Source effects in the micro-mobilization of collective action via social media

Abstract

Research has shown that micro-mobilization efforts that invoke social media rely heavily on the influence of personal networks to motivate collective action participation. This study examines whether this trend applies (a) to networks of different levels of personalness, (b) to causes and organizations which people are either unaware of or not affiliated with, and (c) how personal networks affect people's willingness to participate in online versus offline forms of collective action, when personal dispositional factors (activism-and issue involvement, perceived self-, technological-, and group efficacies) are considered. An experiment (N = 315) tested whether calls-to-action by different sources via social media (close personal networks v. distant social networks v. organization officials) influence individuals' willingness to publicly express support online through social media-based collective activities (e.g. commenting, hyperlinking, 'Liking', etc.) and offline activities (e.g. demonstrations, donning campaign materials, etc.). Findings are leveraged to provide practical insight and to inform theoretical development in these domains.

Theoretical approaches of online social network interventions and implications for behavioral change: a systematic review

“…Within the studies that were health related, the topics varied from physical activity and healthy lifestyle, to hip fracture prevention, uptake of vaccination, coronary heart disease prevention, sexual transmissible infection prevention, and smoking cessation . Within the studies that were not health‐related interventions, 4 papers dealt with online shopping or brand community and 1 paper addressed the topic of activism engagement . The countries of origin of participants were the United States for 9 studies, with the remaining in Hong Kong, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and New Zealand …”

“…The methodologies used in these studies involved random allocation to either an intervention or a control group, with an exception of one study, which used a quasi‐experimental design with a control website as a comparison group. All the other studies involved RCTs and controlled laboratory experiments …”

“…In all these studies, the outcomes were associated with behavioral changes, either as an adoption of a new behavior (eg, physical activity, smoking cessation, and registration on a website) or the intention of new behaviors (eg, intention to get vaccinated, purchase intention, intention of engaging in a community, or of joining an activist group) …”

“…The participants were either university students, or they were recruited according to their specific medical condition, or their assumed risk to develop a specific condition. These conditions included: sedentary lifestyle, risks of coronary heart disease, human immunodeficiency virus and sexual transmissible infection, smoking, and relapsing‐remitting multiple sclerosis .…”

TIC e movimentos sociais no urbano do século 21: interfaces e possibilidades na busca pelo direito à cidade

“…Basta um clique de uma pessoa para mobilizar e influenciar novos participantes para um ativismo pelas redes sociais (NEKMAT et al, 2015).…”