Allyship Motives and Their Differential Associations With Identity and Collective Action

Lea Hartwich & Julia C. Becker

European Journal of Social Psychology2026https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70072article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Across three studies ( N = 785) in the context of anti‐racist collective action in the United States and Germany, we empirically validate a theoretical framework of four motives for advantaged group allyship: outgroup‐focused, ingroup‐focused, personal and morality. We investigate the types of identification these motives stem from and how they contribute to collective action engagement on behalf of disadvantaged groups. In line with expectations, we show that outgroup‐focused and morality motives are predicted by politicized identification and linked to stronger commitment to collective action on behalf of the disadvantaged group, though only outgroup‐focused motive predicted more costly actions. On the other hand, ingroup‐focused motive was predicted by ingroup identification and personal motive by narcissism. Neither predicted future collective action intentions. This research provides empirical evidence that advantaged group allies participate in collective action out of very heterogeneous motives, not all of which contribute to sustained engagement.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70072

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{lea2026,
  title        = {{Allyship Motives and Their Differential Associations With Identity and Collective Action}},
  author       = {Lea Hartwich & Julia C. Becker},
  journal      = {European Journal of Social Psychology},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.70072},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

Allyship Motives and Their Differential Associations With Identity and Collective Action

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.


Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.