How do social media transform politics? The role of a podcast, ‘Naneun Ggomsuda’ in South Korea

In December 2012 South Korea completed a presidential election that exhibited a high level of political participation through podcast-based Internet use and smartphone access. Podcasts and social media in relation to political and social participation are extremely popular in South Korea. ‘Naneun Ggomsuda’ is a podcast program which is ranked first in the world among Korean-speaking users for political participation. Drawing on DeLone and McLean’s IS success model from the theoretical lens of the belief-desire-intention (BDI) framework, we propose a research model investigating the effects of three quality dimensions (systems, content, and service) of Naneun Ggomsuda’s podcast system on participation, desire and intention. Among the quality dimensions, content quality and real-time connectivity service quality have a significant impact on political participation desire. Interestingly, podcast systems quality does not show a significant effect. The study looks at critical success factors of this podcast social media system, including system quality, social content quality, service quality and social issues, and suggests practical implications encompassing the political, social, and business aspects of this program’s influence.