Preview
Preview
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by
Mohammad Alotaibi
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A Dissertation
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ProQuest 13806685
Published by ProQuest LLC (2019 ). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author.
All rights reserved.
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Copyright by Mohammad Alotaibi, 2019
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DISSERTATION APPROVAL
By
Mohammad Alotaibi
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for the Degree of
IE Doctor of Philosophy
Approved by:
Graduate School
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
April 5, 2019
AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF
MOHAMMAD ALOTAIBI, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Mass Communication &
Media Arts, presented on October 5, 2018, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
The aim of this dissertation is to examine selective exposure theory on Twitter among
student users at Kuwait University, and to revisit selective exposure theory’s assumptions in the
social media era. Two studies for this dissertation have been conducted among a total of 1391
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participants to examine the selective exposure theory among student Twitter users. In both
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studies, the researcher conducted an online experiment by developing simulated Twitter interface
pages and a simulated news app to study selective exposure theory among Kuwait University
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students. The first study aimed to examine whether the students at Kuwait University tend to be
exposed to politicians in Kuwait’s parliament who share the same political ideologies. The
second study aimed to examine to what extent student users selectively expose themselves to
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specific content on Twitter, or more specifically to their like-minded group, and what drives
them to do so. Moreover, the effect of Twitter’s social endorsement features on users' news
selection has been examined. Each study sample has been drawn from different classes of
students at Kuwait University. This study also looked at the role of incidental exposure as a
means of encouraging cross-ideological exposure. One noticeable trend in the two experiments
conducted for this dissertation is that partisan selective exposure was clear among students
participating in both studies, but at different levels. Also, data showed that there was no clear
role for the social endorsements on Twitter among students in this experiment to reduce
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selectivity. Moreover, a person's political leaning is more likely to surpass the impact of the
social endorsements when users are browsing Twitter on a daily basis. Results showed that
students in the second study read tweets from accounts they did not follow in real life and they
asserted that they experienced that on a high basis. Implications of these two online experiment
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
After a long period of time spent researching that almost reached seven years, now is the
time I will add the final touches by writing this note of thanks. There are many people that have
earned my gratitude for their contribution to my knowledge in this journey. I will do my best to
acknowledge everyone who assisted me to complete this dissertation. More specifically, I would
like to thank five groups of people, after Allah (my GOD) without whom this dissertation would
not have been possible: my advisor, my dissertation committee members, my family members,
I am indebted to my dissertation chair adviser, Dr. Aaron Veenstra, for his valuable time,
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guidance and support. Despite his new position as Acting Associate Dean in the College of Mass
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Communication and Media Arts, he was with me step by step during the writing of this
dissertation. Moreover, his effort with me was not just in this project but also goes behind that.
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He always encourages me to participate in some of the major conferences in our field, and, in
fact, by following his advice, part of this dissertation has been presented at the Midwest
Association for Public Opinion Research. I feel fortunate to have him as a chair adviser of my
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Beside my chair adviser, I would like to thank my committee members Dr. Uche
Oneybadi, Dr. Dong Han, Dr. Wenjing Xie, and Dr. Scott McClurg for all their help, guidance,
and endless support. This dissertation would not be accomplished without their valuable
Special thanks goes to Dr. Oneybadi and Dr. Xie who both moved recently to different
Universities, and they never stop believing in me and agreed to continue serving in my
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dissertation committee. Despite the difference in the time zone, they were very helpful by
rearranging their schedules to fit with the other committee members in the case of meetings.
I am also grateful to Mr. Abdulaziz Alotaibi, the owner and director of Q8-coder
company, for the time he spent with me in designing the online web system used for the two
studies of this dissertation. Translating the project's method to a real technical system was only
an idea until Mr. Alotaibi was able to help make it a reality. Thank you!
The most appreciation goes to my father, Dhaifallah Alotaibi, and my mother, Fouziya
Alotaibi. They always believe in me and my ability to be something in the future, and they
always encourage me to pursue higher degrees. They never ever forgot me in their daily prayers.
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Words are not enough to explain my feelings toward them.
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My special thanks also must go to my wife, Amjad Alossaimi, who should be credited for
this dissertation. I am extremely thankful for her supporting and preparing the suitable
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atmosphere during my work in my higher degrees. I also would like to thank my lovely daughter,
Wadhha and lovely sons, Khaled, Faisal, and Abdullah, who flourish my life, and I promise that
I will do my best to help you make your future better, Inshalla! (if Allah wills it).
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obstacles that faced me throughout the beginning of my journey. Also, my thanks goes to my
sister, Amna, and brothers, Ahmad, Omar, Khaled, and Abdulaziz, for their love and support.
They always asked me about my study and encouraged me to keep moving until the end.
University for granting me this scholarship and giving me this opportunity to enhance my
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I would like to thank those who helped me in the stage of collecting data from students at
Kuwait University. Their help was noticeable and never forgettable: Dr. Adam Alotaibi, Dr.
Obaid Alotaibi, Dr. Fawaz Alajmi, Majed Alossaimi, Dr. Mosaa Alrashedi, Dr. Sultan Aldaihani,
Dr. Layla Alkhayaat, Dr. Saud Althajeb, Dr. Nawaf Alhjri, Dr. Nawaf Alotaibi, Dr. Ayied
Alardi, Dr. Mohammad Zayid, Dr. Fahad Almoneer, Dr. Abdualaziz Alsaqobi, Dr. Mohammad
Almotar, Dr. Ali Shoaib, Dr. Nasser Alotaibi, Dr. Mohammad Altamimi.
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DEDICATION
To Allah (my God) the all great without whom I could not accomplished this.
To my country: Kuwait
To Kuwait University
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... i
DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... vi
CHAPTERS
CHAPTER 1 – Introduction.................................................................................................1
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Overview ..........................................................................................1
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CHAPTER 2 – Literature review .........................................................................................6
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Social media in Kuwait ..................................................................23
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Research Questions and Hypotheses .............................................45
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Hypotheses .........................................................................46
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CHAPTER 3 – Methodology Section ................................................................................49
Participants .....................................................................................52
Pilot Study......................................................................................53
Main page...........................................................................54
Procedure .......................................................................................55
Measures ........................................................................................56
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Political Leaning ............................................................................56
Participants .........................................................................64
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Stimulus Material ...............................................................65
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Tweets ................................................................................70
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Social Endorsements ..........................................................71
Procedure .......................................................................................72
Measures ........................................................................................73
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Partisan Level.....................................................................74
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Experiment Results ............................................................79
Implications ...........................................................................................105
Limitations .............................................................................................106
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................109
APPENDICES
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APPENDIX B – Study 1 Design in Arabic .....................................................................131
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APPENDIX C – Study 2 Design .....................................................................................139
VITA.... ........................................................................................................................................161
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LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
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LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE PAGE
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Figure 8 - Second Study General Model…....................................................................................82
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Figure 9 - Model 1 .........................................................................................................................83
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Overview
The field of mass communication has been dominated by the ideology of media effects,
in which the audience is portrayed as a passive participant in the communication process. This
ideology drove most of the research in the communication field for a long time. The hypodermic
needle theory, magic bullet theory, and two-step flow theory are examples of what scholars used
to define the communication process. In fact, how or why individuals select media messages was
not essential or maybe did not grab the attention of scholars, especially in the era of traditional
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media (i.e. TV, newspaper, etc.), where this was the dominant paradigm.
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The uses and gratification theory formulated by Katz and his colleagues in early 1970s
was one of the first models that grabbed attention from the media affect paradigm to the
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audience’s active role in the communication process. Katz (1959) asserted that this model started
to change the focus from “what do media do to people” to what people do with the media” (p.2).
Therefore, this theory was considered the model that refuted the absolute media effect.
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Selective exposure theory is one of the theories that doesn’t just explain media selection,
but goes beyond that to illustrate why specific messages are selected and others ignored or
avoided. Selective exposure exists when an individual is more likely to expose himself/herself to
Westerwick (2015), selective exposure is “any systematic bias in selected messages that diverge
Scholars studied this theory, especially in the age of traditional media, and found proof
that the selectivity witnessed among individuals is due to pre-existing opinion. (Klapper, 1960;
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Knobloch-Westerwick& Meng, 2006; Stroud, 2008). However, in the age of technology and the
Internet, there were skeptics as to the future of the selective exposure theory. Some voiced the
idea that Internet would not provide a place for selectivity among the great quantity of news
items arising from so many different political arenas. However, there is no evidence that new
Instead, there were those who believed that, even in the age of technology and the wide
use of the Internet, people tend to be more and more selective in terms of exposure. Sunstein
(2001) asserts that that the more diverse the views or information become, the more individuals
desire to be exposed to information similar to their own beliefs. Studying the U.S. blogosphere
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during the 2004 presidential election, Adamic and Glance (2005) noticed that there were a few
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cross links in each blog, while most of the links in each blog held the same ideology.
Social media in general came with the promise of sharing ideas and opinions no matter
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their origin or background of the person posting. Users of social media apps might be less
selective of the information to which they are exposed because of the technology and the
facilities that these apps provide which may connect user with others who may don’t know.
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Therefore, the idea of examining the selective exposure theory among social media users caught
the attention of scholars. Messing and Westwood (2014) found that social media websites
demonstrate a great ability to reduce selective exposure through increased exposure to different
Twitter is a popular social media platform used across the globe. As of June 2016, there
were approximately 313 million active Twitter accounts around the world, 79% of which were
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Like other social media platforms, Twitter was originally designed for communication
among people, no matter the distance between them or difference in languages. However, unlike
most social media platforms, Twitter allows only a limited message length of 280 characters.
This limitation encourages users to include hyperlinks to other websites to support the purpose of
because of the value in their large number of users and the diversity of topics. Twitter is a
platform that is based on a connection between users who are exposed to each other’s tweets and
interact with one another by “liking” a tweet, retweeting, or reply to a tweet. Therefore, studying
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the nature of these interactions offers value in revisiting the theory of selective exposure in the
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context of the social media age.
Moreover, Kuwait has a very small population of about 1.5 million (Snoj, 2015). The majority of
Kuwaitis are Twitter users (El-Ahmad, 2012), and approximately 70% of them are young
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(Kuwait Government Online, 2013). Therefore, studying selective exposure theory in the
Kuwaiti Twittersphere is worthwhile to learn how Twitter users are exposed to others on Twitter
In order to study the Kuwaiti Twittersphere and the extent to which Twitter users are
selective in their exposure, identifying users’ political leanings is essential. But Kuwait is a
country without political parties; the Kuwaiti political system does not acknowledge political
parties. Therefore, examining the selective exposure theory on Twitter in Kuwait is complicated.
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Student organizations within Kuwait University might be the appropriate place to study this
The student organizations in Kuwait University compete every year to lead the National
Union of Kuwait Student. These organizations have many supporters among the student body
who share the same principles. Each student organization has a specific political leaning (Kuwait
Times, 2009). Most likely they represent some other movements outside of the University
borders which make this study’s output essentials for predicting the situation in Kuwait in a
general sense.
Two experiments have been conducted to examine the selective exposure among student
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Twitter users at Kuwait University. The aim of the first study is to examine whether students
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participate in this experiment tend to be exposed to politicians who share their same political
ideology. The second study aims to examine to what extent students participate in this
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experiment are selectively exposing to like-minded groups on Twitter and, if they are, what
drives them to do so? The researcher examined the effect of “likes,” “comments,” and “retweets”
that Twitter has on the news selection of student users. The first study examined the selective
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phenomenon in a news app format and the second study examined the selectivity behavior on
Twitter.
Studying the theory of selective exposure in a new area such as Kuwait is considered a
new contribution to communication research through examination of this theory among Twitter
users at Kuwait University. Moreover, no studies have examined the selective exposure aspect
for traditional news sources in Kuwait, which make this study the first in both the traditional and
new media among young Kuwaitis at Kuwait University. Furthermore, choosing the student
organizations at Kuwait University as the sample for this dissertation may also contribute to the
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research because there no studies have focused on the political leanings of these organizations.
This makes the findings of this dissertation a source for a future study interesting in this area of
research.
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theoretical Framework
Selective exposure is likely to be considered one of the important theories that precede a
paradigm shift in the absolute power of media to be limited in mass communication field.
According to this theory, the audience is an important component that can affect the effects
equation. According to Bauer (1963), as audience members “[w]e don't just receive messages—
we choose among them” (p. 2). At the same line, this theory explains how the audience became
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In fact, the idea of selective exposure is not new, but existed as early the 1940s.
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Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet were the first to touch on this concept in the context of mass
Festinger touches on the concept of selective exposure and provides an explanation of it.
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(Festinger, 1957)
Selective exposure theory, basically, asserts that an individual tends to expose him or
herself to a supportive point of view rather than a contradictory one (Garrett, 2009). Knobloch-
Westerwick (2015) defines it as “any systematic bias in selected messages that diverge from the
composition of accessible messages” (p. 3). According to Stroud (2011), selective exposure can
be better explained by Festinger’s theory: cognitive dissonance. This theory hypothesizes that
when dissonance is presented, individuals will be more likely to avoid situations or information
that cause the inconsistency (Festinger, 1957). This theory assumes that when an individual
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holds two conflicting pieces of information about a specific issue, he or she will start to reduce
Festinger (1957) proposes that selective exposure is considered one method for reducing
the dissonance. There are three hypotheses that explain the relationship between the amount of
dissonance and the selective exposure process. He asserts that the level of dissonance might be
low or nonexistant, moderate, or very high. Therefore, an individual’s motivation for selective
If the level of dissonance is low or non-existent, there will not be any motivation for
selective exposure. However, when it exists at a moderate level, the individual will be more
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motivated to be more selective in order to reduce the dissonance and avoid any information that
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might increase it. The last level is when the amount of dissonance become very high. In cases
where the level is high, Festinger proposes that selective exposure will not be effective in
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reducing the level of dissonance. This could then lead the person to look for counter viewpoints,
choice. In fact, the author mentions that individuals must be available, which means having
access to any media outlet. Moreover, there must be a diversity of choices and individuals should
Selective exposure is one of the debatable theories in the field of mass communication.
For a long time it was debated whether or not this phenomenon existed or not among a wide
body of scholars. In their book, The People’s Choice: How the Voter Makes Up His mind in a
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Presidential Campaign, Lazarsfeld et al. assert that “[P]eople select their exposure along the line
of their political predispositions […] a positive relationship exists between people’s opinions and
Klapper supports the selective exposure phenomena, saying, “The tendency of people to
expose themselves to mass communications in accord with their existing opinions and interests
and to avoid unsympathetic material, has been widely demonstrated” (1960, p. 19-20).
Moreover, in his study Interest in Supporting and Discrepant Information, Mills (1968) found
On the other hand, some scholars dispute the phenomenon of selective exposure.
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Freedman and Sears (1965) found inconsistency in the evidence that might support this theory.
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They mention that in some circumstances people not only tend to be exposed to information that
supports a pre-existent opinion, but sometimes they tend to be exposed to counter viewpoints.
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McGuire (1968) shares the same concerns regarding the inconsistency in evidence of the
Since early time until recently, some scholar in mass communication was doubly have
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evidence of the Selective exposure theory. Some scholars, such as Zaller (1992) and; Jonas et al.
(2005), question the outcomes of studies that support this theory. Kinder (2003) asserts clearly
that the evidence supporting this theory is weak. He continues, saying, “[W]e now know that
people do not, for the most part, seek out mass communications that reinforce their political
Stroud (2008) asserts that the reasons behind the weak evidence supporting the selective
exposure theory lie more in the topics with which researchers choose to examine this
phenomenon. Reviewing the literature of this theory illustrates how diverse it is terms of the
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