Application of collective action theories on Chinese K-Pop online fandom community : study of JBJ weibo fandom community

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In the age of the internet, the fandom community was no longer based on the offline interaction but changed to interaction on the online community. Within the Chinese online K-pop fandom community, different forms of collective activities happen for various purposes such as hashtag events, retweeting, and fundraising. Such activities became more and more pervasive in the Chinese K-pop online fandom circle but few studies have touched on these issues. This thesis discusses how the concept of collective action and associated philosophies fit in the nature of connective action and fandom community during the process of collective action. The thesis also explores the motivation for collective action by adopting the social identities model of collective action (SIMCA), and the problems behind these collective activities. The JBJ fandom’s collective activities on Weibo against the disbandment of the group will be chosen as the object in the thesis. The methodologies in this research are the analysis of the internet public opinion monitoring system and the netnography throughout the whole period of the incident. This study has found that the model of SIMCA does apply to the initiation of the fandom collective action. The online fandom managed to prevent the potential collective action problems by utilizing the Weibo platform. However, the participatory rate did not stand high for a long period, because of the increasingly growing of the opportunity cost resulting from the vulnerability of the online fandom community.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 1. Introduction 1
• 1.1 Background of JBJ disbandment 2
• 1.2 Weibo, The Chinese K-pop Fandom Platform 4
• 2. Literature Review 7
• 2.1 Collective Action and SIMCA 8
• 2.2 Collective Action in the Social Media Protest 11
• 2.3 Fandom Community, and Online Fandom Activity, Fandom Activism 15
• 2.4 Korean Idol Fandom Studies 19
• 2.5 Chinese online K-pop fandom community 23
• 3. Methodology 27
• 3.1 Internet public opinion monitoring system (IPOMS) 27
• 3.2 Netnography 29
• 3.3 Ethical Consideration 31
• 4. Analysis of the Data 33
• 4.1 SIMCA as Motivation of Collective Action 33
• 4.1.1 Perceived Injustice 33
• 4.1.2 Group Efficacy 35
• 4.1.3 Social Identity 36
• 4.2 JBJ Weibo Collective activities as Connective Action 38
• 4.2.1 Active Fans as Opinion Leaders 38
• 4.2.2 Different Types of Collective Activities on Weibo 41
• 4.3 Prevention of Potential default from Collective Action 44
• 4.3.1 JBJ Fans as Consumer& Rational Decision Makers 45
• 4.3.2 Strategies In Weibo JBJ Fandom Collective Action 47
• 4.4 Problems In Weibo JBJ Fandom Collective Action 50
• 5. Conclusion 55
• References 57
• Appendix I. 63