Mobile communication and political participation in South Korea: Examining the intersections between informational and relational uses

• We examined collaborative workings of distinct mobile uses in the public realm.
• A national survey of adults in South Korea was used.
• Informational and relational mobile uses jointly predicted greater participation.
• Benefits of mobile communication were greater for those high in self-efficacy.

This study aims to extend the literature on mobile communication by demonstrating that multifaceted mobile practices work in coordination with one another to predict enhanced engagement in public life. Using a national survey of adults in South Korea, we show that informational mobile phone use to gather and discuss content about news and public affairs is positively associated with political participation while the corresponding link for relational mobile phone use to enhance strong personal tie relationships being also significant. More importantly, the findings indicate that the two mobile usage patterns interact with each other to explain increased involvement in political activities. However, analysis of the three-way interaction points to a noteworthy caveat, namely that those who are already engaged, by virtue of their perceived capacity to produce desired outcomes in politics (i.e., self-efficacy), are even more likely to obtain motivational benefits from the manifold uses of mobile telephony.