A meta-analysis of the effects of cross-cutting exposure on political participation

Autor(en)
Jörg Matthes, Johannes Knoll, Sebatian Valenzuela, David Nicolas Hopmann, Christian von Sikorski
Abstrakt

Scholars have advanced many theoretical explanations for expecting a negative or positive relationship between individuals' cross-cutting exposure-either through interpersonal or mediated forms of communication-and their political participation. However, whether cross-cutting exposure is a positive or negative predictor of participation is still an unsettled question. To help fill this gap, we conducted a meta-analysis of 48 empirical studies comprising more than 70,000 participants examining the association between cross-cutting exposure and political participation. The meta-analysis produced two main findings. First, it shows that, over all studies, there is no significant relationship, r = .002, Zr = .002 (95% CI = -.04 to .05). Second, the null relationship cannot be explained by variations in the characteristics of cross-cutting environments (e.g., topic, place, or source of exposure), participation outcomes (e.g., online vs. offline activities), or methods employed (e.g., experiment vs. survey). Taken together, these results should alleviate concerns about negative effects of cross-cutting exposure on political engagement. Implications for future research are discussed.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
Externe Organisation(en)
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Universität Koblenz-Landau
Journal
Political Communication
Band
36
Seiten
523-542
Anzahl der Seiten
20
ISSN
1058-4609
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2019.1619638
Publikationsdatum
2019
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
508007 Kommunikationswissenschaft, 508014 Publizistik
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Communication, Sociology and Political Science
Link zum Portal
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/de/publications/a-metaanalysis-of-the-effects-of-crosscutting-exposure-on-political-participation(321fbb6f-6148-4a54-80cb-c3576df459f3).html