How perceptions of incivility and social endorsement in online comments (Dis) encourage engagements

While the powerful role of partisan identity in provoking incivility has been pointed out, relatively little attention has been directed toward incivility that also occurs among individuals who share the same partisan identity. Two experiments examined how uncivil expressions made by in-group members with aligned partisanship as well as uncivil expressions made by out-group members with opposing partisanship led to perceptual, attitudinal, and behavioural intentions. Also examined are how the effects of uncivil comments are influenced by social endorsements, such as the ‘recommend’ feature. Results indicate that incivility, group identity, and the presence of social recommendations shape individuals’ perceived polarisation that, in turn, influences open-mindedness to (dis) encourage engagement during discussions. Overall, findings of this study provide a mechanism for explaining how incivility works with static factors, such as group identity, and situational factors, such as social recommendations that influence our perceptions, attitudes, and behavioural intentions to be engaged in online discussions.