The Grey Area between Supporting Social Change and Mobilizing: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Collective Action in Lebanon

Abstract

The question of what makes individuals mobilize to achieve social change has long been a subject of interest in the social sciences. While a considerable body of literature is dedicated to exploring the stages of social change, this research aims to bring attention to a commonly neglected stage of collective action: the translation of collective action intentions to active participation. This thesis builds on mounting evidence suggesting that addressing the gap between intentions and behavior is integral to achieving a comprehensive conceptualization of collective action. The purpose of this research is to help infuse the gap between intentions and behavior in the collective action literature through considering an integrative paradigm that consolidates two traditions in social psychology: The Social Identity of Model of Collective Action (SIMCA) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). This research was also conducted against the backdrop of the Lebanese “October 17” uprising which primarily aimed to further our understanding of the underlying processes through which previous collective action and structural variables affect future collective action behavior. The current study was administered to a sample of 273 university students in Beirut and investigated their participation in a fictitious student-led movement against the distribution of financial aid according to a sectarian quota at the American University of Beirut. Our results showed that the integrative model merging SIMCA and TPB accounted for 62% of the variance in collective action intentions and 35% of the variance in collective action behavior. Additionally, previous collective action participation in the October 17 uprising appeared to be the only variable, aside from collective action intentions, that significantly predicted collective action behavior. Finally, our mediation analysis showed that intentions significantly mediated the effect of efficacy and subjective norms on collective action behavior. Generally, we believe our findings further problematize the convergence of collective action intentions with active collective action behavior in the discipline.