From #Pizzagate to anti‐vaxxers, passing by 9/11 or Obama ‘birthers’, we have seen many communities growing on social media around conspiracy theories and thereby gaining public prominence. Debunking or presenting alternative views to conspiracy theories often fails because individuals within these communities can grow more resolute, encouraging and reinforcing their beliefs online. Instead of withering in the face of contradiction, such communities hunker down; escalating their commitment to their conspiratorial beliefs. By interacting over social media platforms, they develop a sense of a shared social identity, which in turn fosters escalating behaviours and can lead to radicalization. For some people, the choice of abandoning or moderating these beliefs is unthinkable because they are too deeply invested to quit. This study advances a second‐order affordance for identity‐driven escalation that explains the process of conspiracy theory radicalization within online communities. We offer a theoretical account of the way social media platforms contribute to escalating commitment to conspiracy radicalization. We show how the sequential and combined actualization of first‐order affordances of the technology enables a second‐order affordance for escalation.

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In the United States, $162 billion was spent on corporate development in 2012. Yet, some studies unveil a "The Great Training Robbery", showing that no more than 10% of training expenses are effective. This research examines the misalignment between the investment in formal training settings and the actual learning behaviors which rely mostly on informal learning and digital tools (i.e. symbolic environment), empowered by an increasingly interconnected world. The research aims at understanding the emerging behaviors of learning in context among auditors and consultants from a French affiliate of a Big Four company. Based on Bandura's work on learning in an ultra-connected universe, we identify and develop four informal vicarious learning behaviors based on symbolic media. Our work has implications for Human Resources' value proposition, which shifts away from offering content-based training to developing learning capacity.