Channeling engagement into action: the role of empowerment in Asian Americans’ social media use in combating anti-Asian discrimination

ABSTRACT

Asian American communities have experienced an uptick of anti-Asian discrimination, racism, and hate incidents in recent years since the outbreak of COVID-19, yet anti-Asian discrimination and racism have historically been overlooked. Drawing on interdisciplinary insights from psychological empowerment, social media engagement, and collective action, this study examines if and how Asian Americans’ various forms of social media engagement activities could lead to their collective action in combating anti-Asian discrimination and racism, as well as mental well-being, and the role of psychological empowerment in these processes. Results revealed a nuanced view on how social media engagement activities may lead to psychological empowerment in the context of Asian Americans’ social media use amidst experiences of racism and discrimination: contributing social media engagement was positively associated with intrapersonal empowerment, whereas consuming social media engagement was positively associated with interactional empowerment. While both intrapersonal and interactional empowerment significantly contributed to Asian Americans’ collective action, only intrapersonal empowerment significantly contributed to mental well-being. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Social media engagement
• psychological empowerment
• collective action
• mental well-being
• Asian Americans
• discrimination and racism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of San Francisco College of Arts & Sciences Faculty Development Fund and the University of San Francisco Sabbatical Award.

Notes on contributors

Zifei Fay Chen

Zifei Fay Chen, Ph.D. is an associate professor of public relations in the Communication Studies Department at the University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. Her research interests include corporate social responsibility and advocacy, digital communication, startup and entrepreneurial public relations, and prosocial communication.

Ruoyu Sun

Ruoyu Sun, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA. Her research interests lie in the intersection of strategic communication, social media, and activism. She is particularly interested in corporate social advocacy, social media engagement, sustainability communication, and information and misinformation sharing.

Weiting Tao

Weiting Tao, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Department of Strategic Communication at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA. Her primary research area is corporate public relations, which includes corporate social responsibility, corporate ability, crisis communication and management, corporate reputation and relationship management, and social media strategies.