Issue-based micromobilization on social media: Mediated pathways linking issue involvement and self-network opinion congruity to expressive support

Abstract

Research has provided compelling evidence on the influence of issue involvement to mobilize individuals for collective action, but none has examined the social psychological factors linking issue involvement to such outcomes or how the process affects issue-based mobilization attempts by ideologically opposing groups on social media. To fill these gaps, the current study evaluated a mediated pathway model testing the influence of personal issue involvement via individual-group identification, perceived self-network issue opinion congruity, and perceived participative efficacy on expressive support for and against the LGBTQ issue on Facebook. Strong explanation for expressive support outcomes (commenting, ‘liking,’ ‘sharing’) between both groups, 90.1% (supporters of LGBTQ) and 74.9% (non-supporters of LGBTQ), was retrieved. Group identification is a robust mediator of issue involvement, predicting expressive support irrespective of users' attitude toward the issue. Perceived participative efficacy is the strongest predictor of support expression, but, like perceived self-network opinion congruity, vary between users with different issue attitudes and involvement. Findings suggest an intricate social media-based micromobilization process that needs to consider issue-group positions and counter-group dynamics.