Social Activism through E-petitions: Explaining targeting decisions and corporate responses

Abstract

With the advent of media 2.0, e-petitions have become a rampant tactic for activists to press their requests for corporate policy changes. Still, we know little about the mechanisms underpinning this new tactic in terms of how it impacts the targeting decisions of filers of e-petitions and the effectiveness of this medium to garner firm responsiveness. In this paper, we extend current research at the intersection of activism and social movements and develop a conceptual framework for understanding the factors that increase a firm’s propensity to become a target of e-petitions and a firm’s likelihood of responding symbolically or substantitively to the petitioned request. We conclude with directions for future research to test and expand our conceptual development of the the impact of e- petitions.