Feelings of authenticity and civic engagement

The current research addresses two related theoretical questions: 1) do feelings of authenticity experienced during an activity predict motivation to engage in that activity, and 2) does that motivation translate to actual engagement behavior? We examined both questions in a 12-week longitudinal study preceding and following the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. Each week we assessed feelings of authenticity, motivation for civic engagement, and self-reported civic engagement. Results showed that the felt authenticity of civic engagement predicted greater engagement motivation, which, in turn, predicted higher engagement frequency the following week. Overall, these findings demonstrate the relevance of authenticity for important social outcomes and yield new theoretical insights into the nature of subjective authenticity.