Identity and collective action via computer-mediated communication: A review and agenda for future research <s> Conduct more multiple-type identity research <s> The concept of collective identity has been used extensively by social movement scholars seeking to explain how social movements generate and sustain commitment and cohesion between actors over time. Despite its wide application, collective identity is a notoriously abstract concept. This article focuses on the use of the concept in the literature on contemporary social movements and offers a comprehensive theoretical overview. The central elements of collective identity in the social movement literature are developed, and some key differences in interpretations are highlighted. Finally, some contemporary debates around the continuing usefulness and limitations of the concept of collective identity are explored, with a special emphasis on the challenges of applying the concept to movements that define themselves in terms of heterogeneity, diversity and inclusiveness. <s> BIB001 </s> Identity and collective action via computer-mediated communication: A review and agenda for future research <s> Conduct more multiple-type identity research <s> This study investigated the factors associated with online environmental community members' intention to participate in environmental activities in the Chinese context, employing the framework of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Using data from a survey of community members (N=211), structural equation modeling analyses confirmed the roles of subjective norm and self-efficacy in affecting intention to participate in environmental activities. Unlike other TPB studies, however, the study discovered that attitude was not significantly associated with intention. In addition, other relevant factors, including ego involvement, group identification, perceived salience of environmental problems, perceived popularity of environmental activities, and perceived interactivity of the community websites, were found to be associated with the intention of participation, either directly or indirectly. The theoretical and practical implications were discussed. <s> BIB002 </s> Identity and collective action via computer-mediated communication: A review and agenda for future research <s> Conduct more multiple-type identity research <s> New forms of networked action and informal collaboration are challenging traditional notions of civil society. Based on the proliferation of new technologies, and spurred by the spread of trans-border delocalized communities and the increasing disillusionment with traditional forms of political organization, civic action is becoming increasingly flexible, temporary, and elusive. This type of nontraditionally organized collective action often stays below the radar of public discourse, unless it is propelled to the spotlight because of international political developments such as the WikiLeaks case (and the related actions by the cyberactivist network Anonymous) and the mass protests in Northern Africa and the Middle East (and the role of social networking tools in these uprisings). In this article, we investigate the interactions and (in)compatibilities of Internet-based networked collective action with institutionalized spaces of policy debate. We begin by characterizing online networked action as an emerging form of organized civil society, focusing on the realm of cyberactivists who are building and using cyber-infrastructure (“grassroots tech groups”). In particular, we examine their values, identity features, and organizational forms. Based on this analysis, we explore two dimensions in which cyberactivism challenges established forms of institutionalized policy debate: the structural dimension and the realm of action repertoires. We ask whether these new forms of civil society are structurally compatible with current multistakeholder governance, and we discuss their repertoires of action with regard to policy advocacy and policy interventions, and thus the level and type of their engagement with governance processes and institutions. <s> BIB003 </s> Identity and collective action via computer-mediated communication: A review and agenda for future research <s> Conduct more multiple-type identity research <s> Protest avatars, digital images that act as collective symbols for protest movements, have been widely used by supporters of the 2011 protest wave, from Egypt to Spain and the United States. From photos of Egyptian martyr Khaled Said, to protest posters and multiple variations of Anonymous' mask, a great variety of images have been adopted as profile pictures by Internet users to express their support for various causes and protest movements and communicate it to all their Internet peers. In this article, I explore protest avatars as forms of identification of protest movements in a digital era. I argue that protest avatars can be described as ‘memetic signifiers’ because (a) they are marked by a vagueness and inclusivity that distinguishes them from traditional protest symbols and (b) lend themselves to be used as memes for viral diffusion on social networks. In adopting these icons, participants experience a collective fusion in an online crowd, whose gathering is manifested in the very ‘masking’ of participants behind protest avatars. These forms of collective identification, while powerful in the short term, can however prove quite volatile, with Internet users often discarding avatars with relative ease, raising the question whether they can provide durable foundational elements of contemporary social movements. <s> BIB004 </s> Identity and collective action via computer-mediated communication: A review and agenda for future research <s> Conduct more multiple-type identity research <s> The emergence of network-movements since 2011 has opened the debate around the way in which social media and networked practices make possible innovative forms of collective identity. We briefly review the literature on social movements and ‘collective identity’, and show the tension between different positions stressing either organization or culture, the personal or the collective, aggregative or networking logics. We argue that the 15M (indignados) network-movement in Spain demands conceptual and methodological innovations. Its rapid emergence, endurance, diversity, multifaceted development and adaptive capacity, posit numerous theoretical and methodological challenges. We show how the use of structural and dynamic analysis of interaction networks (in combination with qualitative data) is a valuable tool to track the shape and change of what we term the ‘systemic dimension’ of collective identities in network-movements. In particular, we introduce a novel method for synchrony detection in Facebook activity to identify the distributed, yet integrated, coordinated activity behind collective identities. Applying this analytical strategy to the 15M movement, we show how it displays a specific form of systemic collective identity we call ‘multitudinous identity’, characterized by social transversality and internal heterogeneity, as well as a transient and distributed leadership driven by action initiatives. Our approach attends to the role of distributed interaction and transient leadership at a mesoscale level of organizational dynamics, which may contribute to contemporary discussions of collective identity in network-movements. <s> BIB005 </s> Identity and collective action via computer-mediated communication: A review and agenda for future research <s> Conduct more multiple-type identity research <s> Although online discussions may stimulate political participation, little is known about how computer-mediated communication among members of political groups contributes to develop their politicized identity, thus indirectly stimulating collective action. Two studies involving activists from two web-based social movements investigated how online discussions moderate the effects of collective efficacy, group-based anger, and moral obligation on politicized identity. Self-reported frequency of online discussions and activists’ perceptions of two content-related characteristics of online discussions both interacted with collective efficacy and moral obligation beliefs in predicting politicized identity. Politicized identity mediated the effects of these interactions on collective action intention. We discuss how specific characteristics of online political discussions may contribute to politicize group identity via group-level and individual-level paths. <s> BIB006 </s> Identity and collective action via computer-mediated communication: A review and agenda for future research <s> Conduct more multiple-type identity research <s> AbstractAnimals Australia focuses on making animal welfare issues visible to consumers so as to direct consumer behaviour and invoke everyday activism, an objective integral to their ‘Make it Possible’ campaign. In this paper, we primarily explore the claimed and practised identity of everyday or mainstream animal activists. This is an identity that, whilst partially and communally elaborated and affirmed online (in the online Animals Australia community), is enacted more commonly through personal and familial everyday actions such as shopping, cooking and eating than it is through such public actions as explicitly advocating or demonstrating for better welfare standards for animals involved in factory farming. A discourse analysis was conducted of 2198 posts from October 2013 to January 2014 to analyse contributors’ accounts of their feelings (notably their gut reactions) and reasons for pledging, as well as to examine how contributors’ accounts of their everyday practices might be understood as the deve... <s> BIB007
To answer RQ1, we looked at how the concept of identity is used in the literature. We noticed that various definitions of identity types (individual, social and collective) tend to be used, depending on the particular scholar's perspective (Table 2 ). This shows how identity conceptualisation stands at the crossroads of various disciplines. Furthermore, we found mostly one-type studies focusing on collective identity. Although multiple-type studies were not very common, we found examples from all perspectives: social psychologists (e.g. BIB006 BIB002 , social movement (e.g. BIB004 BIB007 and bridging scholars (e.g. BIB003 BIB005 . These studies show that identity is a multifaceted concept and has to be investigated as such. The importance of studying the nexus between individual, social and collective identities has already been mentioned in previous reviews on identity and traditional social movements BIB001 . As it becomes harder to disentangle these different types of identities in the context of collective action via CMC, we argue that the need to investigate such nexus is even more pressing. Indeed, networked movements like 15M or forms of hacktivism such as Anonymous are characterised by strong network individualism and identification processes that involve individual, social and collective dimensions of the self. By addressing the urge to synthesise all identity concepts in a reasonable manner and acknowledging how such concepts mirror various perspectives in the literature, we propose to look at identity as the interaction between individual (I), social (the others and I) and collective (we) identities representing a continuum of different but interrelated dimensions of the self. In this way, we call for future research that account simultaneously for the personal dimension of network individualism that is typical of CMC structures and social and collective identification processes that can foster symbolically collective action (e.g. BIB004 BIB005 .