Browsing by Author "Lewis, Jonathan"

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    Factors that influence behavioural intention on political party websites in South Africa
    (2014) Lewis, Jonathan; Brown, Irwin
    The underlying context of this research is a focus on political party websites and citizen usage behaviour. The background of the study investigates how the role of the party website has risen to growing prominence in the online campaign context due to the transformative nature of the Internet on modern communication, as a whole. As a result, evaluating website quality in the political arena is of strategic importance but lacks a strong body of dedicated research in the academic community. Rigourous evaluations can point to improvements in the way parties develop and use websites to engage citizens. At an aggregate level as a result of these improvements, more effective political engagement online may contribute to healthier democratic processes and more politically active citizenry. At an organisational level, for parties themselves, more effective political engagement online can produce benefits at large scale, such as expanded reach, better targeting and profiling of constituents, with significant cost-savings, increased voter turnout and improvements to public opinion.