The Effect of Internet Connectedness on Civic

Engagement among UAE Arab Residents

-----------------------------------------

Dr. Azza Abdel-Azim Mohamed

United Arab Emirates University - UAE

Abstract:

he main concern of this study is to explore the role of individual

T
Internet connectedness in building civil society. This study examines
Internet connectedness among United Arab Emirates’ Arab
residents in the two main Emirates Abu-Dhabi and Dubai (n=399).
The results reveal that three factors determine the Internet goals
among UAE residents. These goals are: interpersonal utility and
entertainment, News seeking and paying. No significant difference
between Internet high connectors and low connectors in terms
of their civic engagement was found. Civic engagement-based
Internet use is more important than Internet connectedness as a
whole to increase the civic engagement among Emirates residents.

The T-test indicates that there is no significant difference between

people who depend on Internet and others who depend on traditional
media to gain information about civic activities in United Arab
Emirates.

Key words: Internet connectedness- Civic Engagement - Media

Dependency – Social Capital.

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Introduction:
One can argue that the Internet can be seen as a social-capital-
building technology because existing social networks can take
advantage of the information distribution aspects of the network
to become more effective and connected communicators.
(Kavanaugh, A & Scott J. P., 2001, p: 498).

United Arab Emirates (UAE) is considered one of the most Arab

countries that adopted rapidly new computer-based technologies
that are used in every day life. Using Internet is widespread in all
institutions in UAE. Mohamed, Azza (2006) found that Emirates
people depend on Internet to get detailed information about certain
events; although they believe that traditional media (TV and
newspaper) are more credible than the Internet.
This study is concerned with Emirates residents’ use and
connectedness of Internet. It explores the digital divide existence
among UAE residents; which defined as access or lack of access to the
Internet, by demonstrating differences in Internet connectedness.

Theoretical Framework and Literature Review:

The Internet connectedness and Social Capital approach, with
emphasis on Civic Engagement, are forming the theoretical frame
work of this study.

Civic Engagement within the Social Capital approach:

A normative conception of Civic Engagement, as McBride et al.
(2006) indicated, construes civic behavior as activities oriented
toward collective action, care, concern, and development of others
as well as social decision making and resource allocation. (P: 153).
Theexperienceofparticipatingincommunityprojects,volunteering,
and engaging in other membership activities reinforces norms of
obligation and cooperation, encouraging additional involvement in
community life (Shah et al (2001, p: 143).

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In Social Capital Model, the focus is on the media distracting people
from civic engagement. Indeed, media-related variables only feature
in two of Pattie et al.’s (2004) five models of citizen participation,
playing a positive causal role in the ‘cognitive engagement’ model,
where the focus is on the motivated seeking of political information
through news and a negative causal role in the ‘social capital’
model, where the focus is on the media distracting people from civic
engagement. In none of these models is media consumption treated
as a significant consequence of civic participation. (Livingstone &
Markham, 2008, p371).
In Social Capital model, Putnam (2000) stresses the importance
of social or interpersonal trust in enabling the local or voluntary
participation that strengthens community relations, this feeding a
virtuous circle of civic engagement.

The social capital model regards high television consumption

as a major cause of declining levels of social capital and civic
engagement: ‘just as television privatizes our leisure time, it also
privatizes our civic activity, dampening our interactions with one
another even more than it dampens individual political activities’
(Putnam 2000: 229). Indeed, many have judged the media to have
‘undercut the kind of public culture needed for a healthy democracy’
(Dahlgren 2003: 151). The media, it is claimed, keep people at
home and away from civic and community spaces; distract them
by easy entertainment so they neglect more demanding news and
current affairs; transform the content of news, in an age of political
marketing, so that it encourages cynicism or disengagement

For the recently-arrived Internet, Wellman et al. (2001) identify an

individualizing effect; but others point to its community-building
and social networking features. When the Internet engages people
primarily in asocial activities, then even more than television,
its immersiveness can turn people away from community,
organizational and political involvement, and domestic life. By

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contrast, when people use the Internet to communicate and
coordinate with friends, relatives and organizations – near and far-
then it is a tool for building and maintaining social capital (p 23).

Internet connectedness:
In UAE, there is 2,300,000 users as of Aug./07. The growth in
Internet usage is 132.4% from 2000-2007, which represents a rate
of 5.1% from the Middle East. (http://www.Internetworldstats.
com/middle.htm. On: 20/7/2008). This indicates how far the
Internet usage spreads among UAE residents. People in Emirates are
living in a very rich communication environment where adaptation
of high-tech. communication devices is very rapid and available to
most of people. United Arab Emirates has witness the integration of
the Internet into the daily lives of the general public.

Internet connectedness is defined by several researchers. Some

scholars (e.g.: Jung et al 2001; loges & Jung 2001) considered
the “Internet connectedness” as a multidimensional relationship
between individuals and the Internet to evaluate how individuals
differed in their capacity to incorporate the Internet to add social,
culture and economic value to every day lives. These studies
present the Internet Connectedness Index (ICI) as a new measure of
the quality of Internet connection.

Kim et al (2004) defined the “quality” of individuals’ Internet

connections – what called Internet connectedness- not by the level
of physical connectivity that individuals have to the Internet, but by
how broadly, intensively and productively individual connect to the
Internet to every day lives (p: 612).

The term Internet connectedness, developed in Communication

Infrastructure theory reflects a multilevel and contextual way of
envisioning the relationship between individuals and technology
(Ball-Rokeach et al. 2001). Thus it is not defined in terms of

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individual’s uses of communication media available to them
but as socially structured relations between individuals and the
communication environment. (Loges & Jung, 2001, p. 537-538).

Jung et al. (2001) emphasized the importance to differentiate

between the term use and connectedness. They conclude that some
researches employ the term use to share conception of computer-
based technologies as tools that autonomous individual use to
gratify their needs. They focus on identifying the range of uses or
users and attempting to account for variations among users in terms
of psychological, socio-demographic, and other characteristics.
The term connectedness reflects a multilevel and contextual way
of envisioning the relationship between individuals and technology.
On the other hand, Xenos, M & Mory (2007) stated that there are
two approaches to study Internet effect; instrumental approach
and psychological approach one. The Instrumental approach
emphasizes direct relation between the costs of communication
and participation; while in the psychological one, the motives
characteristics and social context of users play a greater role (p:
706).

Jung et al (2001) noted that Internet connectedness is very useful in

the stage of developing communication policies for underdeveloped
communities or underserved group of people in a society. The
Internet Connectedness Index (ICI) is applicable in two ways. First,
different ICI scores will indicate where the subsidy and educational
resources should be allocated in a community. Second, individual
items of ICI can signal what kinds of specific interventions are
necessary for certain groups of people. This will enable an efficient
policy implementation, which is more likely to bring up those who lag
behind in incorporating the Internet to achieve their daily goals (p:
530-531).

Internet connectedness and Civic engagement:

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There is a unique argument among researchers regarding how
Internet Connectedness might affect individual involvement
and engagement in community. Some researchers argue that
increase usage of Internet might cause physical inactivity, (Kraut
et al 1998, p1019) decline in participants’ communication with
family and friends, and decrease the time socializing and attending
events outside the home that might lead to losing touch with social
environment (Nie and Erbring 2000).

Moon (2006) analysis suggests that overall media use has an

influence on engagement. News attention operates as the strongest
predictor of civic engagement. Shah et al. (2006) reveal that online
media complement traditional media to foster political discussion
and civic messaging which in turn influence civic participation. Age
might make difference in civic engagement. Lupia (2005) survey
reveals an important difference between young and old participants;
they disagree about which websites have the desired attributes. (P:
1123).

MotiveofusingInternetmakedifference.FergusonandPerse(2000)
indicated five major reasons for Web surfing: entertainment, pass
time, relaxation, social information and information. They stated
that Internet may be functionally similar to television, especially in
its use for diversion.
Zhu & He (2002) in their study of the influence of perception
of characteristics, needs, and popularity on Internet adoption,
they concluded that the more popular an in dividual believes the
Internet is among his/her family members or people within the same
occupation, the more likely the person is to adopt the Internet (p.
489).
Shah, McLeod and Yoon (2001) concluded that Internet use pattern
more strongly influence trust in people and civic participation than
do uses of traditional print and broadcast media, particularly among
the youngest adult Americans (p.491).

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Xenos and Moly (2007) found a pattern of direct effects of Internet
use on basic information acquisition and use. They revealed that
there are contingent effects for concrete acts of civic or political
engagement.

Dutta-Bergman (2005) pointed out that community satisfaction

was positively related to community-based Internet use. Individuals
who are satisfied with their communities are likely to participate in
on line information gathering about community-related affairs. (p:
20).

Taking into account pre-internet levels of civic engagement and

key socio-economic characteristics, Jennings& Zeitner (2003)
indicated that Internet access has positive effects on several
indicators of civic engagement.
Coleman et al (2008) draw attention to the importance of the
Internet site designation to make the public attitude to civic
engagement more positive. They consider three elements(*) when
looking at the Internet as a part of civic engagement. First, what does
the site offer that helps citizens users to become more interested
in the information provided? Second, does it provide opportunity
or even encouragement to become involved in the process? And
finally, what did the site do that help smooth the process of citizen
users taking action? (p:191).

Xie Bo (2008) found that Internet in China might be a useful concept

(in contrast to its on line informative and communicative functions
per se) to facilitate civic engagement in the offline world. Computer
clubs might be a more affective approach to civic engagement
among older Chinese.

 (*)These elements are adopted from Yankelovich>s theory (1991)

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Research Hypotheses:
1- There is difference in civic engagement among Internet high and
low connectors (High and low ICI scores).
2- There is significant difference between Emirates and the Arab
residents in UAE in their Internet Connectedness and Civic
engagement.
3- UAE residents differ in their mean score of ICI according to their
income, education level, occupation and age.
4- There is significant positive correlation between Civic
Engagement-based Internet Use and Civic Engagement in UAE.
5- There is significant difference between Internet-dependent and
tradition media- dependent in their civic engagement.
6- There is significant difference in Internet Connectedness and
Civic Engagement in terms of years spent in UAE.

Methodology and Data Collection:

Because of time and budget constraints, the study was confined to
two Emirates: Abu-Dhabi and Dubai.

A non-probability sample was employed to generate a sample of

(399) Arab Adult residents in UAE. It includes different education
levels, occupation positions, and Arab nationalities. Kolmogorov-
Smirnov Z Test of sample normality for the demographic variables
was conducted (Z = 2.85) (p = .000) with mean (27.53) and
Standard Deviation (8.71). This indicates that distribution of the
sample is normal.

Data were collected in three weeks May-June 2008 using a

constructed questionnaire(*), which included different types of
measurements and questions based on the Internet Connectedness
Index (ICI) developed by Loges & Jung (2001).
Respondents represent different Arab nationalities living in two
 The questionnaire was written in Arabic as this is the sample mother-tongue
language.(*)

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Emirates Abu Dhabi (n=199) and Dubai (n=200). The sample
includes (242) Emirates people and (157) Arab residents from
different nationalities, males (42.9%) and (57.1%) females.

Measurements:
Internet Connectedness (ICI) index (**):
The ICI score was measured using composite variables of (10)
individual items. These include: Computer history, Task scope.
Site scope, Hours spent with Internet during last week, Goal scop,
Activity Scope, Time spent on interaction on line, Evaluation of how
Internet affects personal life, Computer miss and Internet miss.
The mean score of ICI scale was (29.29) with (61) as the maximum
score.

Civic engagement:
This is the dependent variable. It was measured by three questions.
A 12- item list that includes different civic activities was formed
Media Dependency: Respondents were asked “What is the most
important source of information about civic and voluntary work?
(TV-Radio-Newspapers - Internet - friends).
Civic Engagement-Based Internet Use:
A three point scale was used to identify how frequently respondent
use Internet (always-sometimes-never) in (6) items that represent
civic and voluntary activities. (Mean .27, SD .44).
Internet Goals:
Respondents were asked how frequently (always- sometimes-
never) they use Internet to achieve (11) different goals. These
goals were factor analyzed (see table”1”).
Demographic variables:
Respondents were asked about their age ranges from (18-65)
(M=27.5, St. Dev. 8.7) and household income last year (on a six
point scale ranged from less than 10.000 Dirham till 50.000 and
above). The median income level was 20-40.000 Dirhams per
month. Education was ranged from High school student – college

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students to post graduates and PhD holder. Also, occupation was an
open-ended question. The sample includes: (52) professions, (26)
Media people, (154) employees and 167) un-employed(*). Gender
includes: (171) males and (228) females.

Statistical Analysis:
Factor Analysis, Pearson correlation, Analysis of covariance
(ANCOVA), T-Test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Regression
Analysis.

Research Results:
Table (1): Rotated factor analysis of Internet Goals among Emirates and Arab
residents in UAE.

Theoretical Dimensions and their items Rotated Factor Loading

Factor(1):
Interpersonal utility and entertainment:
- To express myself freely .580
- To search for fruitful advices in different topics. .602
- To entertain myself. .743
- To meet new friends. .666
- To communicate with my relatives and friends. .698

Factor (2): News seeking:

- To get recent news on events surrounding me. .850
- To get news on events important to my group. .848

Factor (3): Paying: .832

- To pay bills .736
- To reserve air tickets

Note 1: KMO test for sampling adequacy: 0.686

Note2: Factor (1) “News seeking” had an “eigenvalue percentage of variance” of 27.041,
Factor (2) “Interpersonal utility & entertainment” 16.58 and factor (3) “paying” 11.47.
The factor analysis revealed that there are three factors determine
 This index is adapted from and based on Jung et al 2001 and Loges & Jung 2001. (**)

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the Internet goals among UAE residents in the studied sample. These
goals are: interpersonal utility and entertainment, News seeking and
paying Time spent on-line was correlated positively with Internet
usage goal items.

Getting news important to me(r = .165, p = .001), getting news

about event important to other groups (r = .126, .016), to express
myself (r=.166, p = .001), work missions (r =.114, p =.02), seeking
for advices (r = .09, p=.04), getting new friends (r=.124, p = .01),
and communicate with friends and relatives (r=0.25, p=.000).
A positive significant correlation (r = .232, p = .000) was found
between Internet goals and Internet connectedness. The more goals
the person has to use Internet, the more the ICI. (The correlation is
significant at .01 level).

The data in table (2) indicates the relation between ICI level and
Internet goals items.
Table (2): Pearson Correlation between ICI and Internet Goals Items

Internet Usage Goals ICI

Getting news important to me. . 289**
To get news important to other groups .178**
To express myself. .191**
Work missions .240**
Seeking advices. .178**
Making new friends. .162**
Communicate with friends and relatives .343**
Paying bills .105*
Entertainment .158**
Air ticket reservation .126*
** Correlation is significant at (.01) level
* Correlation is significant at (.05) level

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The correlation between the ICI scores and Internet goals is highest
with the goal, “Communicate with friends and relatives” (r = .343)
with mean 2.31 and SD .73 and “ Getting news important to me (r =
.289) with mean 2.34 and SD .64. It seems that these too goals are
the most important among people connected with Internet.

A positive significant correlation (r =.204, p=.000) was found

between Internet goals and Time spent on-line.
ANOVA test reveals that there is difference among ICI groups in three
Internet goals. Getting news important to me (F= 2.249, p=.000),
communicate with friends and relatives (F=2.99, p=.000), and
work missions (F=1.62, p=.013). ANOVA was not significant for the
rest of the Internet goals.

Hypotheses Test:
Hypothesis (1):
There is difference in civic engagement among Internet high and low
connectors (High and low ICI scores).
It was hypothesized that those with high Internet connection who
get High ICI scores will be more civic engaged than those with low
Internet connection who get low ICI scores. Analysis of covariance
(ANCOVA) test was used with education, income, age, occupation,
gender and nationality as covariates.

Table (3) Comparison between Internet High Connectors and

Internet Low Connectors Groups in Terms of Civic Engagement
Civic Engagement
Internet connectors Mean S. D.
Low ICI (9-29) 19.82 7.85
High ICI (30-48) 19.98 7.28
R2=.039 F = .021, df = 1, P: NS
Covariate: education, income, age, occupation, gender and
nationality

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The data in table (3) show that there is not a significant difference
between Internet high connectors and low connectors in terms of
their civic engagement. The data do not support this hypothesis.

Hypothesis (2) :
There is significant difference between Emirates and the Arab
residents in UAE in their Internet connectedness and Civic
engagement.

Table (4): Difference between Emirates and Arabs in UAE in ICI and
Civic Engagement

Standard
Variables Nationality Mean T-test Sig.
Deviation

Emirates 28.84 7.11

ICI 1.523
NS.
Non-Emirates 29.98 7.49

Emirates 20.50 7.92

Civic
1.99 .04
Engagement
Non-Emirates 18.96 6.92

T-test results prove that no significant difference between Emirates

and Arabs living in UAE was found in there Internet connectedness.
Regarding the civic engagement, a significant difference was found
in their civic engagement. Post Hoc test reveals that Emirates people
are more engaged in civic activities than UAE Arab residents.

Hypothesis (3) :
There is significant difference in the mean score of ICI according to
income, education level, occupation, age and gender.
It was found that there is significant positive correlation between

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time on-line and ICI (r= .605, p=.000).
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to see how the mean
ICI scores differ for different groups of income, education level,
occupation, age and gender.

Table (5) ANOVA of Internet Connectedness Index (ICI)

on Income, Education, Occupation, Age and gender

ICI
Demographic Variables
F P
Income 3.158 .008
Education 8.865 .001
Occupation 2.750 .04
Age 1.332 NS
Gender .669 NS
Note: df for Education =,2 income =5, occupation =3 gender=1
and age=4

Table (5) indicates that group variance of ICI are significant for
income (F = 3.158, p = .008), education (F = 8.865, p = .000) and
occupation (F = 2.750, P=.04), whereas the group variances of ICI
for age is not significant which means that there is no difference
among age groups in there Internet connectedness index scores.
Post Hoc Test (LSD) was used to know the source of difference
among different demographic groups.

Income groups: LSD reveals that the middle income category

(20.000-40.000) are the source of this difference in both of ICI
scores (p=.002) which means that those who are in the middle
income category are higher in their Internet connectedness
than those of low and high income category. This result is clear in
figure (1).

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 Table (6) ANOVA of Civic Engagement
on Income, Education, Occupation, Age and gender

Civic Engagement
Demographic Variables
F P
Income 5.437 .000
Education 3.24 .04
Occupation .70 NS
Age 2.78 .02
Gender .052 NS
Note: df for Education =,2 income =5, occupation =3 gender=1
and age=4
Table (6) indicates a significant differences in civic engagement
among income level groups (F= 5.43, p = .000), education groups
(F=3.24, p= .04), and age groups (F=2.78, p = .02).

Hypothesis (4) :
There is significant positive correlation between civic Engagement-
based Internet use and civic engagement in UAE.
The results indicate that there is positive correlation between
Internet connectedness index and civic Engagement-based
Internet use (r=.096, p =.05). Also, there is significant positive
correlation between civic Engagement-based Internet use and civic
engagement (r = .317, p= .000). No significant correlation was
found between ICI and Civic engagement.

Table (7) Regression Analysis: Civic Engagement-based Internet Use

and Civic Engagement
B F T R2
Civic Engagement-based Internet use 1.103 100.26 10.013 .202
Note: df = 1, p=0.000

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The data in table (7) suggest a significant (P = .000) positive
correlation between Civic Engagement-Based Internet Use and
Civic Engagement. The regression results explained that the more
people expose themselves to on-line information about civic
and voluntary activities, the more they might be engaged in civic
activities (B= 1.103, R2=.202). This hypothesis is supported. Civic
engagement-based Internet use is more important than Internet
connectedness as a whole to increase the civic engagement among
Emirates residents.

Hypothesis (5)
There is significant difference between Internet-dependent and
tradition media- dependent in their civic engagement.
T-test was used to test this hypothesis. (27.8%) of respondents
stated that they depend on the newspapers and magazine as the
most important source of information about the civic activities
in Emirates; while there was (27.1%) depend on the Internet.
Television-dependent was (22.1%), and then friends rate (16.8%)
the last was Radio (6.1%). T-test was used to investigate whether
there is significant difference between traditional and new media
reliant in their civic engagement.

Table (8): Difference between Internet-Dependent and Tradition

Media- Dependent in their Civic Engagement.

Civic information sources Mean St. Dev. T-test Sig.

Internet 19.28 7.03
.99 N.S.
Traditional sources 20.13 7.77

The T-test reveals that there is no significant difference between

people who depend on Internet and others who depend on traditional
media to gain information about civic activities in United Arab
Emirates. This hypothesis was rejected.

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Hypothesis (6):
There is significant difference in Internet connectedness and Civic
engagement in terms of years spent in UAE.
This hypothesis aims to investigate how Arab residents in Emirates
differ in their Internet connectedness and civic engagement
according to years of resident in United Arab Emirates.

Table (9): ANOVA Test for Difference in Mean Score of ICI and Civic
Engagement in Terms of Years Spent in UAE

Mean F
St. Dev.
Years spent in
UAE Civic Civic Civic
ICI ICI ICI
Eng. Eng. Eng.
Less than 1 year 24.00 17.5 7.83 6.04
From 1>3 years 26.36 20.26 6.19 8.48
From 3 > 6 years 29.16 16.68 6.71 5.64 4.635* 1.384**

6 Years and more 31.28 19.38 7.48 6.91

* p = 0.000 ** NS df = 3

Table (9) explains that “6 years and more” category has the highest
mean (31.28) and standard deviation (19.38). Post Hoc Test (LSD)
reveals that the more years spent in UAE among Arab residents, the
more people are connected with Internet (p = .007).

Conclusion:
This study examined Internet connectedness among United Arab
Emirates’ Arab residents in two main Emirates Abu-Dhabi and Dubai
(n=399). Also, it investigated civic engagement among those
residents. It focused on how Internet connectedness might influence
Civic Engagement. Six hypotheses were tested. The results reveal
that three factors determine the Internet goals among UAE residents

181
in the studied sample. These goals are: interpersonal utility and
entertainment, News seeking and paying. The data indicated that
there is no significant difference between Internet high connectors
and low connectors in terms of their civic engagement. The T-test
reveals that there is no significant difference between people who
depend on Internet and others who depend on traditional media to
gain information about civic activities in United Arab Emirates. Those
who are in the middle income category are higher in their Internet
connectedness than those of low and high income category. More
researches should be conducted to investigate the correlation
between internet connectedness and political participation in
the Arab countries. As Lubia (2005) stated, “The Internet is not a
monolith with which people interact as a whole. Instead, individuals
interact with specific websites. When one site gets a viewer’s
attention, the rest of the Internet does not” (p: 1125). Further
researches should be conducted to know which sites attract Arabs
and how far these sites affect people’s civic participation and
engagement,
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