The Effect of Social Media Use in Curbing Corruption in Uganda

In this information age, social media have become a universal phenomenon. The use of mobile phones and other internet-enabled gadgets has contributed to the spread of this phenomenon. Social media contribute to forming public opinion, a general climate of transparency in society, and provide a civic forum for voicing complaints on corruption acts. Despite the innovative use of social media in Uganda, numerous failures in terms of the unsuccessful use of social media exist. Accordingly, this study aimed to further understand the use of social media in Uganda by examining the potential effects of its use in curbing corruption. The study focused on areas such as identifying the social media approaches and tools that can curb corruption in the country and examine the challenges the media faces in fighting against corruption, with significant emphasis on the government's attitude toward social media use. The research adopted a descriptive research design that provided a complete overview of the situation in the investigated country. The study utilized both primary and secondary data, utilizing qualitative and quantitative approaches. Specifically, survey questionnaires and key informant interviews were the primary data sources. On the other hand, existing literature, for instance, from different journals and books, were the secondary data sources. SPSS served as the main analytical tool used for the analysis of the data gathered as well as other supporting tools such as Excel spreadsheets were employed. Graphical presentations such as bar graph, pie charts, and tables were also used to depict pictorial information of the data gathered.