Shame on you! How incivility and absence of supporting evidence in likeminded Facebook comments influence evaluations of ingroup members and online political participation
ISSN: 1468-4527
Article publication date: 30 October 2023
Issue publication date: 24 May 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined how likeminded Facebook comments with incivility and without supporting evidence influence readers' evaluations of the commenter and online political participation intention. This study also investigated whether the indirect effect of exposure to uncivil comments and comments without evidence on online political participation through evaluations of the commenters is contingent on the strength of partisanship.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a 2 (uncivil comments vs civil comments) × 2 (comments without supporting evidence vs comments with supporting evidence) factorial design with a scenario about reading similar viewpoints about the gun control issue in Facebook comments.
Findings
The results showed that compared to exposure to civil agreeing comments, exposure to uncivil likeminded comments resulted in higher levels of negative evaluations of the commenters, which in turn decreased willingness to participate in political activities online. Exposure to comments without evidence led to more negative evaluations of the commenters, but it did not significantly influence online political participation. In addition, the strength of partisanship did not significantly moderate the indirect effect of exposure to uncivil comments and comments without evidence on online political participation through evaluations of the commenters.
Originality/value
Although previous studies have demonstrated the significant effects of incivility and reasoned argument, little is known about whether and how people evaluate ingroup members' comments that are uncivil and lacking reasoned arguments. Most of these studies have examined incivility in political contexts, but few have extended the context to the effect of likeminded comments, especially when the comments are uncivil and lack supporting evidence. The current study aims to fill this gap in the literature.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author thank Jiwon Kim for the comments on previous versions of this manuscript.
Citation
Kim, Y. (2024), "Shame on you! How incivility and absence of supporting evidence in likeminded Facebook comments influence evaluations of ingroup members and online political participation", Online Information Review, Vol. 48 No. 3, pp. 619-643. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-12-2021-0650
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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