The role of social media in empowering activism: testing the integrative model of activism to anti-Asian hate crimes

ABSTRACT This study aimed to predict how individuals engage in activism combatting Asian hate crimes. It is critical to understand how publics engage in anti-Asian hate crime activism because their engagement leads to collective action to solve the issue. This study applies the integrative model of activism to anti-Asian hate crimes. The results showed that situational motivation in problem solving, social media efficacy, and affective injustice were positively associated with social media activism. In addition, this study examined the mediating role of social media activism. The results revealed that social media activism partially mediated situational motivation in problem solving and offline activism. Most notably, social media activism fully mediated between affective injustice and offline activism on anti-Asian hate crimes. Therefore, the integrative model of activism presents a valuable perspective for understanding how individuals participate in activism against Asian hate crimes and the role of social media in facilitating offline activism.