Internet, citizen self-mobilisation, and social movement organisations in environmental collective action campaigns: two Hong Kong cases

Much research on online activism has shown that the Internet enhances social mobilisation by lowering the costs of information, mobilisation, and participation. The Internet thus facilitates the rise of citizen self-mobilisation (CSM) – organisation of and mobilisation for collective actions by ordinary citizens unaffiliated with social and political groups. However, the rise of CSM does not render social movement organisations (SMOs) irrelevant to protest movements. Rather, many collective action campaigns in contemporary societies are constituted by the dynamic combination of CSM efforts and SMO-based mobilisation processes. This study conceptualises the complementary relationship between CSM and SMO from a resource mobilisation perspective. It then illustrates, through two environmental collective actions in Hong Kong, how Internet-based CSM and SMO-based processes may interact with each other to drive the evolution of collective action campaigns, and adds to current understanding of the impact of emerging online mobilisation phenomena on existing movement organisations and industries.