Publicação
The Dark Side of Technology - How belonging to online communities generates engagement and polarizes ideology: the impact of social media on the polarization of social and political beliefs
| dc.contributor.advisor | Naranjo-Zolotov, Mijail Juanovich | |
| dc.contributor.author | Galvão, Tiago Miguel Moreira | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-03-07T19:21:05Z | |
| dc.date.embargo | 2026-01-25 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2023-01-25 | |
| dc.description | Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence | pt_PT |
| dc.description.abstract | Social media changed the way people perceive the world and spread the word. The power of information retrieval is today, more than ever was, compressed in a few clicks. The fact that data flows unlimitedly throughout a digital platform allows people to inform themselves and gain knowledge on various topics whenever they intend to and share impressions about them. Information on social media can be deceiving, lacking in veracity, and influences the opinion of the users. Consequently, social media is a fertile ground for discussion of sensitive subjects, such as politics or social topics, where debate is usually shaped as a polarizing way of opinion exposure. Social media engagement is exacerbated by the confirmation bias of the individuals, who naturally seek information to validate their preexisting views, and the filter bubbles created by the social media algorithms to show personalized content based on the user interaction with social media. Literature broadly acknowledges that discussion about sensitive topics drives engagement on social media and political polarization (Kubin & von Sikorski, 2021; Lee et al., 2018; Yarchi et al., 2021). However, findings are inconclusive and contradictory regarding the mediating effects of in-group and out-group vision on the association of confirmation bias and filter bubbles with political polarization and social media engagement (Nordbrandt, 2021; Rathje et al., 2021; Wojcieszak et al., 2022). We contribute to filling the gap by proposing and evaluating a theoretical model based on the social identity theory and echo-chambers theory to examine the mediating effects of in-group and out-group vision on political polarization and social media engagement drivers. We empirically tested the model using partial least squares structural equation modelling based on data collected through an electronic questionnaire. Our results indicate that: 1) Confirmation bias is fully mediated by in-group vision on social media engagement and partially mediated on political polarization. Out-group vision contributes with no mediating effect between confirmation bias and social media engagement nor political polarization. 2) Filter bubbles is partially mediated on political polarization and social media engagement by in-group vision, but not by or out-group vision. The outcome of this study offers important implications for theory and practice. We expect this study to open doors for future research in this field by creating connections between human psychology, online behavior, and politics in society, alerting to the importance of understanding the impact of social media in such context to approach it safely and correctly when in democracy. | pt_PT |
| dc.identifier.tid | 203240464 | pt_PT |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10362/150118 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | pt_PT |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Social Media | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Information Technology | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Polarization | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Politics | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Covid-19 | pt_PT |
| dc.title | The Dark Side of Technology - How belonging to online communities generates engagement and polarizes ideology: the impact of social media on the polarization of social and political beliefs | pt_PT |
| dc.type | master thesis | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| rcaap.embargofct | "The reason for the embargo request is because the manuscript is under review in a journal." | pt_PT |
| rcaap.rights | embargoedAccess | pt_PT |
| rcaap.type | masterThesis | pt_PT |
| thesis.degree.name | Mestrado em Gestão de Informação, especialização em Gestão do Conhecimento e Inteligência de Negócio (Business Intelligence) | pt_PT |