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Does Party Competition Affect Political Activism?

Author

Listed:
  • Hager, Anselm

    (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

  • Hensel, Lukas

    (University of Oxford)

  • Hermle, Johannes

    (University of California, Berkeley and IZA)

  • Roth, Christopher

    (University of Warwick)

Abstract

Does party competition affect political activism? This paper studies the decision of party supporters to join political campaigns. We present a framework that incorporates supporters’ instrumental and expressive motives and illustrates that party competition can either increase or decrease party activism. To distinguish between these competing predictions, we implemented a field experiment with a European party during a national election. In a seemingly unrelated party survey, we randomly assigned 1,417 party supporters to true information that the canvassing activity of the main competitor party was exceptionally high. Using unobtrusive, real-time data on party supporters’ canvassing behavior, we find that treated respondents are 30 percent less likely to go canvassing. To investigate the causal mechanism, we leverage additional survey evidence collected two months after the campaign. Consistent with affective accounts of political activism, we show that increased competition lowered party supporters’ political self-efficacy, which plausibly led them to remain inactive.

Suggested Citation

  • Hager, Anselm & Hensel, Lukas & Hermle, Johannes & Roth, Christopher, 2020. "Does Party Competition Affect Political Activism?," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1278, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:wrk:warwec:1278
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    File URL: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/workingpapers/2020/twerp_1278_-_roth.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Hager, Anselm & Hensel, Lukas & Hermle, Johannes & Roth, Christopher, 2022. "Group Size and Protest Mobilization across Movements and Countermovements," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 116(3), pages 1051-1066, August.

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