Examining audiences' perceptions and reactions to prosocial posts on social networking sites

Abstract

Marketers increasingly encourage social media users to create and share usergenerated prosocial content on social networking sites to promote prosocial concerns and raise awareness of sociopolitical issues. Despite the widespread use of prosocial content to promote positive social behaviour, it remains unclear whether people perceive such actions as genuinely prosocial or as self-serving, potentially undermining the intended benefits. This thesis addresses this gap by exploring audience perceptions and reactions to prosocial content shared in both non-commercial and commercial contexts.

Paper One investigates audiences' interpretations of individuals’ acts of sharing prosocial posts, focusing specifically on the context of virtue signalling. While prosocial content is intended to benefit others or society, audiences may perceive it as egoistically motivated, interpreting the act of sharing as virtue signalling intended to enhance an individual's moral reputation. Through a series of studies, including a preliminary interview, pilot study, and four experiments, with a total sample of 1,514 participants, we reveal that audiences form negative impressions of individuals sharing prosocial posts online when audiences perceive them as engaging in virtue signalling. This leads to evaluations of manipulativeness, which in turn results in audiences avoiding the individual’s future social media posts.

However, the research identifies boundary conditions under which these effects can be attenuated: communication strategies such as evidence of active participation in the prosocial cause and the use of a disclaimer acknowledging the individual's intent to signal virtue reduce negative perceptions. Additionally, perceived congruence between the individual and the cause mitigates perceived manipulativeness of the individual. Theoretically, this paper advances the understanding of how moral impression management operates in digital environments, extending virtue signalling research from the audience's perspective. Managerially, it offers concrete guidance on how individuals and organisations can more effectively design prosocial messages to avoid reputational backlash.

Paper Two extends the investigation into the commercial domain, focusing on influencer marketing, where prosocial messages are increasingly integrated into sponsored content. Building on persuasion knowledge theory, this paper examines how the inclusion of activism statements in sponsorship-disclosed influencer posts affects consumer responses.

Through a behavioural pilot study and four experiments, with a total sample of 789 participants, we show that activism statement reduces the activation of persuasion knowledge—i.e., it lowers perceived selling intent—thereby increasing consumers' browsing time of the product and purchase intentions. However, the positive effect is attenuated by the consumer's high level of cynicism and perceived incongruence between the influencer and the cause.

Theoretically, this paper enriches the literature on sponsored influencer content by demonstrating when and how activism can buffer against consumers' perceptions of the influencer's selling intent. Managerially, it provides actionable insights for brands and influencers on integrating prosocial activism with commercial messaging in a way that enhances purchase.

Together, these studies advance the theoretical understanding of how prosocial communication is perceived and evaluated in digital contexts. The thesis contributes to marketing theory by shifting the focus from the intentions of content creators to the perceptions of audiences, thereby highlighting the role of perceived motives in shaping engagement and evaluation outcomes. It offers a more nuanced understanding of when and why prosocial content may backfire. From a managerial perspective, the findings offer actionable insights for practitioners designing prosocial campaigns—both in public service and commercial contexts—by identifying communication strategies (e.g., disclaimers, evidence of behavioural support, congruence, prosocial activism statement) that can enhance the persuasive and reputational effectiveness of online prosocial messages.