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A total of 4,556 US college students were surveyed immediately after Election 2012 to investigate what social media–related psychological and behavioral factors predicted their online political participation. Structural equation modeling and hierarchical multiple regression results showed that online social capital, political self-efficacy, and Facebook group participation were positive predictors of online political participation, while social trust did not directly influence online political participation. General political use of Facebook and Twitter was a positive predictor of online political participation; however, extensive Facebook and Twitter use was a negative predictor. Implications for research and political practice are discussed.

AbstractThis study assessed the economic status of the country of origin of US doctoral graduates from the sub‐Saharan African region and their post‐graduation residency plans. The National Science Foundation's 2012–2017 Survey of Earned Doctorates provided data for the study. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and contingency table analysis. The results revealed an association between the economic status of the country of origin and the post‐graduation residency plan. Sixty percent of students from the low‐income and lower‐middle‐income categories expressed an intention to stay in the United States after graduation. The study concluded that the economic status has a relationship with the decision of sub‐Saharan African doctoral students' residency plans. The recommendation is that sub‐Saharan African countries introduce and implement policies that incentivize high‐calibre personnel trained abroad to return to their home country.

Participation in the political process is the fundamental right and responsibility of a citizen. Online political participation has gained popularity as it is convenient and effective. Political crowdfunding helps political candidates and parties pledge funds, usually small, from a large population and seek support through marketing campaigns during elections. In November 2020, when there were presidential elections in the US and the world was facing a global pandemic from COVID-19, political crowdfunding was a helpful method to communicate the political agenda and seek funding. The study aims to examine the intentions of US citizens to participate in political crowdfunding amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The study will integrate two models—the theory of planned behavior and civic voluntarism model—to check intentions and, in addition, the influence of COVID-19. The data were collected from 529 respondents from the US before the elections. The data were analyzed through a partial least squared structural equation modeling technique with SmartPLS 3.2. The results suggested that political efficacy and online community engagement have a positive influence on the intention to participate in political crowdfunding. Further, all three factors of TPB have a significant positive influence on intention. The perceived threat variable of COVID-19 does impact the attitude towards political crowdfunding. The study will be helpful for crowdfunding platforms and political contenders to examine the factors that can help them to seek maximum funds from the public and, at the same time, examine the effectiveness of their political communications.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to integrate the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Palka et al.'s model to predict young Chinese consumers' mobile viral attitudes, intents and behavior.Design/methodology/approachA paper survey was administered to 835 college students in Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming, and Liuzhou in summer and fall, 2010. The data were subject to statistic analyses including Pearson correlation, structural equation modeling, and backward regression with SPSS and AMOS.FindingsThe SEM model testing results confirmed the chain of young Chinese consumers' viral attitudes to intents to actual behavior. Subjective norm, perceived cost and pleasure were significant predictors of their viral attitudes. Their viral attitudes, perceived utility and subjective norm predicted their intent to pass along entertaining electronic messages. Their intent to forward useful electronic messages was determined by their viral attitudes, perceived utility and market mavenism. Their viral attitudes, intents and market mavenism predicted their mobile viral behavior.Practical implicationsIt pays to foster Chinese consumers' favorable attitudes toward mobile viral marketing. It is advisable to know both target consumers and their associates very well. It is recommended to convince Chinese consumers that their friends and relatives can benefit greatly from viral content forwarding. Mobile messages with entertaining, useful, relevant and self‐involved values can go viral more easily.Originality/valueThe paper is probably the first study the integration of the TPB, TAM and Palka et al.'s model to predict Chinese consumers' mobile viral attitudes, intents and behavior.

Immediately after Election 2016, an online survey of 3,810 US college students in a "swing state" shows that the general use of Facebook has a small, negative effect on U.S. college students' online/offline political participation and civic engagement over and above six control variables and four demographic variables. The participants' political use of Facebook is a much more important and positive predictor than their general use of Facebook for online/offline political participation and civic engagement even after controlling for six relevant variables and four demographic variables. Their online and offline political participation, and civic engagement were closely related. Their online social capital led to political use of Facebook but did not predict online/offline political participation and civic engagement. Additional interesting findings are also presented, theoretical and practical implications discussed.