Abstract
Building on established evidence that perceived injustice and collective efficacy motivate collective action, the extended version of the Social Identity Model of Collective Action incorporates emotions - anger and feelings of being moved - as mediators. To test these paths experimentally, participants were exposed to valid information about distributive justice or collective efficacy in the form of authentic text (Study 1, N = 473) or videos (Study 2, N = 168). They then rated their emotions, action intentions, and appraisals regarding the construction of wind farms. In both studies, exposure to information about injustice and collective efficacy led to stronger feelings of anger. Additionally, participants showed higher intentions to punish those responsible for wind farm construction in response to information about injustice, compared to collective efficacy and neutral conditions. In Study 1, the injustice conditions had both a direct and an indirect effect (via anger) on the intention to punish. Study 2 replicated these findings, confirming that anger significantly mediated the link between the injustice condition and punitive intentions. However, across both studies, being moved did not significantly mediate the relationship between collective efficacy and intention to participate in the anti-wind movements. Taken together, the results provide experimental evidence for the relevance of the anger path of the Extended Model of Collective Action in explaining the influence of (in)justice-related information on anti-wind movement intentions. On a practical level, addressing perceptions of (in)justice and emotions may help reduce anti-wind movement intentions.