Civic engagement during times of crisis: Personal motivations of Romanian adults at the onset of the war in Ukraine

Abstract

Crisis situations, such as the still ongoing war in Ukraine, make civic engagement extremely important, especially in Eastern Europe. Eastern European countries not only have extensive borders with Ukraine, but also share a common history as members of the former communist bloc. This part of the world is characterized by low levels of civic engagement, though the proximity of war and the refugee crisis make humanitarian efforts imperative. Therefore, more research is needed to understand personal motivations for civic engagement in Eastern Europe. Employing a mixed-method approach, we tackled the following research questions: (1) What motivated Romanians’ civic engagement in the context of the war in Ukraine? and (2) Are different personal motivations related to online civic engagement differences? The sample included 118 Romanian respondents (Mage = 27.93, SDage = 9.63) who filled in an online survey shortly after the start of the war (March 2022). For the first research question, thematic analysis revealed 2 main themes: Perceived Similarity and General Concern for People. For the second research question, one way-ANOVA results showed that those motivated by perceived similarity with Ukrainians had higher levels of online civic engagement, in comparison with those motivated by general concern for people.