Digitalization, value change and political consumerism in Europe: A multi-level trend analysis over two decades

Political consumerism, including boycott engagement, has become an increasingly prominent form of political participation. Digitalization and value change are often cited as key drivers of this trend. However, there is a lack of empirical studies analysing the influence of these factors on political consumerism over time and across countries. This study utilizes data from 11 waves of the European Social Survey (n = 313,061) across 15 countries to explore these dynamics. Results show that both individual-level internet usage and self-transcendence values significantly predict boycott engagement, as do self-transcendence values at the country level. In contrast, cross-country differences in digitalization levels have no effect. Moreover, the effects of self-transcendence values on boycott engagement increase slightly over time. Contrary to expectations that internet usage would grow in importance for political participation, the effects of both digitalization and individual internet usage have remained remarkably stable over time.