Enhancing decision support for bystander interventions: The role of victim emotional disclosure and collective signals in social media incivility

Effective support for victims of online incivility is crucial for maintaining healthy digital communities and improving individual well-being. However, the decision-making processes underlying bystander intervention in social media environments remain insufficiently understood. Drawing on signaling theory, this study investigates how different forms of victim self-disclosure—specifically, the type of negative emotion expressed (introverted versus extraverted) and the degree of collective tendency—affect bystander empathy, moral judgment, and the intention to provide social support. Through an online experiment with Chinese social media users, we found that victim disclosures characterized by introverted negative emotions and high collective tendencies elicit greater bystander empathy and stronger intentions to provide both informational and emotional support. Our findings elucidate the decision mechanisms through which bystanders interpret signals and decide to intervene, offering actionable insights for the design of decision support systems that can facilitate effective bystander responses and improve comment section management on social media platforms. These results have significant implications for the development of intelligent, context-aware DSS interfaces and algorithms aimed at fostering pro-social behavior and mitigating the escalation of online deviance. © 2025 Elsevier B.V.