the resource gap between candidates or are being normalized into the modern campaign.
Design/methodology/approach
SM metrics and electoral data were collected for US congressional candidates in 2012 and 2016. A series of additive and interactive models are employed to test whether the effects of SM reach on electoral success are conditional on levels of campaign spending.
Findings
The results suggest that those candidates who spend more actually get more utility for their SM campaign than those who spend less in 2012. However, by 2016, spending inversely correlates with SM campaign utility.
Research limitations/implications
The findings indicate that SM appeared to be normalizing into the modern congressional campaign in 2012. However, with higher rates of penetration and greater levels of usage in 2016, the SM campaign utility was not a result of higher spending. SM may be a greater equalizing force now.
Practical implications
Campaigns that initially integrate digital and traditional strategies increase the effectiveness of the SM campaign because the non-digital strategy both complements and draws attention to the SM campaign. However, by 2016 the SM campaign was not driven by its relation to traditional campaign spending.
Originality/value
This is the first large N study to examine the interactive effects of SM reach and campaign spending on electoral success.
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Gunther Vanden Eynde, Gert-Jan Put and Bart Maddens
Paid digital campaigning tools play an increasingly pivotal role in individual election campaigns worldwide. Extant literature often juxtaposes the equalization theory, which…
Abstract
Purpose
Paid digital campaigning tools play an increasingly pivotal role in individual election campaigns worldwide. Extant literature often juxtaposes the equalization theory, which argues that these tools create a level playing field, and the normalization theory, which contends that strong and resource-rich politicians benefit most from digital tools. This article aims to inform this debate by looking at it from a campaign expenditure perspective beyond the Anglo-American bias of most research on the subject.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use an original dataset on campaign expenditures and resources of 1,798 candidates running for 13 Belgian parties in the 2019 federal parliamentary election. Relying on multilevel statistical models, the authors link the candidates' digital campaign expenses to their incumbency status, which is expected to affect digital campaigning.
Findings
While earlier work on majoritarian cases often showed contradicting results, this study on the Belgian flexible-list proportional representation (PR) case provides strong support for the equalization theory by demonstrating that incumbents are not only less inclined to spend on digital tools than challengers, but also spend a smaller part of their budget on these tools.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the equalization versus normalization debate from a campaign expenditure perspective using a made to purpose dataset in a non-Anglo-American context.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-12-2021-0679
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Fahmi Ali Hudaefi and Irfan Syauqi Beik
Despite the COVID-19 recession, the collection of zakat (almsgiving) managed by the National Board of Zakat Republic of Indonesia (BAZNAS RI) has increased, especially during…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the COVID-19 recession, the collection of zakat (almsgiving) managed by the National Board of Zakat Republic of Indonesia (BAZNAS RI) has increased, especially during Ramaḍān 1441 Hijra. Previous works show a positive relationship between digital zakat campaign and zakat collection. This paper aims to study the means of digital zakat campaign during COVID-19 outbreak. This topic is theoretically and practically important in the emerging debate of Islamic marketing, notably in Islamic social finance field.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a qualitative research approach. A case study is engaged in the selection of BAZNAS RI for a detailed discussion of a zakat organisation. Meanwhile, a netnographic approach is used to analyse the number of 549 posts from BAZNAS RI’s social media, which are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Furthermore, a qualitative software analysis of NVivo 12 Plus is used in performing the analytical procedures.
Findings
This work explains the means of digital zakat campaign during COVID-19 outbreak with a case of BAZNAS RI. It is identified the number of 6 parent nodes and 64 child nodes from the analysis using NVivo 12 Plus. The authors’ parent nodes are “donation”, “infaq” (Islamic spending for charities), “Ramaḍān matters”, “ṣadaqah” (voluntary charity), “virtual events” and “zakat”. These nodes detail digital campaign of BAZNAS RI posted in its social media during COVID-19 period in Ramaḍān. A theoretical implication of inclusive marketing is derived from the analysis. It explains that the inclusiveness of digital contents is practically significant in campaigning zakat as a religious obligation that contributes to social and financial benefits.
Research limitations/implications
This paper does not claim a positivist perspective on the relationship between digital zakat campaign and zakat collection. Instead, this paper explores in-depth the practice of digital zakat campaign, which the previous study confirms its association with a muzakki’s (Muslims who are obliged to pay zakat) decision to pay zakat.
Practical implications
This paper establishes the Islamic marketing theory that is derived from industrial practices. The inclusiveness of digital contents in zakat campaign is critical in activating zakat as a religious obligation that authentically shapes the social and economic processes of a Muslim community. This theory is practically important for 'amils (employees) of zakat institution who work in the marketing division, chiefly to create such contents to post in social media.
Social implications
The authors’ node of zakat distribution for COVID-19 relief indicates the importance of a formalised zakat institution to actualise zakat’s role in handling socioeconomic problems. Thus, paying zakat formally in an authorised organisation may contribute to a greater social contribution and maṣlaḥah (public interest) than paying it informally without any effective measurement.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the novelty in the Islamic marketing debate within two folds. First, this paper is among the pioneers in studying digital zakat campaign during COVID-19 outbreak by using a netnographic approach. Therefore, a theoretical implication derived from industrial practices is contributed. Second, this paper details the steps in using NVivo 12 Plus to analyse the unstructured data sampled from the internet. The future studies may thus refer to this work to understand the application of netnography and the procedures in analysing data from social media using this software.
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