Plant-based diets offer multiple benefits for human health, animal welfare, and environmental sustainability. Given urgent climate change concerns, transitioning to plant-based diets could significantly reduce carbon emissions. The present study explores what motivates vegans to engage in activism to promote their plant-based lifestyle to others. The researchers suggest that current approaches to understanding veganism are too individualistic and propose studying it through collective action frameworks instead.

To do so, the researchers developed and tested a “Social Identity Model of Vegan Activism” (SIMVA) that investigates the psychological factors motivating vegans to promote their lifestyle to others. This model, which adapts established collective action theories while acknowledging unique aspects of veganism, contains several interconnected factors:

1. Group identities: Both identification with other vegans (viewing oneself as part of a social group that shares vegan values) and identification with animals (feeling solidarity with animals as a disadvantaged group)
2. Moral convictions: Orientation towards veganism as either deontological (viewing animal exploitation as inherently wrong regardless of consequences) or consequentialist (supporting veganism because of its overall positive outcomes)
3. Group-based anger: How angry people feel when thinking about their reasons for veganism
4. Collective efficacy: Belief that vegans as a group can make a positive difference in society
5. Vegan activism: Actions like promoting vegan businesses, boycotting non-vegan companies, advocating veganism to friends and family, and social media advocacy

To test the SIMVA model, the researchers conducted two pre-registered studies with self-identified vegans. Using social media, the first study recruited 351 participants from Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K. who had been vegan for an average of roughly six years. They ranged in age from 18 to 68, with most (82%) identifying as female. The second study, which used the Prolific platform, had 340 participants from the U.K. and U.S. who had been vegan for an average of roughly five years. They ranged in age from 18 to 60 and, again, most (71%) identified as female. For both studies, the primary reason that participants became and continued to be vegan was concern for animals.

The research revealed that deontological moral convictions played a major role in motivating activism, with indirect effects through anger, vegan identification, identification with animals, and collective efficacy. Consequentialist moral convictions had weaker effects, primarily through identification with animals in the first study and identification with vegans in the second study.

The five predictors collectively explained about one-third of the variance in vegan activism behavior. This is comparable to findings in other collective action research, suggesting that veganism operates through similar psychological mechanisms as other social movements.

An interesting finding was that while both moral orientations predicted activism, they did so through different pathways. People with stronger deontological convictions (believing animal exploitation is inherently wrong) experienced more anger and stronger identification with both vegans and animals. Those with consequentialist views showed less consistent patterns across the two studies.

Theoretical Contributions

This research expands current understanding of both veganism and collective action in several important ways. It introduces the concept of “allyship identities” where vegans may identify with animals as a disadvantaged group. This extends traditional collective action models that typically focus on human groups taking action for their own benefit.

The study also contributes to moral psychology by distinguishing between deontological and consequentialist moral orientations, showing that they operate through different pathways to activism. Deontological views were more strongly connected to feelings of anger and motivation to act.

Another contribution is addressing how collective action models can apply to lifestyle activism rather than traditional political actions. Many vegans focus on everyday behaviors like consumer choices and interpersonal advocacy rather than protests or policy campaigns.

For organizations and advocates promoting plant-based diets, this research offers useful insights:

• Focus on building group identity and collective efficacy rather than solely relying on anger-based messaging, which might reinforce negative stereotypes about “angry vegans.”
• Recognize that fostering vegan social identity may help buffer against stigmatization that some vegans experience in their daily lives.
• Consider how different moral orientations might appeal to different audiences when crafting messaging, with some people more responsive to rights-based arguments and others to consequence-focused approaches.
• Understand that encouraging a sense of identification with animals may motivate both personal commitment to veganism and advocacy for broader change.

The researchers acknowledge several limitations to their work. The cross-sectional design limits causal inferences about how these factors influence each other over time. Their samples may not represent the full diversity of vegans, particularly those who don’t engage with vegan social networks. Future research could explore how veganism relates to other social identities such as environmentalist or animal rights activist, examine the effects of vegan discrimination on activism, and investigate how different moral messages might resonate with different audiences.

This study demonstrates that veganism can be productively understood as a collective process rather than just an individual dietary choice. The factors motivating vegan activism parallel those driving other forms of collective action, suggesting the value of social identity approaches for understanding dietary transitions on both individual and societal levels. By viewing food choices through a social identity lens, we gain new insights into how and why people not only adopt plant-based lifestyles themselves but also become motivated to encourage others to follow suit.