A Model of Collective Action in Digital Media Networks: Cultural and Sociopsychological Origins of Civic Digital Campaigns

• In Event: Digital Media and Communications Activism

Abstract

Based on a sample of 197 digital civic campaigns in 37 countries, this paper uses regression analysis (OLS) to test whether cultural and sociopsychological factors can predict the number of civic digital campaigns at the national level. It also uses OLS to explain different countries’ variation in proportions of campaign types. There are 5 campaign types, identified by the 5 different campaign goals: governance, distribution of resources, human rights, environment, and consumer satisfaction. The analysis reveals that countries with one or more of the following characteristics have more civic digital campaigns: more traditional values, a higher average of years of schooling, and less satisfaction with life in general among the country’s citizens. It was also found that perceived political efficacy increases the proportion of consumer satisfaction campaigns but decreases the proportion of governance campaigns; also, more secular countries exhibit increased proportions of environmental civic campaigns.

Author

• Luis E. Santana, Fundacion Democracia y Desarrollo