Marketing

Influencer marketing

Quantum mechanics

World Wide Web

Relationship marketing

Opinion leadership

Ecology

Biology

Social psychology

Sustainability

Public relations

Power (physics)

Computer science

Business

Physics

Advertising

Psychology

Marketing management

Politics

Political science

Gateway (web page)

Online and offline

Popularity

Environmental Communication

ABSTRACTABSTRACTSo-called “influencers” increasingly use their popularity on social media to raise their voice to promote political topics such as climate change, human rights, or party politics. As digital opinion leaders they may exert a powerful influence on their followers’ attitudes and behavior, motivating them to protect the environment or to engage in political participation online. Based on the Gateway Hypothesis, we argue that these online activities may translate into offline participation over time. To test these assumptions, we conducted a two-wave panel study during the national parliamentary elections in Austria with a national quota sample (NT2 = 564). Findings reveal that following political influencers who post about elections or party politics increases online participation, which predicts higher offline participation over time. Moreover, following environmental influencers who promote content revolving around sustainability and climate change strengthens pro-environmental behavior intentions over time, which is also related to increased offline participation.KEYWORDS: Social media influencersenvironmentpolitical participationpanel study AcknowledgementSpecial thanks to Marlis Stubenvoll and Jörg Matthes, who enabled the data collection for this study.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data depositionThe dataset associated with this manuscript can be found here: https://osf.io/d9sk8/All authors have agreed to the submission and the article is not currently being considered for publication by any other print or electronic journal.

The Mobilizing Power of Influencers for Pro-Environmental Behavior Intentions and Political Participation