Up Close and Personal on Social Media: When Do Politicians’ Personal Disclosures Enhance Vote Intention?

Abstract

Two experiments investigated how politicians’ personal disclosures on social media might affect individuals’ vote intention. In Study 1 (n = 240), a male politician’s Facebook posts centering on his private life (vs. impersonal posts highlighting public activities) enhanced U.S. participants’ intention to vote for him, mostly by heightening likability. By contrast, a female politician’s personal Facebook posts lowered perceived competence, and thereby, vote intention among those who considered Facebook ill-suited for relational purposes. Using Twitter, Study 2 (n = 258) mostly replicated the findings among South Korean participants, confirming bounded benefits of publicizing politicians’ private persona via social media.

Keywords

privatization of politics social media role congruity theory task-media fit hypothesis expectancy violations theory

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