Social media platforms offer organizations new opportunities to disseminate information, attract attention, and foster participatory engagement. Drawing on stakeholder theory, this study examines how Kabul Municipality uses Facebook to engage stakeholders during urban construction projects in post-conflict governance settings, and how communication format (text-based vs. video posts) shapes stakeholders' reactions and levels of engagement. Using a case-study design, we conducted a quantitative content analysis of 482 municipality posts and 4,322 stakeholder comments, complemented by qualitative interpretation of stakeholder discourse and municipal replies. The findings show that text-based posts are predominantly supportive but generate relatively low engagement, whereas video content elicits comparatively more negative reactions and mid-to-high, issue-focused engagement. Stakeholder’s reactions targeted not only the projects themselves but also the municipality's communication practices, with the latter attracting the most criticism. Despite evident stakeholder interest, the municipality largely maintains a top-down approach, relying on dismissal and avoidance strategies that undermine participatory engagement. The study extends stakeholder engagement theory to post-conflict, non-democratic settings by foregrounding the symbolic and affective dimensions of digitally mediated participation.
Rahimi et al. (Mon,) studied this question.