The impact of use motives on politicians’ social media adoption

ABSTRACTStudies on politicians’ social media adoption have focused on structural antecedents, such as race competitiveness or resource availability. Yet theory suggests that new media adoption is heavily influenced by use motives. Based on a survey of politicians active on the federal level in Switzerland, we analyze the impact of use motives on politicians’ social media adoption. We identify three salient use motives and differentiate two user groups based upon their primary use motives. A multiple-group analysis of a well-established adoption model reveals how use motives affect politicians’ adoption of social media.