What makes people engage in civic activism on social media?

Abstract

PurposeGiven the profound impact of social media on civic activism, as demonstrated by the #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo movements, the current study aimed to examine the factors that influence the public to engage in civic activism on social media platforms.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the responses from 4,316 social media users who participated in the 2018 American Trends Survey (Wave 35) conducted by Pew Research Center. The dataset was analyzed using hierarchical regression.FindingsThe results suggest that respondents who were younger, female, White and liberal were more likely to participate in activism-related behaviors, such as using hashtags, changing profile pictures and participating in groups with shared interests in political and social issues. Respondents' engagement in online civic activism increased particularly when they had a strong motive for expressing and sharing their opinions. In contrast, external online political efficacy – the belief that social media influences policymaking and decision makers – was not significantly associated with activism engagement on social media.Originality/valueThis study identified key demographic characteristics of social media users who participate in online civic activism. In addition, the findings extend previous lines of inquiry by examining and assessing the impact of external online political efficacy and opinion expression motive. We conclude that individuals engage in civic activism on social media mainly because they find it important to express views on political and social issues and to find others who share these views, as opposed to thinking that social media can be used to exert influence on policy decisions.

Battling for Consumer's Positive Purchase Intention: A Comparative Study Between Two Psychological Techniques to Achieve Success and Sustainability for Digital Entrepreneurships

“…Consumers may not resist a strong message or strong content that shares the product's innovating features and functions. The great increase in purchase intention will automatically lead to more sales (Hong and Kim, 2021).…”

Understanding Civic Engagement on Social Media Based on Users’ Motivation to Contribute

“…The Internet is assumed to have promoted civic engagement since it offers convenient and manifold opportunities to gather up-to-date information, gain knowledge, connect with others and organise actions [3]. While the goals of traditional offline and online civic engagement are the same, expressing opinions and sharing believes can be done with little effort and at a low cost on the Internet, especially on social media [1,9]. Civic engagement activities on social media such as liking a post that deals with a topic of public concern, require as little effort as one click [1,2].…”

“…Civic engagement refers to "individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern" [1]. These actions can take various forms, ranging from individual voluntarism to organisational involvement or participating in elections.…”

“…With the rise of social media, taking part in civic engagement activities has become easier and more convenient. Social media enable simple and cheap opportunities to express opinions, organise actions or acquire knowledge about a topic of public concern [1][2][3].…”

“…While these technological affordances that social media offer for civic engagement have been well explored, people's motives for contributing to civic engagement activities on social media are still opaque. There are, for example, conflicting believes as to whether the driving force is to express oneself in terms of sharing opinions or whether the use of social media is mainly seen as an instrument for reaching a higher civic engagement goal [1]. The individual motivation, which is the driving force for all kinds of action [4], has hardly been investigated when it comes to contributing to issues of public concern on social media.…”