A Multi-Appeal Model of Persuasion for Online Petition Success: A Linguistic Cue-Based Approach

Abstract

Online petitions have become a powerful tool for the public to use to affect society. Despite the increasing popularity of these petitions, it remains unclear how the public consumes and interprets their content and how this public consumption and interpretation help the creators of online petitions achieve their goals. This study investigates how linguistic factors in the texts of online petitions influence their success. Specifically, drawing upon the dual-process theory of persuasion and the moral persuasion literature, this study examines cognitive, emotional, and moral linguistic factors in the texts of petitions and identifies their role in the success of online petitions. The results, which are based on an analysis of 45,377 petitions from Change.org, show that petitions containing positive emotions and enlightening information are more likely to succeed. Contrary to popular belief, petitions containing heavy cognitive reasoning and emphasizing moral judgment are less likely to succeed. This study exemplifies use of an analytical approach to examining crowd-sourced content involving online political phenomena related to policy making, governance, political campaigns, and large societal causes.