Research of Attitudes Toward Online Violence—Significance of Online Media and Social Marketing in the Function of Violence Prevention and Behavior Evaluation

• Main Authors: Boban Melović, Anđela Jakšić Stojanović, Tamara Backović, Branislav Dudić, Zuzana Kovačičová
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-12-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: online violence; online media; social marketing; behavior evaluation; women
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/24/10609

The main aim of this paper is to analyze attitudes toward online violence in order to identify the current state of this problem through psychosocial analysis, as well as the possibility of preventing this kind of violence through the prism of online media and social marketing. The authors developed a conceptual model and conducted an online quantitative research study. The survey was conducted among 277 respondents in Montenegro, which is a developing country and as such is experiencing transitions in many segments. The data were analyzed using standard statistical tests, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test, logistic regression and the Relative Importance Index. The results of the research showed that specific vulnerable groups such as women are more exposed to online violence. The results of the logistic regression revealed that female respondents aged 18 to 24 were 76.3% more exposed to online violence than respondents over 55. Regarding the aspect of marital status, the results showed that divorced women were most exposed to online violence, 74% more than widows, while single respondents had a 54.2% greater chance of being a victim of online violence compared to widows. In terms of education, the results of the research highlighted that female respondents with a higher level of education were significantly less likely to be victims of online violence than those with a lower level of education. Respondents who had completed doctoral studies had a 48.6% lower chance of being victims of online violence compared to the respondents who had only completed high school. In terms of online media being used as a tool for spreading online violence, 36.89% of respondents identified Facebook, while 21.61% identified Instagram as the main medium of this type of violence. Thus, the research identified the necessity of continuous work focused on informing the population about online violence, as well as raising awareness about measures that should be carried out in order to reduce online violence, because of the significant influence of online media on forming attitudes toward online violence, which was confirmed by 85.19% of respondents. Furthermore, the results showed that online media—in particular, social marketing—may have a key role in the prevention of online violence, as its preventive role was confirmed by 96.76% of respondents. The findings of the research may be extremely useful for different policymakers in order to help them to better understand and identify cases of online violence, especially against women, as well as to create adequate strategies for its prevention through the prism of online media and social marketing.