Health slacktivism on social media: Predictors and effects

Abstract

The present study examined predictors, moderators, and effects of health slacktivism, which is characterized as individuals' effortless acts in supporting health causes primarily through Internet and social media. Findings revealed that issue-involvement and self-presentation were two underlying predictors of slacktivism. Specifically, ingratiation self-presentation was found to be a significant predictor of slacktivism among slacktivists, while enhancement self-presentation predicted slacktivism among activists. Results imply that strategic impression-management types were associated with health slacktivism among particular sub-groups. It is also found that health slacktivists and activists differed by relational connection. Slacktivists tended to be people who were remotely related to the health issue advocated, while activists were people who had closer relational connection to the health issue. Health consciousness, however, was not a significant predictor of slacktivism nor a differentiating factor between slacktivists and activists. Consistent with the Transtheoretical Model, slacktivism was found to have positive effects among participants in terms of awareness, psychological wellbeing, behavioral intention and behavior adoption. Individuals' low-threshold engagement as slacktivism also predicted their high-threshold engagement (activism), implying that getting involved in slacktivism does not substitute for offline forms of participation but may increase the possibility of offline engagement instead. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland.