Publicação
Understanding the role of descriptive norms for participation in collective action: The case of the housing movement in Portugal
| Resumo: | Collective Action (CA) has been considered a fundamental driver of social change starting at a grassroots level. Previous research established identification, efficacy, injustice, and morality as core motivational predictors of CA intentions. However, the role of social influence and social norm-adherence is less clear. In two experiments, using a mixed-method approach and a self-persuasion technique, we manipulated descriptive norms of participation in the housing movement in Portugal (Experiment 1: high vs low, N = 235; Experiment 2: high vs. control vs. low, N = 330), and measured several forms of CA intentions (i.e., general, conventional, non-normative and violent). We hypothesized that higher participation norms should lead to stronger CA intentions and that this relation is mediated by predictors of CA proposed by the Social Identity Model of CA (SIMCA). Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no total effect of descriptive norms on intentions to participate. However, the overall indirect effect was significant on all measures of CA in both studies. Surprisingly, different specific indirect effects were found via politicized identification with the movement’s activists in Experiment 1 and via moral convictions in Experiment 2. Moreover, efficacy and injustice yielded weak effects on CA intentions in the studied context. As the reference group affected by shared grievance differed between the two studies, we conclude that the role of descriptive norms in triggering specific SIMCA factors motivating CA might depend on the context specific meaning of relevant group memberships. |
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| Autores principais: | Cidades, Joana |
| Assunto: | Ação coletiva -- Collective action Descriptive norms Dual-Chamber SIMCA Model Housing Portugal Ação coletiva Normas descritivas |
| Ano: | 2024 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | ISCTE |
| Idioma: | português |
| Origem: | Repositório ISCTE |
| Resumo: | Collective Action (CA) has been considered a fundamental driver of social change starting at a grassroots level. Previous research established identification, efficacy, injustice, and morality as core motivational predictors of CA intentions. However, the role of social influence and social norm-adherence is less clear. In two experiments, using a mixed-method approach and a self-persuasion technique, we manipulated descriptive norms of participation in the housing movement in Portugal (Experiment 1: high vs low, N = 235; Experiment 2: high vs. control vs. low, N = 330), and measured several forms of CA intentions (i.e., general, conventional, non-normative and violent). We hypothesized that higher participation norms should lead to stronger CA intentions and that this relation is mediated by predictors of CA proposed by the Social Identity Model of CA (SIMCA). Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no total effect of descriptive norms on intentions to participate. However, the overall indirect effect was significant on all measures of CA in both studies. Surprisingly, different specific indirect effects were found via politicized identification with the movement’s activists in Experiment 1 and via moral convictions in Experiment 2. Moreover, efficacy and injustice yielded weak effects on CA intentions in the studied context. As the reference group affected by shared grievance differed between the two studies, we conclude that the role of descriptive norms in triggering specific SIMCA factors motivating CA might depend on the context specific meaning of relevant group memberships. |
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