Does slacktivism hurt activism?

Abstract

In this paper we explore how the decision of partaking in low-cost, low-risk online activism-slacktivism-may affect subsequent civic action. Based on moral balancing and consistency effects, we designed an online experiment to test if signing or not signing an online petition increased or decreased subsequent contribution to a charity. We found that participants who signed the online petition were significantly more likely to donate money to a related charity, demonstrating a consistency effect. We also found that participants who did not sign the petition donated significantly more money to an unrelated charity, demonstrating a moral balancing effect. The results suggest that exposure to an online activism influences individual decision on subsequent civic actions.

Can "slacktivism" work? Perceived power differences moderate the relationship between social media activism and collective action intentions through positive affect

“…Consistent with this idea, Milošević-Đorđević and Žeželj (2017) tested whether online and offline actions would be represented by a one-or two-dimensional model and found that a unidimensional model of activism better fit the data, suggesting that online and offline activism are not distinct concepts. Moreover, accumulating research shows that more online activism predicts more offline activism (e.g., Boulianne, 2009;Conroy, Feezell, & Guerrero, 2012;Fatkin & Lansdown, 2015;Lee & Hsieh, 2013, Vaccari et al, 2015Vitak et al, 2011). Together, these studies support the notion that social media activism can promote larger scale collective actions.…”

Rethinking civic computing in China

“…The notion of care of the self is critical to civic computing research that often stresses how technologies support people to action for society Lee & Hsieh, 2013;State & Adamic, 2015). Political events' global and complicated nature, the seriousness and responsibility of civic participation, and the danger of utilizing grand narrative all point to the importance of care of the self.…”

“…Such actions are serious, conscious, and responsible. They are more profound than slacktivism, which refers to low-cost, low-risk online actions that supports a social or political cause, such as a "like" or "re-tweet" (Lee & Hsieh, 2013).…”

Clicktivism: A Systematic Heuristic

“…This position contends that such acts are largely driven by a desire for instant gratification and self‐satisfaction. So, the view is that individuals perform acts of clicktivism to exercise a sense of moral justification without the need to actually engage (Lee & Hsieh, ). Here, a clear line is drawn between meaningful engagement and unsubstantial engagement, a line that holds that political change must be hard‐fought.…”

“…Building upon the work of Rotman et al (), Lee and Hsieh (, pp., 1, 8) attempt to contextualize clicktivism by providing relevant examples. They understand clicktivism as involving acts such as: clicking “like” on Facebook to show support for an interest group; signing online petitions; forwarding letters or videos; or changing a profile picture.…”