Gender and E-Participation in Local Governance: Citizen E-Participation Values and Social Ties

Drawing on motivation theories and social network literature, this research analyzes the relationship between each gender’s perceived intrinsic and instrumental value of participation and the strength of offline social ties and active e-participation in a local governance setting. Based on E-Participation Survey data collected from the members of an e-participation program run by local government in South Korea, the study finds that male participants who perceive greater instrumental value of e-participation are more likely to use e-participation actively. On the other hand, women who perceive a greater intrinsic value of e-participation are more likely to be active users. Female respondents were also more likely to use e-participation when they were connected to offline social groups through weak rather than strong ties, presumably because they use e-participation as a supplementary channel to their social networks. There was no significant relationship between male respondents’ social ties and their active e-participation.