Feeling Good, Looking Good or Doing Good? Exploring how the Quality of Motivation predicts the Quantity, Longevity and Persistence of Collective Action

Author: Lisette Yip

  • Thesis download: available for open access on 21 Oct 2025.

Yip, Lisette, 2024 Feeling Good, Looking Good or Doing Good? Exploring how the Quality of Motivation predicts the Quantity, Longevity and Persistence of Collective Action, Flinders University, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work

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Abstract

In the past decade, we have seen greater numbers of people become engaged in collective movements for social change, including the School Strike 4 Climate movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and surges of mobilisation for gender equality and the rights of refugees. These are defined as collective action taken by individuals to improve conditions for the whole group. There has been much speculation about the motives of people who engage in these types of actions, particularly those that are taken online or shared publicly. Many of these actions are argued to be low-effort and low-cost and are thus often critiqued as being driven by self-serving motives such as the desire to look good or feel good about oneself, rather than a genuine commitment to the cause and concern for the plight of disadvantaged groups. Therefore, this thesis examines the underlying motives of people who engage in collective action, and investigates which motives are associated with greater quantity, longevity, and persistence of collective action.

I propose that there are distinct types of motivation underlying the actions of people who support social change, and these can help us to understand the quantity, longevity, and persistence of their action. To address this proposition, I employ a theoretical integration of the insights of self-determination theory and the social identity approach, discussed in detail in Chapter 1. Self-determination theory provides a detailed framework for considering distinct types of motivation. Autonomous motivation reflects internalised motives to engage in a behaviour that is personally valued and congruent with one’s sense of self. In contrast, controlled motivation is the externally imposed motive to pursue behaviour due to rewards or punishments, or feelings of guilt, pride, or self-esteem. However, self-determination theory does not provide a framework for considering the role of group processes in pursuing collective goals. Therefore, the social identity approach is also necessary to understand how the goals and needs of the individual influence those of the group, and vice versa. The social identity approach provides a detailed account of motives such as social identification and group-based anger to pursue collective action, but does not address the possibility that supporters of the same cause will be driven by distinct motives that vary not only in degree or strength, but also in type or quality. Thus, both theories together are needed to understand the role of different types of motivation in driving collective action.

In Chapter 2, I tested the proposition that among supporters of refugees, there are distinct subgroups who meaningfully differ based on their (combinations of) underlying motives. I implemented a person-centred approach to adjudicate the presence of distinct types of supporters among supporters of Syrian refugees (Study 1) and Ukrainian refugees (Study 2) in several countries. The results showed that there are supporters who are disengaged or ambivalent (relatively low on all types of motives), those who are purely autonomous (high only in autonomous motivation) and partially internalised or driven by mixed motives (high in several different types of motivation). I argue that these supporters are meaningfully distinct from each other as they have different psychological characteristics and patterns of collective action engagement. Purely autonomous supporters are more strongly committed to the group and take more action than those who are low on all types of motivation, but those with mixed motives are most committed. Thus, autonomous motivation is important for the quantity of action, but so too is the addition of controlled motivation.

In Chapter 3, I extended on the finding that there are supporters driven by distinct types of motivation and examined whether the strength of autonomous and controlled motives would predict the longevity of collective action. Sustained effort from supporters is necessary for movements seeking lasting social change as they can take years or decades to achieve their goals, and thus I examined motivation as a factor which may help to explain when and why supporters sustain or diminish their involvement over time. I used longitudinal methods to examine the effects of these motives on changes in action to combat global poverty over time (Study 3). The results showed that autonomous motivation is associated with increases in identification and, in turn, collective action over time, while controlled motivation is associated with decreases in identification and action. I therefore argue that autonomous motivation is important for sustained action, while controlled motivation can ultimately undermine people’s involvement and commitment to the cause, and should be used with caution.

In Chapter 4, I examined whether autonomous motivation could also sustain collective action after experiencing a setback or failure and thus promote persistence. Setbacks are common in movements seeking social change, as they are often faced with opposition from groups with different ideas about how the world should be. I therefore sought to understand whether autonomous motivation would be a factor that can explain when people persist in their collective action. I tested the proposition that autonomous motivation would increase in importance as a predictor of collective action for social movements that experienced failure, relative to those that experienced success. I first tested this quasi-experimentally in the context of the movements to support and oppose marriage equality in Australia (Study 4), followed by an experiment manipulating perceptions of movement success and failure (Study 5). The results from these two studies were mixed, thus I conducted a third experiment testing whether the effects of success and failure depended on the specificity or broadness of the movement goals, among supporters of the movement to combat climate change (Study 6). The results showed that autonomous motivation was a consistent positive force for identification and collective action regardless of the movement’s outcomes, but had greater effects on identification for those who experienced a specific failure. In contrast, I found no effects of controlled motivation in Studies 4 and 5, and only minimal effects in Study 6.

In Chapter 5 I discuss how the findings of these three empirical chapters cumulatively support the assertion that autonomous motivation is important for the quantity, longevity, and persistence of collective action. I discuss the role of controlled motivation as a positive force for quantity of action, but which undermines longevity and fails to promote persistence. I address the contributions of the thesis to theoretical integrations of self-determination theory and the social identity approach, and consider how these two theories can be used in tandem to help understand motivation for engaging in collective action. I discuss the methodological triangulation used in this thesis to understand the impacts of motivation on collective action, and practical implications of the findings. Overall, this thesis posits that autonomous motivation (genuine passion and internalised commitment to the cause) is crucial for social change as it fosters committed, sustained action within people, yielding an enduring oppositional movement at the group level. Those seeking to encourage others to engage in action to bring about equality and justice should utilise tactics that foster autonomous motivation and avoid using external motivators such as guilt or social approval to inspire action.

Keywords: social identity theory, self-determination theory, collective action, motivation

Subject: Sociology thesis

Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2024
School: College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
Supervisor: Emma Thomas