Social Media, Psychological Distance, and Environmental Collective Action in Peru

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the chain-mediated effect of the different types of psychological distances (social, temporal, spatial, and probability) and the variables of the Social Identity Model of Collective Action (SIMCA) on the relationship between the use of social media and violent environmental collective action. The study sample consisted of 650 university students ( M = 20.8, SD = 2.74) aged 18–35 years from Lima. Analyses were conducted by means of structural equation modeling (SEM) using the AMOS SPSS software, where a statistical model was performed for each type of psychological distance. The findings revealed two statistically significant paths that go from social media to violent environmental collective action, mediated, first, by each of the psychological distances and, second, by social identity and negative emotions (anger and fear). In addition, it was observed that only probability distance on its own acted as a mediator in the relationship between social media and violent environmental collective action. It was also observed that a path from social media to violent environmental collective action was mediated, first, by three types of distances (probability, spatial, and temporal) and, second, by participative efficacy.