Parties, Candidates and Citizens On-Line - Åbo Akademi

campaign, the most information-rich and engaging websites had, to a larger extent, been
provided by major-, rather than minor- and fringe party candidates. Moreover, in this
study, being a competitive candidate was a significant predictor of information provision
[B=.909], resource generation [B=.524], participation [B=.934], and campaigning
[B=.305]. Incumbent status was significant in predicting the index scores in information
provision [B=.646], networking [B=7.474] and campaigning [B=.502]. Both inter- and
intra-party variables seem to be quite consistent groups of predictors. Regarding the effect
of inter-party variables, the patterns found in several other studies of party websites are, by
and large, replicated in this study of candidate websites (cf. Gibson & Ward 2002: 112, 121;
Gibson et al. 2003: 55-62; Gibson & Römmele 2003: 97-9). Lower candidate age seems to
be a weak but consistent predictor of all indices amongst the controlling variables (cf.
Carlson & Djupsund 2001: 74).
Focus is now turned to the delivery of the websites. Which factors predict high
mean scores on the delivery indices? The two sets of independent variables are again
entered as predictors in an OLS multiple regression model along with the two sets of
controlling variables. The results are displayed in Table 6.
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