Roles of parasocial relationship with eco-celebrities, motivation attribution, and message framing in virality of climate information on social media

Grounded in literature on attribution theory, framing, and information sharing, this study addresses the process and behavioral consequences of celebrity advocacy for climate change mitigation on social media. An experimental design (N = 693) examined how parasocial relationship (PSR) with celebrities was related to information virality of celebrity climate change messages on social media, as well as whether perceived motivations of celebrities' climate advocacy functioned as a mediator. The motivations examined were labeled affective (i.e., motivated by genuine environmental concern) and calculative (i.e., the ulterior motive of image promotion). In addition, the study explored how level of fear in message framing impacted information virality of celebrity climate messages. Social media users with higher PSR attributed higher levels of affective motivations for celebrities' advocacy, and stronger affective motivations were subsequently related to a greater likelihood of retweeting and replying to celebrities’ climate messages. Affective motivation attribution was a significant mediator in the relationship between PSR and message virality. Those with higher PSR attributed lower levels of calculative motivations for celebrity advocacy. However, perceived levels of calculative motivations were not related to likelihood of retweeting and replying behaviors. In addition, high fear messages were more effective than low fear messages in promoting the likelihood of retweeting and replying. These findings suggest that celebrity climate change tweets were more effective when the celebrities had a stronger bond with audiences and were seen as affective in their motivations, and when a higher level of fear was used to frame environmental topics.