Corruption in the Limelight: The Relative Influence of Traditional Mainstream and Social Media on Political Trust in Nigeria

Authors

  • Oladipupo Abdulahi Akinola Faderal Politechnic Ede, Ede
  • Bahiyah Omar Universiti Sains Malaysia
  • Lambe Kayode Mustapha University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria

Keywords:

traditional mainstream media, social media, corruption, political trust, general election, Nigeria

Abstract

Corruption erodes trust in government. While research has established the link between the two, we know much less about how different media types affect people’s perceptions of corruption, which in turn influence their degrees of political trust. Hence, we conducted a survey during the 2019 general election in Nigeria (a country ranked 146 in the Corruption Perceptions Index) to test the relationships among media, corruption, and political trust. We recruited 688 respondents by using a multistage cluster sampling and analyzed the survey data using Partial Least Squares—Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Our findings suggest that social media have greater influence than traditional mainstream media on perceptions of corruption and that negative perceptions of corruption determine low political trust. We also found that traditional media play a significant role in fostering political trust during an election but that social media do not. We use several theoretical insights from agenda-setting and agenda-melding theories to explain our results.

Author Biographies

Oladipupo Abdulahi Akinola, Faderal Politechnic Ede, Ede

Oladipupo Abdullahi Akinola is a PhD student at the School of Communication, Universiti Sains Malaysia. His research interests include new media studies, media effects, journalism and political communication.

Bahiyah Omar, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Bahiyah Omar is an Associate Professor at the School of Communication, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Her research interests focus on social media and media effects, and she has a particular niche in examining social aspects of communication technology in the context of journalism. Bahiyah Omar is the corresponding author and can be contacted at bahiyah@usm.my

Lambe Kayode Mustapha, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria

Lambe Kayode Mustapha has a PhD in Communication Studies from International Islamic University Malay­sia. Currently, he teaches and researches media studies at the Department of Mass Communication, University of Ilorin, Nigeria. With research focuses in corporate communication, political communication, new media studies and media effects research, Dr. Mustapha has presented and published a number of scho­larly works, nationally and internationally. He is currently the Head at the Department of Mass Communication, University of Ilorin, Nigeria.

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Published

2022-02-27

Issue

Vol. 16 (2022)

Section

Articles

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