The Impact of Social Media Campaigns, Digital Literacy, and Political Efficacy on Generation Z's Political Participation in the Local Elections
Abstract
Generation Z (Gen Z) constitutes a significant segment of the electorate in Indonesian general elections; however, their political participation in regional head elections remains consistently low. This limited engagement is likely influenced by factors such as exposure to inaccurate information, low political self-efficacy, and insufficient depth of digital literacy. The study aims to examine the influence of social media campaigning, digital literacy, and political efficacy on the political participation of Gen Z voters in the 2024 Pilkada in the City of Padang. A quantitative approach with a survey design was employed, involving 100 purposively selected Gen Z respondents residing in Padang. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression to test the research hypotheses. Inferential analysis demonstrated that social media campaigning (β = 0.320, p < 0.001), digital literacy (β = 0.280, p < 0.01), and political efficacy (β = 0.410, p < 0.001) partially and simultaneously exerted positive and statistically significant effects on Gen Z’s political participation, collectively explaining 68.5% of the variance in participation. Political efficacy emerged as the strongest predictor, followed by digital literacy, which also significantly contributed to increased electoral engagement among young voters. These findings enrich the scholarly understanding of youth political participation dynamics in the digital era and offer practical implications for the General Elections Commission of Indonesia. Specifically, they underscore the need for more effective digital interventions, such as integrated social media campaigns combined with targeted digital literacy education to enhance Gen Z's active participation in future regional elections and thereby strengthen local democratic processes.
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References
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Ohme, J. (2019). When digital natives enter the electorate: Political social media use among first-time voters and its effects on campaign participation. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 16(2), 119–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2019.1613279
Ohme, J. (2020). Mobile but Not Mobilized? Differential Gains from Mobile News Consumption for Citizen’s Political Knowledge and Campaign Participation. In Mobile News (pp. 103–125). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003098744-7
Peredy, Z., Vigh, L., Wei, Q., & Jiang, M. (2024). Analysing generation Z communication attitudes, values and norms. Acta Periodica (Edutus), 30, 4–19. https://doi.org/10.47273/AP.2024.30.4-19
Prats, M., & Meunier, A. (2021). Political efficacy and participation: An empirical analysis in European countries. OECD Working Papers on Public Governance, 46, 0_1-23.
Putra, T. R., Wahyuni, R. T., Meilani, N., Anjani, M., & Sari, D. K. (2024). Paritisipasi Politik Gen Z: Eksplorasi Peran Media Sosial dalam Pembentukan Kesadaran Politik Remaja. Jurnal Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan Dan Politik, 2(1), 61–68. https://doi.org/10.61476/bpkxy103
Reichert, F. (2016). How internal political efficacy translates political knowledge into political participation: Evidence from Germany. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 12(2), 221. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v12i2.1095
Rice, L., & Moffett, K. (2021). The political voices of generation Z. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003168898
Septian, E., & Wulandari, S. (2024). Smart political movement: Building political literacy with Z generation participation in the 2024 elections. Masyarakat Indonesia, 50(1), 147–161.
Setyanti, W. Y., Ridho, S., & Irfanudin, F. (2024). Tiktok social media and democracy: A study on generation z in australia indonesia youth association (aiya) yogyakarta. Eduvest-Journal of Universal Studies, 4(12), 11808–11823. https://doi.org/10.59188/eduvest.v4i12.50109
Shrestha, N. (2020). Detecting multicollinearity in regression analysis. American Journal of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, 8(2), 39–42. https://doi.org/10.12691/ajams-8-2-1
Suuronen, A., Reinikainen, H., Borchers, N. S., & Strandberg, K. (2022). When social media influencers go political: An exploratory analysis on the emergence of political topics among Finnish influencers. Javnost-The Public, 29(3), 301–317. https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2021.1983367
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Yang, K. C. C., & Kang, Y. (2017). Social Media, Political Mobilization, and Citizen Engagement: A Case Study of the March 18, 2014, Sunflower Student Movement in Taiwan. In Handbook of Research on Citizen Engagement and Public Participation in the Era of New Media (pp. 360–388). IGI Global Scientific Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1081-9.ch020
Bartlett, T., & Schugurensky, D. (2021). Reinventing Freire in the 21st century:: Citizenship education, student voice and school participatory budgeting. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 23(2). https://doi.org/10.52214/cice.v23i2.8571
Carmi, E., & Yates, S. J. (2020). What do digital inclusion and data literacy mean today? Internet Policy Review, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.2.1474
Cheng, Z., Chen, J., Peng, R. X., & Shoenberger, H. (2024). Social media influencers talk about politics: Investigating the role of source factors and PSR in Gen-Z followers’ perceived information quality, receptivity and sharing intention. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 21(2), 117–131. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2023.2173700
Cheng, Z., Zhang, B., & Gil de Zuniga, H. (2023). Antecedents of political consumerism: Modeling online, social media and WhatsApp news use effects through political expression and political discussion. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 28(4), 995–1016. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612221075936
Darmawan, B., Hakim, L., Nazra, E. R. C., Azizah, F. P., & Nata, Z. P. (2025). The Changing Face of Padang: History of Urban Shape and Spatial Structure. El Tarikh: Journal of History, Culture and Islamic Civilization, 6(1), 64–77. https://doi.org/10.24042/00202561752800
Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11
Feezell, J. T. (2021). An experimental test of using digital media literacy education and twitter to promote political interest and learning in American politics courses. Journal of Political Science Education, 17(sup1), 634–648. https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2019.1694531
Green, S. B. (1991). How many subjects does it take to do a regression analysis. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 26(3), 499–510. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327906mbr2603_7
Hassan, M. S. (2021). How Media Literacy Competency Contribute to Political Participation Integrity Among Young People. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences.
Hassoun, A., Beacock, I., Consolvo, S., Goldberg, B., Kelley, P. G., & Russell, D. M. (2023). Practicing information sensibility: How Gen Z engages with online information. Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581328
Idris, U. Y. (2025). Media sosial dan transformasi komunikasi politik. Politea: Jurnal Politik Islam, 8(2), 49–71.
Jennings, M. K., & Niemi, R. G. (2014). Generations and politics: A panel study of young adults and their parents. Princeton University Press.
Judijanto, L., Wandan, H., Ayu, N., Triyantoro, A., & Suroso, S. (2024). Pengaruh Politik Identitas dan Penggunaan Media Sosial terhadap Partisipasi Politik Digital Pemilih Milenial dan Gen Z di Indonesia. Sanskara Ilmu Sosial Dan Humaniora, 2(01), 24–35. https://doi.org/10.58812/sish.v2i01.500
Kahne, J., Lee, N.-J., & Feezell, J. T. (2012). Digital media literacy education and online civic and political participation. International Journal of Communication, 6, 24.
Kenski, K., & Stroud, N. J. (2006). Connections between Internet use and political efficacy, knowledge, and participation. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 50(2), 173–192. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15506878jobem5002_1
Lianda, F. D., & Fernandes, R. (2025). Political Strategies Of Gen Z And Millennial Candidates: A Literature Review On The 2024 Election. LANGGAM: International Journal of Social Science Education, Art and Culture, 4(3), 35–41.
Muralidharan, S., & Sung, Y. (2016). Direct and mediating effects of information efficacy on voting behavior: Political socialization of young adults in the 2012 US presidential election. Communication Reports, 29(2), 100–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/08934215.2015.1064537
Nie, N. H. (1972). Participation in America: Political democracy and social equality. Harper & Row.
Niemi, R. G., Craig, S. C., & Mattei, F. (1991). Measuring internal political efficacy in the 1988 National Election Study. American Political Science Review, 85(4), 1407–1413. https://doi.org/10.2307/1963953
Obenza, B., & Rabaca, B. H. D. (2024). The nexus between political awareness and social media political participation as mediated by the political efficacy among youth in Region XI Philippines. Journal of Contemporary Philosophical and Anthropological Studies, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.59652/jcpas.v2i3.276
Ohme, J. (2019). When digital natives enter the electorate: Political social media use among first-time voters and its effects on campaign participation. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 16(2), 119–136. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2019.1613279
Ohme, J. (2020). Mobile but Not Mobilized? Differential Gains from Mobile News Consumption for Citizen’s Political Knowledge and Campaign Participation. In Mobile News (pp. 103–125). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003098744-7
Peredy, Z., Vigh, L., Wei, Q., & Jiang, M. (2024). Analysing generation Z communication attitudes, values and norms. Acta Periodica (Edutus), 30, 4–19. https://doi.org/10.47273/AP.2024.30.4-19
Prats, M., & Meunier, A. (2021). Political efficacy and participation: An empirical analysis in European countries. OECD Working Papers on Public Governance, 46, 0_1-23.
Putra, T. R., Wahyuni, R. T., Meilani, N., Anjani, M., & Sari, D. K. (2024). Paritisipasi Politik Gen Z: Eksplorasi Peran Media Sosial dalam Pembentukan Kesadaran Politik Remaja. Jurnal Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan Dan Politik, 2(1), 61–68. https://doi.org/10.61476/bpkxy103
Reichert, F. (2016). How internal political efficacy translates political knowledge into political participation: Evidence from Germany. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 12(2), 221. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v12i2.1095
Rice, L., & Moffett, K. (2021). The political voices of generation Z. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003168898
Septian, E., & Wulandari, S. (2024). Smart political movement: Building political literacy with Z generation participation in the 2024 elections. Masyarakat Indonesia, 50(1), 147–161.
Setyanti, W. Y., Ridho, S., & Irfanudin, F. (2024). Tiktok social media and democracy: A study on generation z in australia indonesia youth association (aiya) yogyakarta. Eduvest-Journal of Universal Studies, 4(12), 11808–11823. https://doi.org/10.59188/eduvest.v4i12.50109
Shrestha, N. (2020). Detecting multicollinearity in regression analysis. American Journal of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, 8(2), 39–42. https://doi.org/10.12691/ajams-8-2-1
Suuronen, A., Reinikainen, H., Borchers, N. S., & Strandberg, K. (2022). When social media influencers go political: An exploratory analysis on the emergence of political topics among Finnish influencers. Javnost-The Public, 29(3), 301–317. https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2021.1983367
Tariq, R., Zolkepli, I. A., & Ahmad, M. (2022). Political participation of young voters: Tracing direct and indirect effects of social media and political orientations. Social Sciences, 11(2), 81. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11020081
Van Deursen, A. J. A. M., Helsper, E. J., & Eynon, R. (2016). Development and validation of the Internet Skills Scale (ISS). Information, Communication & Society, 19(6), 804–823. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1078834
Wijaya, F. N. W., & Palapah, M. A. O. (2025). Peran Media Televisi dalam Edukasi Politik bagi Generasi Z. Bandung Conference Series: Public Relations, 5(2), 345–352. https://doi.org/10.29313/bcspr.v5i2.18868
Yang, K. C. C., & Kang, Y. (2017). Social Media, Political Mobilization, and Citizen Engagement: A Case Study of the March 18, 2014, Sunflower Student Movement in Taiwan. In Handbook of Research on Citizen Engagement and Public Participation in the Era of New Media (pp. 360–388). IGI Global Scientific Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1081-9.ch020
Published
2026-08-01
How to Cite
ARRAZAK, Muhammad Afdhal; ADNAN, Muhammad Fachri.
The Impact of Social Media Campaigns, Digital Literacy, and Political Efficacy on Generation Z's Political Participation in the Local Elections.
JESS (Journal of Education on Social Science), [S.l.], v. 10, n. 2, p. 129 -139, aug. 2026.
ISSN 2550-0147.
Available at: <http://jess.ppj.unp.ac.id/index.php/JESS/article/view/659>. Date accessed: 22 feb. 2026.
doi: https://doi.org/10.24036/jess.v10i2.659.
Section
Artikel
