“Time to fire everyone who walked off the job today”: analyzing the (competing) narratives in the #NetflixWalkout

Purpose This study analyzed how online publics advanced three disparate issue-oriented narratives during #NetflixWalkout. Drawing on social identity theory, antecedents/consequences of identification, rhetorical identification strategies and collective action, tweets from each narrative were dissected to determine how publics used communicative actions to signal identification and advance their respective issue-oriented narrative. Design/methodology/approach Content analysis of 1,000 tweets. Findings Analysis showed that each narrative displayed a distinct identity shaped by the contributions of its participants. Findings elucidate connections between the theoretical frameworks that explain how divergent narratives emerge in a hashtag activism campaign. Originality/value This study presents a conceptual model for analyzing online issue-oriented discourse and highlights the ways in which intended and divergent narratives develop around a hashtag activism campaign.