Online Political Participation in Spain: The Impact of Traditional and Internet Resources

This article examines how traditional and Internet resources are related to three online modes of political participation (contact, donation, and petition) in Spain. Using a Heckman selection model, we find that traditional resources are more important in predicting access to the Internet than online participation. Among Internet users, traditional resources are irrelevant for predicting participation, while online resources are important to understanding who participates online. We also find that the effects of resources are not the same for all modes of participation and that some characteristics of the political system may shape the effects of resources on online participation.