Internet Access and Voicing Opinions: The Moderating Roles of Age and the National Economy

We investigated the association between Internet access and citizens' voicing their opinions to public officials and how age and national economy affect this association in the theoretical framework of civic engagement. Survey data collected from representative samples of residents of 126 countries were analyzed for the investigation (N = 226,716). The results of the generalized linear mixed models analyses show that Internet access is positively associated with voicing opinions to public officials and that age and national economy moderate the association. These results suggest that those who are older and those in comparatively less economically developed countries are more likely to become socially engaged once they have access to the Internet compared to those who are younger and those in developed countries. Implications of the findings and limitations of the study are discussed.