An Assessment of the Effect of TikTok Use on Gen Z Behavior: A Corporate Communication Perspective on the #RejectFinanceBill2024 Protests in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

From the recently witnessed finance bill protests in 2024 in Kenya, there is a growing capacity of social media platforms which shapes political action in the country. Traditionally, political action was based on already established institutional channels, however, TikTok is blurring this by making it possible for mobilization and participation being initiated from various people who do not necessarily have a belonging to institutions. Additionally, during the same protests, there was intensified information sharing and participation in online digital political activism. There is limited scholarly work on the effects of TikTok on offline and digital political activism. Therefore, this study sought to find out the effect of TikTok on Gen Z behavior during the #RejectFinanceBill2024 protests in Nairobi County. Data was collected through content analysis guided by a content analysis code and questionnaires distributed through Google forms. A total of 120 videos were analyzed and 380 respondents took part in the study. The study sample was obtained through snowballing. From the study, the findings indicate that there was a close relationship between the behavior of generation Z and their physical participation in the reject finance bill demonstrations. This was after data from content analysis was thematically analyzed and that from questionnaires was analyzed by the aid of SPSS. Therefore, the study concludes that TikTok was an integral site for organization, communication and facilitation of the reject finance bill political activities on the ground.