iCSR, 2016 Helping the world one 'like' at a time
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The document discusses slacktivism and analyzes motivations and behaviors of different groups on social media towards non-profit campaigns. A survey found that slacktivists and activists scored highest on openness and agreeableness, were most motivated by altruism, and slacktivists rated highest in conscientiousness. While slacktivists and activists were similar, slacktivists agreed most with being influenced to support causes on social media due to scoring high in both altruistic motivations and conscientiousness. The findings provide implications for how non-profits can engage different groups, particularly nurturing slacktivists through communication without overly emotional tactics.
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iCSR, 2016 Helping the world one 'like' at a time
- 1. Helping the world one ‘like’ at a time – The rise of the SLACKTIVIST. Freya Samuelson-Cramp* and Elvira Bolat** (PhD) *Good Agency **Bournemouth University The 5th International Conference On Social Responsibility, Ethics, And Sustainable Business
- 2. How do you prefer to donate or support charities?
- 4. MILLIONS DO NOT DELIVER WITH KONY 2012 • Video was watched over 100m times on YouTube • 3.7 million people pledged their support to help bring down Joseph Kony. • No physical revolution was acted upon
- 6. Slacktivism ˈslaktɪvɪz(ə)m/ ‘A willingness to perform a relatively costless, token display of support for a social cause, with an accompanying lack of willingness to devote significant effort to enact meaningful change.’ (Kristofferson et al. 2014)
- 7. WHO ARE SLACKTIVISTS? WHAT ARE THEIR MOTIVATIONS? HOW CAN WE ENGAGE THEM?
- 8. Aim is to investigate the motivations and interactions of social media users towards non-profit social media campaigns, with particular interest of studying slacktivists.
- 9. Theoretical Background • Slacktivism behaviour (Rotman et al.’s, 2011; Lee and Hsieh, 2013) • Social media in NPOs (Lawrence, 2013; Lovejoy et al., 2012; Kristofferson et al., 2014; Grummas, 2014) • Social media consumption (Rauniar et al., 2014; Hajli, 2013; Baker and White, 2010; Pi et al., 2013) • Social media users and the role of personality (De Valk et al., 2009; Ross et al., 2009; Correa et al., 2010; Seidman, 2013; Khaldi, 2014)
- 10. ACTIVIST SLACKTIVI ST NON- CONFORMI ST Groups Of Social Media Users And Their Relationships With Charities Kristofferson et al. (2014) Grummas (2014) Vie (2014
- 11. Emotional stability Openness to Experiences Agreeableness Conscientiousness Extroversion Donors’ Characteristics: Personality Traits (Stroebe and Frey, 1982; Brunel and Nelson, 2000; Sergeant at al., 2006; Bekkers and Wiepking, 2010)
- 12. Emotional/ Psychologic al Altruistic Familial Demonstrab le Donors’ Characteristics: Motivations (Stroebe and Frey, 1982; Brunel and Nelson, 2000; Sergeant at al., 2006; Bekkers and Wiepking, 2010)
- 13. Conceptual Framework Underpinning: TRA, TPB, Goldberg’s big five personality factors
- 14. Method • Online survey • A 48-item questionnaire: - The Big Five Personality test (Gosling et al., 2003); - Motivations and attitudes towards participants’ engagement with charities social media campaigns and content (Flora and Maibach, 1990; Pikkarainen et al., 2004; Sargeant et al., 2006; Grau and Folse, 2007; Fielding et al., 2008; Leek and Christodoulides, 2009; Seidman, 2013); - Categorisation of supporter types (Mano, 2014 + adaptation for slacktivism type). • Sample – Facebook users (convenience and snowballing) • 294 responses overall but 154 – usable responses • Usable sample: 34% male and 66% female participants
- 15. Demonstrable Attitudes Towards Charity- related Social Media Attitudes Towards Social Media Familial DemonstrableFamilial Results (1)
- 16. The subjective norm had the strongest measured relationship with attitudes towards charity- related social media than any other constructs that were analysed. NON- CONFORMIS T Those with Non-Conformist behaviours were found to have the most significant relationship with the subjective norm. Yet it was different to what had been seen for activists and slacktivists, this relationship was negative. SLACKTIVIS T ACTIVIST Results (2)
- 17. Emotional stability Slacktivists (68%) and Activists (69%) rated lowest in this personality scoring, suggesting they are affected more by their emotions and sets them apart from the Non-Conformists. Openness to Experiences Slacktivists (93%) and Activists (87%) rated the highest on this trait. This trait has been stressed as an important factor in civic engagement (Mondak et al. 2010, Brandstatter and Opp 2014). Agreeableness Slacktivists rated the highest in this trait (91%) which has been linked to being compliant with requests from others (Carlo et al 2005). Activists (78%) and Non-Conformists (70%) rated much lower. Conscientiousness Slacktivists rated the highest on scores of conscientiousness. This trait has been linked to doing ones moral duty however lower levels of conscientiousness have been found to correlate with the highest levels of giving (Ben-Ner and Kramer 2011). Extroversion Those who showed activist traits were most likely to portray the extroversion trait. This trait has been linked to people using social media to present their 'real' self rather than an “ideal” self (Michikyan et al 2014). Results (3)
- 18. Results (4) • Slacktivists and Activists were found to be very similar with their results. • 93% rated highly on the personality trait -Openness to Experiences. • Rated the highest in Agreeableness. • Rated higher in being motivated by altruism on social media than activists.
- 19. Overall Results
- 20. Emotional/Psychological motivations All social media user groups disagreed the most to being influenced by emotional/psychological motivations towards charities via social media Altruistic motivations Results found that there were more actvists who felt strongly motivated by altruism, however there was an overall larger amount of slacktivists who agreed to feeling this way. Non conformists were least motivated by altruism. Altruistic Motivations + Conscientiousness As slacktivists rate highly in both altruism and conscientiousness this could help to explain why they turn to social media to support causes. As low levels of conscientiousness correlate with high levels of giving this would explain that although slacktivists are motivated by altruism their propensity to give tangibly and greatly is lacking. Turning to social media to support charities compliments both of these personal traits. Overall Results (cont)
- 21. Implications • Further ways of exploring 3 groups via quasi-survey experimental studies or netnographic research! • Nurturing approach to communication with slacktivists! • Refrain from using emotional tactics BUT….?
Editor's Notes
- THE DIGITAL AGE HAS CHANGED CONSUMER BEHAVIOURS
- A campaign about the lives of children in Africa under the influence of a Ugandan warlord, Joseph Kony. Joseph Kony was said to have abducted 60,000 children. Watched over 100m times on Youtube. 3.7 million people pledge to ‘Cover the Night’. This cinematic film ‘Cover the Night’ 3.7 million people pledged their support to help bring down Joseph Kony. Invisible Children recieved backlash for misrepresenting information, racism, not addressing real problems.
- We’re moving from traditional methods to online support through liking, sharing and taking challenges online to raise awareness or money. However, charities have begun to experience a different kind of supporter than has arisen out of this new method of giving. The slacktivist.
- Slacktivism is a term that combines the words "slacker" and "activism“, it is most commonly associated with actions like signing online petitions, copying social network statuses or changing a profile photo in aid of a cause.
- Who are these supporters? How do we engage them? Do these Slacktivists care about the causes they are supporting? Is it an automatic response - liking and sharing but not really paying attention? What do Slacktivists mean for the future of charity and fundraising or CSR communication digitally?
- Studies on ‘Slacktivism’ behaviour in the social media context are limited with Rotman et al.’s (2011) study discussing a process framework for slacktivist and activist behaviour on social media, however, with no empirical evidence obtained to illustrate framework. Lee and Hsieh (2013) conducted study on online petitions for and against gun possession and found that slacktivist behaviour deters consumers from taking further action as they have already satisfied their altruistic needs, however, no other similar studies were conducted to demonstrate generability of results. Whether slacktivism is seen in a positive or negative light, it is important to explore and understand the reasons behind the phenomenon so that non-profit organisations can either encourage or discourage this behaviour to their advantage. According to Tuten and Solomon (2013, p.2), social media is simply defined as “the online means of communication, conveyance, collaboration and cultivation among interconnected and interdependent networks of people, communities and organizations enhanced by technological capabilities and mobility.” Charities and non-profit organisations have adopted social media as one of their core engagement and fundraising tools, due to its vast reach and cost effectiveness (Lawrence, 2013). The platform further gives a voice to issues that might otherwise have no airtime on traditional media (Lovejoy et al., 2012). Goldberg’s big five personality factors (openness, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness and neuroticism). Correa et al. (2010) found that extraversion and openness to experiences were positively correlated with social media use and that emotional stability had a negative effect. Extroversion in youths and openness to experiences in older participants also increased frequency of engagement showing the impact age has on use, mediated by personality. high level of neuroticism have been linked to using social media to create an ideal self-presentation or virtual identity (Seidman, 2013; Khaldi, 2014). Individuals can use social media to associate themselves with a product, brand or service without ever having consumed it, allowing them to manipulate their virtual identity (Khaldi, 2014). These findings may explain the driving personality factors behind slacktivism as social media users may engage with charities solely as a means to create an ideal virtual self. Seidman (2013) argues that Facebook use can be motivated by the desire for personal disclosure.
- Our research looked to identify 3 types of supporters on social media. Activists are those who mainly support offline, running a marathon or doing a bake sale but may also support online. Slacktivists are those who mainly support online, liking, sharing and commenting. And Non-conformists are those who do not take part in charities social media campaigns. Kristofferson et al., 2014 Kristofferson et al. (2014) comment that there is little coverage on the understanding of the motivations behind non-conforming social media users. A non-conformer can be described as a person who does not engage with or show their views towards non-profit campaigns on social media, irrespective of their support offline.
- I tested 4 motives, the demonstrable motive highlights the way in which somebody wants their charitable acts to be seen The Familial motive is the link between the cause and a loved one The emotional and psychological motive explains the sadness or pity which is felt and so influences a reaction And the Altruistic motive is the genuine concern for the welfare of others.
- Adopting theories of reasoned actions and planned behavior together with Goldberg’s big five personality factors, this study aims to investigate the motivations and interactions of social media users towards non-profit social media campaigns, with particular interest of studying slacktivists.
- Self-administered surveys were deemed the most suitable method for collecting data for the research due to ability to delve into what the participant thinks and believes to explain cognitive processes like opinions and behaviours with more validity (Maylor and Blackmon, 2005). This type of survey also accommodates the use of anonymity and confidentiality, which is imperative to the research as questions surrounding charitable support and donations can be quite intrusive in nature. This may have provided the research with more genuine responses from participants as they would not be affected by social desirability bias which can create issues of validity in the results (Fisher, 1993). This was important when exploring participants’ relationships with charity and donations as there is a lot of social pressure around supporting charities (Reyniers and Bhalla, 2013). Survey was distributed online via Facebook. The research was based on interaction within this platform and, therefore, needed respondents who use this site. The survey was designed using PollDaddy.com as it allowed the use of images, a larger number of questions and range of survey styles compared to other providers. Participants have been accumulated using a combination of two non-probability methods, a convenience and snowballing sampling methods. Overall, 154 usable surveys were completed. Respondents were 34% male and 66% female and 78% aged 18-34 with varied income levels (41% of the sample in the <£10000 income bracket; 18% of the sample in the £20000-30000 income bracket; 31% of the sample in the >£40000 income bracket). The survey employed the use of a 48-item questionnaire to identify demographics, personality, social media use and constructs based on motivation and processes formulated from the literature reviewed. Each variable/construct was assessed using 3 items or more to increase validity and adopted a 5-point Likert scale (Cooper and Schindler, 2011). Personal attributes were tested using an adaption of The Big Five Personality test by Gosling et al (2003). Items to test the motivations and attitudes towards participants’ engagement with charities social media campaigns and content were adapted from previous literature (Flora and Maibach, 1990; Pikkarainen et al., 2004; Sargeant et al., 2006; Grau and Folse, 2007; Fielding et al., 2008; Leek and Christodoulides, 2009; Seidman, 2013). Results of internal consistency analysis showed that Cronbach’s Alpha value for each items is greater than 0.7 indicating high scale of reliability. Categorisation of supporter types (slacktivist, activist and non-conformist – each consisting of three items) was based on Mano (2014).
- The demonstrable motive was found to be the only significant motive to influence attitudes towards social media. This would make sense as social media is a platform which enables users to demonstrate their lives, views, vanity to the masses. Yet when participants were measured on their views towards Charity-related social media the motivation shifted. It was found that the familial motive was more influential on this attitude. However, when the demonstrable motive was also thrown into the mix the significance grew stronger. The notion that family links affect ones attitudes towards a charity is not a new one, but it demonstrates how this link has transferred into the social networking era also. Previous studies mention how talking about issues and causes around the dinner table shape the way family members feel towards charity – this too may be the case for social media where many engage with dialogue between family members and are exposed to their views and this can ultimately have a knock on effect to other opinions on causes and charities also. However, as this type of attitude IS social media based it only makes sense that the demonstrable motive would make the significance perhaps separating the motivations for attitudes towards charities and charities on social media. Previous research has shown emotional campaigns to be very effective in gaining awareness and donations and it was interesting to find this was not the case in social media. You may watch TV and the advert will come on of a poor African child drinking dirty water and it may shock you or make you feel sad and want to help. But this engagement is captured as you are waiting for a programme to start. Yet social media is momentary, you scroll and scroll the webpages until you find something interesting, something that may entertain you like a video of a cat playing the keyboard. But this is difficult for charities trying to raise awareness, they need to capture that attention for long enough to promote their cause. This may be the secret behind such successes as the the ice bucket challenge who’s campaign involves an element of excitement and entertainment. Or does this lack of emotional motives denote a trend that people who like share and comment on social media campaigns do not care about the cause or charity yet act just because they are nominated or pressured into this? Previous research shows there is a connection between emotional motives and committed giving e.g. monthly. Could this be the reason for these one of donation campaigns not materialising into constant donations.
- Aral and Walker (2012) found there to be 97% more influence over the base line regarding peers of similar ages on social media. Thus, if there are many peers engaging in the same charitable act on social media the individual is likely to act in accordance to ‘fit in’. This may have been the driver behind such viral campaigns as ‘The Ice Bucket challenge’ and ‘KONY 2012’ The subjective norm plays a part in defining each supporter type. As mentioned, slacktivists had the strongest positive relationship with this variable (.234), activists followed with a weaker positive correlation (.154) and non-conformists had the only significant result and a strong negative correlation (-.245). This suggests slacktivists are more influenced by those around them and non-conformists perhaps do not engage with charity-related social media campaigns because they are less concerned with what others think. This supports the findings of Lemmens et al (2009) who found the subjective norm rated negatively for non-donors of blood but had a positive relationship with blood donors High openness to experiences is linked with social media use Low in Neuroticism – contrary to beliefs High in subjective norm – links with positive attitudes towards charity related social media Agreeableness has been linked to altruistic and prosocial behaviour, being compliant with requests from others Slacktivists would appear more caring or charitable than activists, yet perhaps due to a lack of money or time they turn to social media to do what they can to show support. The non conformists were noticably different from the activists and slacktivists. Although they agreed to being influenced by the familial and altruistic motives they were not felt as strongly as the other two supporters. They were also least influenced by the subjective norm, perhaps showing the bigger role that the subjective norm does play in the engagement of charities social media campaigns. There lack of openness to experiences is also interesting as it may show that the lack of enggement from this group could be down to not understanding the platform or what they are expected to do.
- High openness to experiences is linked with social media use Low in Neuroticism – contrary to beliefs High in subjective norm – links with positive attitudes towards charity related social media Agreeableness has been linked to altruistic and prosocial behaviour, being compliant with requests from others Slacktivists would appear more caring or charitable than activists, yet perhaps due to a lack of money or time they turn to social media to do what they can to show support. The non conformists were noticably different from the activists and slacktivists. Although they agreed to being influenced by the familial and altruistic motives they were not felt as strongly as the other two supporters. They were also least influenced by the subjective norm, perhaps showing the bigger role that the subjective norm does play in the engagement of charities social media campaigns. There lack of openness to experiences is also interesting as it may show that the lack of enggement from this group could be down to not understanding the platform or what they are expected to do.
- High openness to experiences is linked with social media use Low in Neuroticism – contrary to beliefs High in subjective norm – links with positive attitudes towards charity related social media Agreeableness has been linked to altruistic and prosocial behaviour, being compliant with requests from others Slacktivists would appear more caring or charitable than activists, yet perhaps due to a lack of money or time they turn to social media to do what they can to show support.
- DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN GROUPS Moreover, the research also found differences in motivations between all cohorts studied. Like slacktivists, both activists and non-conformists disagreed most to being influenced by the emotional and psychological motivations. This adds further support for suggesting whether it is social media which disengages the user emotionally (highlighted in objective 3) and thus is not a motivator in supporting charities on this platform. More slacktivists and activists agreed to being motivated by altruism than non-conformists, a considerable amount (17%) of those with activist behaviours claimed they were strongly motivated by altruism However, slacktivists had the highest amount of agreement for this motivation (23%) which would indicate they are more giving than activists. This argument is supported with the results from the conscientiousness trait, which is linked to doing ones moral duty, where slacktivists also rated highest. On the other hand, Ben-Ner and Kramer (2011) found that low levels of conscientiousness correlated with the highest levels of giving. This may therefore suggest that although slacktivists are more altruistic their higher levels of conscientiousness may result in them giving actual tangible support (volunteering or donations), which would explain why they turn to social media as it permits lost cost and effort altruism.
- Drawing from the research and past literature, it is clear that slacktivists can still be valuable supporters and perhaps should be nurtured in the hope that they may give more tangible support in the future. It could be possible that slacktivists are only be held back by a lack of time, money or effort and charities should still aim to build relationships with these supporters so they remembered when these resources become available. The findings suggest to increase the effectiveness of social media campaigns charities should refrain from using emotional tactics but perhaps focus on the notion of supporting a friend or family through posts and videos. As technology and its consumers evolve it is important for charities to evolve also to remain connected and relevant in today’s society. Please see Appendix A for reflective account.
- .The findings conflict on whether slacktivists are concerned with the approval of others and the ‘ideal’ social media image. As the most conscientious and altruistically motivated group, slacktivists would appear more caring or charitable than activists, yet perhaps due to a lack of money or time they turn to social media to do what they can to show support. So do you think slacktivist’s are really lazy, sitting behind a computer screen clicking away with no meaning behind their support? Just giving reported on the effect slacktivists have on donations and found that each share of a campaign or cause generated around $8 and that once people had shown support on social media they were more likely to donate. There may be a divide between slacktivists who are held back by money issues or time and choose this way to support their favourite causes, those who may be acting out of boredom or those who feel social pressures to be involved. Yet any support is better than no support and this may be just the first stage in gaining committed, long-term donors. I believe Slacktivists are the future, their support is vital in creating awareness may it only be momentary it is the greatest cost effective tool to gain support from many diverse communities across the world.