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From slacktivism to activism: Improving the commitment power of e-pledges for prosocial causes

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  • Eileen Y Chou
  • Dennis Y Hsu
  • Eileen Hernon

Abstract

Prosocial organizations increasingly rely on e-pledges to promote their causes and secure commitment. Yet their effectiveness is controversial. Epitomized by UNICEF’s “Likes Don’t Save Lives” campaign, the threat of slacktivism has led some organizations to forsake social media as a potential platform for garnering commitment. We proposed and investigated a novel e-pledging method that may enable organizations to capitalize on the benefits of e-pledging without compromising on its mass outreach potential. In two pilot studies, we first explored whether and why conventional e-pledges may not be as effective as intended. Building on those insights, we conducted one field and two lab experiments to test our proposed e-pledge intervention. Importantly, the field study demonstrated the effectiveness of the intervention for commitment behavior across a 3-month period. The laboratory experiments provided a deeper and more refined mechanism understanding of the effect and ruled out effort, novelty, and social interaction mindset as alternative explanations for why the intervention may be effective. As technological innovations continue to redefine how people interact with the world, this research sheds light on a promising method for transforming a simple virtual acknowledgment into deeper commitment—and, ideally, to action.

Suggested Citation

  • Eileen Y Chou & Dennis Y Hsu & Eileen Hernon, 2020. "From slacktivism to activism: Improving the commitment power of e-pledges for prosocial causes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0231314
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231314
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kirk Kristofferson & Katherine White & John Peloza, 2014. "The Nature of Slacktivism: How the Social Observability of an Initial Act of Token Support Affects Subsequent Prosocial Action," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 40(6), pages 1149-1166.
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    Cited by:

    1. C. Mónica Capra & Bing Jiang & Yuxin Su, 2022. "Do pledges lead to more volunteering? An experimental study," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(1), pages 87-100, January.

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