A systematic review of digital citizenship empirical studies for practitioners

The pervasive use of the Internet and technology has its impact on citizens’ civic participation. There are growing numbers of research which explore digital citizenship (DC) for citizens’ better civic participation in the information society. With the growing attention of digital citizenship, a systematic review of empirical research focused on digital citizenship in the past decade (2010–2020) was conducted to serve the need of different stakeholders. Synthesis was based on research purposes, methods, population, geographic distribution, instruments and factors that affect digital citizenship. Results showed that the research of the DC empirical studies varied. The themes of DC practice, education and factors attracted attention. A few reliable and valid instruments have been developed to measure digital citizenship targeted for different populations. Demographic factors, Internet use factors, psychological factors and social factors of an individual predict one’s digital citizenship. These factors may serve as indicators for policy makers to draft DC policy and educators to plan for the DC program in the society. Suggestions are provided for practitioners based on the findings.