Extant theory and research suggests that the resources mobilized by activists are related to the
kinds of behaviors in which a group engages. Identifying associations among activist behavioral
strategies and forms of online resource mobilization would allow researchers to make more
educated assumptions about the stakes sought or held by activists that engage in different
strategies—running the gamut from lifeworld-type strategies (symbolic, civil disobedience) to
more systems-like behaviors (organizing, litigious).
Previous research lends some insight into the kinds of resources that may be mobilized by
activists that practice certain strategies. Much of the literature on activist strategic behavior,
and indeed resource mobilization, has examined the most activist of strategies—symbolic activities.
First, use of e-mail action alerts have been noted as a valuable tool for activists that engage
in symbolic strategies (Agre, 1999; Juris, 2005). Second, grassroots and lifeworld organizations
are heavily dependent on mass media to lend legitimacy for their issues and organizations
(Carroll & Hackett, 2006; Kent et al., 2003). Grassroots groups are prone to stage image or
pseudo-events to attract media coverage (DeLuca & Peeples, 2002; Derville, 2005), but may also
try to influence media though the provision of information subsides on their Web sites (Taylor
et al., 2001). Third, building coalitions is necessary for early-stage activist groups to take advantage
of other groups’ resources and legitimacy (Coombs, 1998; Heath & Palenchar, 2009).
Digital networking technologies such as social media sites have been associated with the formation
of protest movements (Bennett, 2003; Juris, 2005). Blogging has also been associated with
symbolic strategies, as both a mechanism to transmit information and to engage in symbolic
ONLINE POWER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 353
online protests (Kahn & Kellner, 2004). Given this, it is expected the aforementioned types of
mobilization will positively predict symbolic issue strategies.
H1: Action alerts, news releases, blogs, and links to social media features will positively predict a
symbolic strategy.
There are fewer indications about which features may be related to a litigious issue strategy.
Moveon.org, a group that regularly uses litigious tactics, has been noted for its extensive use of
action alerts—often in efforts to bombard politicians with e-mails or phone calls (Chadwick,
2007). Moreover, petitions are often a precursor to, or precondition of, filing a lawsuit. Move-
On.org was founded as an online petition for Congress to ‘‘move on’’ from the
Clinton-Lewinski scandal and now regularly circulates petitions on a variety of issues
(Chadwick, 2007). A second hypothesis for litigious strategies was proposed:
H2: Action alerts, contact-a-government-representative, and signing-a-petition features will positively
predict a litigious strategy.
Finally, as activists that outwardly engage the media are more likely to be less well-resourced,
it is expected that such groups will attempt to garner media attention via the provision of news
releases on their Web site (Taylor et al., 2001; Taylor & Sen Das, 2010). Groups reliant on
media coverage are thus also likely to be in need of support from other activists and social
actors=institutions—they must participate in coalitions to achieve widespread currency and
social legitimacy for their issue (Crable & Vibbert, 1985). Activist blogs have also been shown
to be effective at influencing news media (Kahn & Kellner, 2004). A third hypothesis was
proposed:
H3: News releases, links to social media, and blogs will positively predict an informative strategy.
Organizing strategies are often used by groups that engage in frequent face-to-face communication,
such as in holding meetings, sometimes as a supplement to religious congregations (e.g.,
Cavendish, 2000; Pattilo-McCoy, 1998). Often, community outreach is undertaken via partnerships
among civic organizations (Cherry & Shefner, 2004; Putnam, 2000). It is expected that
references or links to other groups will be predictive of an organizing strategy.
H4: References or links to other groups will positively predict an organizing strategy.
For the remaining features, there is little guidance from existing research as to how they might
be mobilized as part of certain strategies. Moreover, resource mobilization for each type of strategy
is not likely to be probabilistically independent—several types of mobilization may be
related to several types of strategy. Therefore, a catch-all research question was posed:
RQ1: What types of activist mobilization features are predictive of activist communication
strategies?
Blaylock (1989) has noted that activists are able to exert influence in the public policy arena
as a result of the power resources they acquire and use efficiently. The answers to the hypotheses
354 SOMMERFELDT
and research question will help to shed light on how resource mobilization practices are related
to activist strategy, informing researchers on the specific power resources mobilized in the
different ways activists may go about achieving their issue management goals.
METHOD
Studies of activism within the United States have asserted that Web sites are a must have for
modern activist organizations (Kent et al., 2003; Sommerfeldt et al., 2012; Taylor et al.,
2001). Given that Web sites have become a primary communication tool for activists (Kent
et al., 2003) and as Internet technologies have empowered activist issue management practice
(Heath, 1998) Web sites are, therefore, a reasonable proxy whereby to assess activist resource
mobilization and strategic behavior. The next sections describe how data was gathered from activist
Web sites to assess the relationship between forms of resource mobilization and the issue
strategies employed by activists.
Operationalization of Variables
Sommerfeldt’s (2011) list of the 20 previously discussed Web site mobilization features were
used as predictive variables. Five activist communication strategies were adapted from extant
literature, using Jackson’s (1982) labels to serve as criterion variables. Symbolic strategy was
operationalized as when organizations attempted to influence issues through behaviors that
included legal marches, demonstrations, protests, rallies, or organized boycotts. An informational
strategy included generating awareness for the activists’ issues through publicity behaviors
such as granting media interviews, writing newspaper articles or editorials, holding
news conferences, or the production of media themselves. Organizing strategic behaviors
included those designed to engage activists or general community members in face-to-face interactions
or actions, exemplified by holding meetings, partnerships with other community groups,
or other community outreach or civic engagement activities (e.g., soup kitchens, health programs,
food drives, etc.). Litigious strategic behavior was exemplified by activities designed
to affect an issue through the legal or policy process, such as petitioning, filing lawsuits, participation
in formal negotiations, stated efforts to influence legislation, and testifying at public
or legislative hearings. Civil disobedience included unauthorized or illegal activities such as
sit-ins, blocking traffic, shows of violence, or trespassing.
Sample and Procedures
The data were obtained from a content analysis of activist organization Web sites that were
coded for the absence or presence of resource mobilization features and for the absence or presence
of the strategies in which the organization claimed to engage. The sample for analysis was
extracted from www.wiserearth.org, which provides an online database with links to tens of
thousands of activist group Web sites. According to Wiserearth.org, groups that join the database
must work in the fields of environmental sustainability or social justice.
ONLINE POWER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 355
A common problem in activist research is defining what, exactly, constitutes an activist
group. The language used to depict the range of activist groups, and indeed entities in the nonprofit
sector at large, has been problematic for decades (cf. Salamon & Anheier, 1992). The
character of activist organizations varies so widely that efforts to conclusively define what comprises
an activist group have confused scholarly efforts to understand such entities (Stewart,
Smith, & Denton, 2006). To help circumvent this terminological quagmire, the study adopted
Castells’ (2010) view of activists and social movements when he wrote, ‘‘They are what they
say they are’’ (p. 73). From this perspective, groups are activist when they define themselves
as such. The Wiserearth database was searched for groups located in the United States that
self-defined as engaging in activist activities, yielding a population of nearly 4,000
(N¼3,702). A random sample of 300 Web sites was then extracted by assigning numbers to
each Web site in the population and using a random number generator to select the Web sites
to be coded. Each Web site, including the homepage and all pages with the same base URL, was
then coded.
Procedures suggested by Lombard, Snyder-Duch, and Bracken (2002) guided the content
analysis, which was independently conducted by three coders including the researcher. Prior
to analysis, a codebook was developed that explained the characteristics of each type of tangible,
intangible, and coalition-building resource mobilization feature, as well as each form of
behavioral strategy. A list of the coding categories and frequencies are given in Table 1. An
informal training session was held to train for reliability on the coding categories. A more
formal pilot test of 5% (n¼15) of Web sites outside the sample was then conducted. The
initial reliability coefficients for each category were acceptable, ranging from .71 to .92 using
Cohen’s kappa. As initial reliability levels were deemed satisfactory, the coders then proceeded
to analyze the main sample. As suggested by Lombard et al., just over 16%
(n¼50) of Web sites randomly selected from the sample were then tested for reliability. Coefficients
ranged from .65 to .91, again using Cohen’s kappa (coefficients are included in
Table 1). Although two categories fell slightly below the generally accepted reliability
criterion of .70, more liberal criteria are often acceptable for conservative reliability indexes
like Cohen’s kappa (Lombard et al., 2002, p. 593). Coding disagreements in the reliability
sample were resolved by majority rule (Lombard et al., 2002).
Analysis
To assess the relationship among resource mobilization behaviors and types of activist strategies,
a multivariate probit regression model was used. Probit regression is appropriate for
models with dichotomous dependent variables, and helps to ‘‘explore how each explanatory
variable affects the probability of the event occurring’’ (Long & Freese, 2003, p. 109). As
probit models produce coefficients that are difficult to interpret directly, predicted probabilities
for the significant terms were calculated. Predicted probabilities are a statistic that predicts
the probability of an event, outcome or a range of outcomes (Liao, 1994). In this case,
probability values provide an estimate of how likely certain types of resources are to be
mobilized by an activist group that displays certain strategies. The results of the regression
are shown in Table 2, and the predicted probabilities for the significant terms are presented
in Table 3.
RESULTS
The first hypothesis was partially confirmed, as e-mail action alerts, news releases, references, or
links to other groups were significant positive predictors of a symbolic issue strategy. The
second hypothesis was confirmed, as action alerts, contacting a government representative,
and signing a petition were significant positive predictors of a litigious strategy. The third
hypothesis was confirmed, as news releases, links to social media, and blogging were predictive
of an informational strategy. However, the fourth hypothesis was not confirmed, as referencing
or linking to another organization negatively predicted an organizing strategy.
To answer the research question, many other features were predictive of activist strategies.
Donate features and links to social media strongly predicted a symbolic strategy. As an example
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