Kognitiivinen mobilisaatio ja vaalikoneiden käyttö

Authors

• Juri Mykkänen

Abstract

In this article, two sets of Finnish electoral data are used in testing the association between cognitive mobilisation and voters’ use of online voting advice applications to acquire election-related information. Firstly, the study assesses the relevance of Russell J. Dalton’s (1984) mobilisation typology in the Finnish context. Secondly, it is suggested that high levels of cognitive mobilisation will be associated with more intensive and reflective use of the applications, whereas low levels should have an opposite effect and increase voters’ dependence on the information generated by applications. Expectedly, among Dalton’s mobilisation types apartisans had the highest tendency to find voting advice applications useful and apoliticals the lowest. In the direct tests of impact of cognitive mobilisation, the regression models generally provided support for the hypotheses. Finally, estimated probabilities show both linear relationship between levels of cognitive mobilisation and uses of online applications and some interactions between cognitive mobilisation and age.