Citizenship in the digital realm and the prominent characteristics of personality known as the Big Five Traits
Keywords:
online citizenship, assessment, personality characteristics, OCEAN, internet activismAbstract
In the last two decades, the internet has evolved into a vital platform for political expression, community development, and social activism. Scholars across diverse fields have endeavored to comprehend and assess the impact of these changes on individuals' civic attitudes and behaviors. The Digital Citizenship Scale, in both its original and revised forms, has become a widely employed tool for evaluating these transformations. However, there has been a significant gap in research exploring the relationship between digital citizenship behaviors and external variables. This study addresses this gap by employing the classic Big Five Factor model of personality (Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) to examine how personality traits correspond with key aspects of digital citizenship. Survey data collected from three countries (n = 1820) revealed that personality traits exhibit unique associations with digital citizenship compared to conventional forms of civic engagement. The implications of these findings are further discussed.
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