The Influence of Emotional Involvement on Online Activism beyond Slacktivism

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between emotional involvement with a cause and showing online activist behaviour. This behaviour is separated in slacktivism and activism beyond slacktivism. With the use of the Appraisal theory of emotion, the Resource mobilization theory, the Social identity theory and the Emotional energy hypothesis, the influence on online activist behaviour was predicted. With the use of the data from the 35th wave of the Pew Research Center, logistic regression analyses have been performed to test the relationship between emotional involvement and online activist behaviour. It was found that emotional involvement with a cause significantly influenced both slacktivism and activism regardless of the nature of the emotion.