How moral emotions shape the commitment of political support in the online petition

Abstract

This study examines the influence of moral emotions on citizens' genuine political participation, specifically focusing on their impact on active support (petition sharing on Twitter) and general support (petition signing). By analyzing government-led online petition data from the Blue House National Petition, we overcome limitations associated with previous studies reliant on social media data. To accurately measure moral emotions conveyed in petition contents, we employ a transformer model trained on a moral emotion corpus dataset. Regression analysis is then conducted to explore the relationship between distinct moral emotions and the frequency of petition sharing on Twitter, as well as the number of petition signatures. Our research findings reveal that moral emotions such as Other-Condemning (condemning others) and Other-Suffering (empathizing with others' pain) were effective in eliciting both active and general support. Additionally, the emotion of Other-Praising (praising others) was effective in eliciting active support but had a contrasting effect on general support. Furthermore, petitions with neutral emotional content had no significant impact on active support, but were effective in eliciting general support. Our study offers valuable insights into the influential moral emotions that elicit support and their distinct effects on active and general political engagement. Moreover, our research contributes technologically by presenting a deep learning-based methodology for measuring moral emotions.