The Effects of Individual Perceptions on Activism Intentions via Different Social Media Sources and Message Orientations: Focused on Anti-Asian Crimes

Abstract: This study explored which message orientations, posted by either official government accounts or influencers, were more effective and whether participants’ perceptions enhanced activism intentions. Also, this study investigated whether anger and the Asian public’s perceptions of self-efficacy and involvement led to an enhancement of individual activism intentions through social media. This study found individual perceptions regarding social-oriented messages were more strongly associated with activism intentions than when receiving self-oriented messages. People tend to show higher activism intentions when they receive information from an influencer rather than the official government or an international nongovernmental organization (NGO). Moderator effects were found in this study. The theoretical implications and practical contributions of this study and the data obtained are also discussed.