Understanding the factors that hinder online civic participation

Online medium brings new opportunities to civic participation and activism. In many countries, users adopt online messengers when staging protests and expressing their freedom of speech. While important, the literature has not delved into the factors that hinder online civic participation. In this study, we propose a model to examine factors that hinder online user participation in civic activism and investigates the underlying mechanisms of the hindrance. This model is grounded on Integrated Threat Theory and Technology Threat Avoidance Theory. We plan to use a mixed-method approach which includes a qualitative interview and a quantitative survey to test the research model.