A growing interest exists among scholars to examine how the Internet, and social media in particular, may facilitate and support not only individual political participation but also collective activism. A stream of research has examined Internet use and political participation by including the concept of internal political efficacy. However, this concept only takes into account individual perceptions of political efficacy to explain individual political participation, while a wide array of political activities are performed in coordination and in concert with others. Socio-cognitive theory proposes the concept of collective efficacy to explain agency in collective pursuits. Therefore, by propounding the concepts of online political self-efficacy and online collective political efficacy, and also the necessary correspondence between each of these concepts when looking at individual and collective modes of political participation, this dissertation argues that conflicting findings in previous studies regarding the relationship between efficacy beliefs, Internet use and political participation can be explained based on the distinction between individual and collective levels of agency. Through a survey of student members of three activist groups of a large Mid-Western university (n=222) this dissertation found 1) that the more individuals feel they are capable of using the Internet and social media to attain their political objectives the more likely they will participate in individual political actions, 2) that individual political participation has a stronger relationship with a specific measure of efficacy beliefs regarding perceptions of the capability of using the Internet for political activities than a general measure of political efficacy perceptions, 3) that individuals' previous successful experiences using the Internet for individual political participation influence both online political self-efficacy perceptions and general internal political efficacy perceptions, 4) that individuals' perceptions that the activist group they belong to is capable of using online media to attain its objectives is influenced by each individual's own perceptions that they are capable of using the Internet to attain their own objectives, and 5) that individuals' perceptions that their activist group is capable of using online media to attain its objectives influences individuals' participation in the collective actions of the group, and that this relationship is also moderated by the perceived interdependence of the activities. Moreover, this study also identified other emerging activities that individuals may undertake as individuals and as part of activist groups that add some nuances to the distinction between individual and collective levels of political participation. Findings in this dissertation are limited by the characteristics of the population studied. Also, although claims of causal relationships could be made based on socio-cognitive theory, the cross-sectional nature of the data collected limits the possibility of arguing in favor of these claims. Further research is recommended to better understand the different levels of individual and collective participation, as well as the patterns of relationships these behaviors may have with efficacy beliefs of Internet political uses at the individual and collective levels of agency.
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