Predictors of e-democracy applicability in Turkish K-12 schools

Abstract

Today, the COVID-19 pandemic has paved the way for a more democratic climate in K-12 schools. Administrators and teachers have had to seek out new ways through which to interact. This raises two questions; “What about the quality of interaction and participation in decision-making?” and “Which factors affect the level of participation in decision-making?” The aim of the current research is to determine the factors that predict the applicability level of e-democracy (i.e., “reporting and declaring opinions” and “decision-making”) in K-12 schools. An associational research design was used in order to attain the main goal of the study, with Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) technique used to analyze the factors predicting the applicability level of e-democracy. Data were collected from a total of 765 inservice K-12 teachers through a questionnaire developed by the researchers. DFA results showed “motivation to participate,” “the level of participatory democracy in the country,” and higher levels of the “use of Twitter” as the significant determinants of different levels of e-democracy application. Moreover, the results also indicated that those participants with the belief of e-democracy’s applicability at the decision-making level found the “motivation level of stakeholders” to be the most critical. Their level of Twitter use was higher. They also believed that the level of participatory democracy in the country was at a higher level. Another result of the DFA pointed to “security and ethical issues,” and lower levels of the “use of Twitter” as factors differentiating the group believing that e-democracy can be applicable with reporting and the declaration of opinions to administrators from the other groups. The discussions highlighted the critical role of participation level in e-democracy within K-12 schools.

Epistemology of e-democracy and e-governance through scientific mapping

“…Proof of this is that in the literature, you can find several terms to refer to this reality, such as e-democracy, e-government, e-participation, cyberpolitics, etc. (Kneuer, 2016;Sendag et al, 2022).…”

“…The relevance of e-democracy lies in its potential for the design and implementation of procedures of a political and democratic nature that favour the inclusion and participation of citizens in decision-making processes in their different aspects, thanks to the use of ICTs (Gupta & Biswas, 2021;Sendag et al, 2022). In this way, the concept of participation acquires a capital value within edemocracy (Molnár & Urbanovics, 2020) since open debates, voting, etc., can form it and any other action aimed at promoting interaction between citizens and the competent and legitimate administrations (Prastya et al, 2021;Sirma & Kihara, 2023).…”

“…In any case, although the connections of e-democracy are varied and sometimes intentional, the fundamental element of this reality lies in the participation of the people and other actors involved. E-democracy consists of articulating and creating the appropriate context from the institutions and public administrations to transition from representative democracy to participatory democracy (Sendag et al, 2022;Sirma & Kihara, 2023).…”

“…As a consequence of the global expansion of digital media and its benefits for political communication and government processes (Kneuer, 2016;Roztocki et al, 2023), it is increasingly evident how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) influence and will continue to influence political institutions (at different levels) and their relationship with citizens (Lidén, 2015;Sendag et al, 2022) in turbulent environments (Antón-Maraña et al, 2023).…”