Using social media for supporting engagement in the public sector: a systematic literature review

Citizen engagement in all public activities is the hallmark of any democracy, as it contributes to increasing public accountability, strengthening the legitimacy of political processes and thus enhancing people’s trust in public institutions. Against this backdrop, social media applications have emerged as essential tools for citizen engagement. Although the literature over the last two decades has devoted increasing attention to the use of social media for citizen engagement, there need to be more comprehensive efforts to map and systematise contributions published on the topic to date. The present study offers a systematic review of the studies on citizen engagement, investigating how the literature has addressed the topic so far, the key themes analysed, and the related findings. In this way, it offers an original knowledge map that identifies the antecedents and determinants of the citizen engagement process via social media and the different models it may assume.