Title: Determinants of people's online participation in public affairs: the role of locus of control and big-five personality traits

Authors: Guan-Yu Lin; Ching-Yun Chen; Yi-Shun Wang

Addresses: Department of Information Management, National Changhua University of Education, No. 2, Shi-da Road, Changhua 500, Taiwan ' Department of Information Management, National Changhua University of Education, No. 2, Shi-da Road, Changhua 500, Taiwan ' Department of Information Management, National Changhua University of Education, No. 2, Shi-da Road, Changhua 500, Taiwan

Abstract: This study was designed to explore the determinants of e-participation in public affairs by developing and validating an e-participation model that elucidates the relationships among personality traits (i.e., big-five personality traits and locus of control), motivations (i.e., intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation), e-participation intention and actual e-participation. The developed model was tested on data from 244 participants using the partial least squares (PLS) approach. The results indicate: e-participation intention positively influences actual e-participation; intrinsic motivation mediates the relationships between agreeableness and e-participation intention and between extraversion and e-participation intention; extrinsic motivation mediates the relationship between agreeableness and e-participation intention; openness to experience positively and directly impacts e-participation intention; and internal locus of control negatively and directly impacts e-participation intention. The findings of this study provide several important theoretical and practical implications for promoting greater e-participation by citizens in public affairs.

Keywords: online participation; intrinsic motivation; extrinsic motivation; locus of control; big-five personality traits; public affairs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2026.152929

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2026 Vol.27 No.3, pp.257 - 281

Accepted: 25 Mar 2025
Published online: 15 Apr 2026 *

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