From Facebook to political actions: nationalism, patriotism, and participation in Vietnam’s digital sphere

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between three types of social media use and four dimensions of political participation on Facebook. Taking Vietnam as a context, we further looked into the mediating role of two related but distinct concepts of nationalism and patriotism in this process. Findings from a cross-sectional survey revealed that active nonsocial Facebook use was positively related to nationalist and patriotic attitudes. In turn, we found a negative association between nationalist attitude and counter engagement, including hacktivism and uncivil commenting. By and large, our study contributes to the growing body of research about digital nationalism in authoritarian states and the manifestation of political participation within this setting.