Purpose

Drawing on the moral foundations theory (MFT), we examine what nonprofit organizations (NPOs) discuss and how NPOs engage in gun-related issues on Twitter. Specifically, we explore latent topics and embedded moral values (i.e. care, fairness, loyalty, authority, and sanctity) in NPOs’ tweets and investigate the effects of the latent topics and moral values on invoking public engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were retrieved by the Twint Python and the rtweet R packages. Finally, 5,041 tweets posted by 679 NPOs were analyzed via unsupervised topic modeling and the extended moral foundations dictionary (eMFD). Negative binomial regression analysis was employed for statistical analysis.

Findings

NPOs’ engagement in gun-related issues mainly focuses on laws and policies, calling for action and collaborations, and school safety. All five moral foundations are more salient in the cluster of laws and policies. When NPOs discuss the above-mentioned three topics, the public is less likely to like or retweet NPOs’ messages. In contrast, NPOs’ messages with the sanctity foundation are most likely to receive likes and retweets from the public. The fairness foundation interacts with Cluster 3 of school safety on the number of likes.

Originality/value

This study enhances the understanding of gun-related social media discussions by identifying the crucial involvement of NPOs as major stakeholders. In addition, our study enriches the existing literature on NPOs’ social media communication by including moral values and their moral-emotional effects on public engagement. Finally, our study validates the eMFD dictionary and broadens its applicability to gun-related topics.

中文翻译：

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非营利组织在枪支相关问题上的话题和道德基础如何影响 Twitter 上的公众参与？

目的

借鉴道德基础理论 (MFT)，我们研究了非营利组织 (NPO) 讨论的内容以及 NPO 如何在 Twitter 上参与枪支相关问题。具体来说，我们探索非营利组织推文中的潜在主题和嵌入的道德价值观（即关怀、公平、忠诚、权威和神圣），并研究潜在主题和道德价值观对激发公众参与的影响。

设计/方法论/途径

数据由 Twint Python 和 rtweet R 包检索。最后，通过无监督主题建模和扩展道德基础词典 (eMFD) 对 679 个非营利组织发布的 5,041 条推文进行了分析。采用负二项回归分析进行统计分析。

发现

非营利组织对枪支相关问题的参与主要集中在法律和政策、呼吁行动和合作以及学校安全等方面。所有五个道德基础在法律和政策中都更加突出。当非营利组织讨论上述三个话题时，公众点赞或转发非营利组织消息的可能性较小。相比之下，非营利组织向神圣基金会发出的信息最有可能获得公众的点赞和转发。公平基金会与学校安全集群 3 在点赞数上进行交互。

原创性/价值

这项研究通过确定非营利组织作为主要利益相关者的重要参与，增强了对与枪支相关的社交媒体讨论的理解。此外，我们的研究通过纳入道德价值观及其对公众参与的道德情感影响，丰富了有关非营利组织社交媒体传播的现有文献。最后，我们的研究验证了 eMFD 词典，并将其适用性扩大到与枪支相关的主题。