More than clicks: The effects of social and political trust on digital activism in Greece

Abstract

Digital activism gained momentum due to its potential to raise awareness, influence public opinion, mobilize people, coordinate action, and shape public policy. Extant work concludes that people engage in online activities for several reasons that range from convenience or broad outreach to emotional drivers or political attitudes. However, we miss evidence about how trust influences people’s online engagement. Drawing on a survey among citizens in Greece, this article examines how social and political trust influence people’s engagement in digital activism. It distinguishes between six common forms of digital activism: slacktivism, boycotts, data dissemination, meta-voicing, digital assertion and buycotts. We find that many individuals perform more than one digital activity, social trust has consistent positive effects on multiple forms of digital activism, and the effects of political trust vary according to the complexity and goals of digital activities. These results hold when controlling for political interest, offline participation and use of social media.