"These days will never be forgotten . . .": A critical mass approach to online activism

Ghobadi, S; Clegg, S

"These days will never be forgotten . . .": A critical mass approach to online activism

Ghobadi, S Clegg, S

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Information and Organization, 2015, 25 (1), pp. 52 - 71
Issue Date:: 2015-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Ghobadi, S	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Clegg, S https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6083-4283	en_US
dc.date.issued	2015-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Information and Organization, 2015, 25 (1), pp. 52 - 71	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1471-7727	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/33995
dc.description.abstract	© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. Social activists increasingly wield the power of the Internet technology to penetrate organizational boundaries and enable social and political change. Yet, research on activism beyond organizational boundaries and the role that new technology may play in it is scarce. This study explores this phenomenon by studying the dynamics of social activism through the Internet for expressing resistance to a powerful organizational regime. We first develop a critical mass approach to online activism to understand longitudinal data (2009-2013) collected from three YouTube-based cases and supplementary interviews. We then integrate the results of within-case and cross-case analyses in a process model that explains how online activism started, generated societal outcomes, and changed over time. The model suggests that online activism helped organize collective actions and amplify the conditions for revolutionary movements to form. Yet, it provoked elites' reactions such as Internet filtering and surveillance, which do not only promote self-censorship and generate digital divide, but contribute to the ultimate decline of activism over time. We provide a theoretical path for studying the phenomenon of online activism and present opportunities for organizations and social activists to direct online activities' focus from one being based on the creation of 'knowers' to one based on the empowerment of 'learners'.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Information and Organization	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.infoandorg.2014.12.002	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Information Systems	en_US
dc.title	"These days will never be forgotten . . .": A critical mass approach to online activism	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	25	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
utslib.for	0806 Information Systems	en_US
utslib.for	0807 Library and Information Studies	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	25	en_US

Abstract:

© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. Social activists increasingly wield the power of the Internet technology to penetrate organizational boundaries and enable social and political change. Yet, research on activism beyond organizational boundaries and the role that new technology may play in it is scarce. This study explores this phenomenon by studying the dynamics of social activism through the Internet for expressing resistance to a powerful organizational regime. We first develop a critical mass approach to online activism to understand longitudinal data (2009-2013) collected from three YouTube-based cases and supplementary interviews. We then integrate the results of within-case and cross-case analyses in a process model that explains how online activism started, generated societal outcomes, and changed over time. The model suggests that online activism helped organize collective actions and amplify the conditions for revolutionary movements to form. Yet, it provoked elites' reactions such as Internet filtering and surveillance, which do not only promote self-censorship and generate digital divide, but contribute to the ultimate decline of activism over time. We provide a theoretical path for studying the phenomenon of online activism and present opportunities for organizations and social activists to direct online activities' focus from one being based on the creation of 'knowers' to one based on the empowerment of 'learners'.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/33995