Revisiting civic voluntarism predictors of college students’ political participation in the context of social media

• We examine civic voluntarism predictors of online and offline political participation.
• Civic voluntarism predictors tend to positively influence political participation.
• Political participation on social media was a mediator of offline political participation.

Utilizing and revamping the civic voluntarism model developed by Verba et al. (1995), this study examines civic voluntarism predictors and their influence on college students’ online and offline political participation in the context of social media. Results showed that college students with more civic voluntarism predictors (i.e., resources, psychological engagement, and recruitment) tend to participate more in political activities. The findings further revealed that individual subcomponents of each civic voluntarism predictor have different effects on SNS and offline political participation. The findings also confirmed that there is a mediating role of SNS political participation between civic voluntarism predictors and offline political participation.