I Get Knocked Down but I Get Up Again: Autonomous Motivation Sustains Identification and Collective Action After (Specific) Failure

Movements often experience setbacks while striving to achieve (or prevent) social change. We examined whether autonomous motivation—which captures supporters’ internalized commitment to a cause—would sustain identification with the movement and collective action after experiencing failure (vs. success) outcomes following the marriage equality vote in Australia (Study 1; N = 186), and an experimental induction of movement failure (Study 2; N = 137). Autonomous motivation positively predicted identification and collective action, but there was no evidence of moderation by outcome. In Study 3 (N = 377), we experimentally manipulated outcomes (success/failure) and framing (specific/broad) of the climate action movement. We found evidence of a three-way interaction such that the effects of autonomous motivation on identification were strongest after a specific campaign failure. We conclude that autonomous motivation can help to buffer the demotivating effects of a specific failure as well as sustaining identification and commitment to action broadly.