Motivations to Engage in Collective Action: A Latent Profile Analysis of Refugee Supporters

Lisette Yip, Emma F. Thomas, Ana-Maria Bliuc, Mihaela Boza, Anna Kende, Morgana Lizzio-Wilson, Gerhard Reese, Laura G. E. Smith

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

What motivates people to participate in collective action?Some actions such as symbolic or online actions are oftencritiqued as performative allyship, motivated by personalgain rather than genuine concern for the cause. We aimto adjudicate this argument by examining the quality ofmotivations for acting, drawing on the insights of self-determination theory and the social identity approach.Using latent profile analysis, we examined whether thereare different types of supporters of refugees based on theirunderlying motives. In Study 1, we surveyed supporters ofSyrian refugees from six nations (N = 936) and measuredautonomous and controlled motivation, pro-refugee iden-tification and collective action. In Study 2 (N = 1994), wesurveyed supporters of Ukrainian refugees in Romania,Hungary and the UK. We found 4–5 profiles in each sampleand consistently found that supporters with high autono-mous motivation take more action than disengaged or am-bivalent supporters (low/neutral on all motives). However,contrary to the tenets of self-determination theory, thosehigh in both autonomous and controlled motives were themost engaged. We conclude that the most committed sup-porters are those with multiple motives, but further researchis needed on the role of controlled motivation.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere12786
JournalBritish Journal of Social Psychology
Volume64
Issue number1
Early online date9 Jul 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Jan 2025

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in OSF at https://osf.io/un4a5/?view_only=c0e007d9531043a9817808d0ae9a7fc9.

Funding

This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award to the second author (DE120101029). The authors acknowledge Nicola Curtin's contribution to data collection. Open access publishing facilitated by Flinders University, as part of the Wiley \u2010 Flinders University agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.

FundersFunder number
Australian Research CouncilDE120101029
Australian Research Council

    Keywords

    • collective action
    • latent profile analysis
    • performative allyship
    • refugees
    • self-determination theory
    • social identity approach

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Social Psychology

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