Clicking for change: the role of empathy and negative affect on engagement with a charitable social media campaign

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study investigated the effects of a campaign video designed to promote prosocial behaviour by eliciting negative emotions on social network site (SNS) users’ willingness to engage with the content in ways that require little effort (e.g. ‘liking,’ commenting, and sharing). Negative affect was examined as a mediator of the effect of state empathy and content engagement, and trait empathic concern and trait personal distress were examined as potential moderators of this indirect effect. Results demonstrate that state empathy with the subject of the campaign video elicited negative affect, which in turn encouraged engagement. This indirect effect was moderated by empathic concern, such that those with greater empathic concern expressed less willingness to engage with the SNS campaign.