Examining the socioemotional outcomes of social justice efforts on social media users: Evidence from the NFL's Inspire Change initiatives

Despite the growing interest in social justice activities, there is a lack of empirical evidence regarding their impact on various stakeholders, particularly social media users. We gathered longitudinal data from the NFL's @inspirechange X (former Twitter) account, a designated social justice communication handle, between August 2019 and March 2023. During this timeframe, the account garnered 20,967 comments (including original tweets and retweets) from 11,481 distinct users, but our analysis focused on 5851 comments deemed usable from 3632 unique users. Drawing on the social exchange theory, sentiment analysis, and thematic analysis, this study examines social media users’ sentiments toward the NFL's social justice efforts and the types of social justice influence that lead to positive and negative responses. Our findings show increased positive sentiment towards equitable social justice efforts, but racial issues, law enforcement, and transparency concerns led to notable negative sentiments, sparking polarized responses. Understanding specific social justice actions that evoke positive and negative emotions helps sport organizations effectively monitor and improve their social justice programs, enabling data-driven decisions. This study employs social media to comprehend diffuse stakeholder voices and extends the application of positive and negative reciprocity to the context of social media users and their perception of social justice.