Managing empathic political communication: Digital identity of Indonesian women legislators on Instagram

Nur'annafi Farni Syam Maella; Widya Desary Setia Wardhani; Ika Devi Pramudiana; Renda Aranggraeni; Dian Wardiana Sjuchro

doi:10.24198/jmk.v10i2.69969

Managing empathic political communication: Digital identity of Indonesian women legislators on Instagram

Nur'annafi Farni Syam Maella, Widya Desary Setia Wardhani, Ika Devi Pramudiana, Renda Aranggraeni, Dian Wardiana Sjuchro

Abstract

Background: In the ever changing world of digital politics, women in politics often have to cope with the double challenge of preserving their institutional authority while also meeting gendered expectations of being relevant. Empathy is frequently seen as an inherent personality trait; nonetheless, its use as a strategic tool in digital political strategy remains inadequately explored, particularly within the framework of the Indonesian legislature. Purpose: This study aims to investigate how empathic political communication is strategically managed and configured as a form of symbolic capital by female members of the Indonesian House of Representatives on social media. Methods: Employing qualitative multimodal content analysis, this study examines the textual, visual, and interactional elements of posts published between July and October 2025. Results: The findings show the empathy functions not only as an emotional expression but also as a strategic communication resource. This in configured through four main patterns: building moral legitimacy, gender-based political branding, crisis responsive communication, and grassroot relation engagement. These patterns produce political identities such as moral advocates, caring mothers leaders, institutional guardians, and grassroots allies. Thus, empathy operates as a symbolic political capital used to strengthen legitimacy, maintain public trust, and negotiate gender expectations in digital politics. Conclusion: The study concludes that empathetic social media communication is a political strategy deliberately cultivated by female legislators to navigate authority, legitimacy, and gender-specific public expectations, rather than being merely spontaneous emotional expressions. In the Indonesian legislature, empathy is an important symbolic instrument for building a genuine digital political identity while maintaining in touch with the people. Implications: This research contributes to the literature by conceptualizing empathy as a communication management resource rather than a purely emotional trait.

Keywords

Digital identity; empathy; Instagram; political communication; women legislator

Full Text:

PDF

References

Abellan, P. A. A. (2025). Performing the people: Affective and discursive strategies of populist proximity. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6829941/v1

Batson, C. D. (2011). Altruism in humans. Oxford University Press.

Bauer, N. M., Barnes, K., Dukes, E., & Williams, L. (2024). Gendered differences in fundraising appeals among congressional candidates. Journal of Political Marketing, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2024.2407105

Bennett, W. L., & Livingston, S. (2020). The disinformation age. Cambridge University Press.

Bossetta, M. (2018). The digital architectures of social media: Comparing political campaigning on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat in the 2016 US election. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 95(2), 471–496. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699018763307

Brands, C., Kruikemeier, S., & Trilling, D. (2021). Insta(nt)famous? Visual self-presentation and the use of masculine and feminine issues by female politicians on Instagram. Information, Communication & Society, 24(14), 2016–2036. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2021.1962942

Campus, D. (2013). Women Political Leaders and the Media. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137295545

Casas-Mas, B., Rodríguez-Sáez, A., Gutiérrez, I., Benavides, G. J., & Robles, J. M. (2025). Voices of discontent: Unpacking populist rhetoric in Spain and the rise of Anti-European sentiment. Media and Communication, 13. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.10688

Chadwick, A. (2017). The hybrid media system: Politics and power. Oxford University Press.

Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2016). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage publications.

De-Lima-Santos, M.-F., Gonçalves, I., Quiles, M. G., Mesquita, L., Ceron, W., & Couto Lorena, M. C. (2024). Visual political communication on Instagram: A comparative study of Brazilian presidential elections. EPJ Data Science, 13(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-024-00502-0

Decety, J., & Cowell, J. M. (2014). The complex relation between morality and empathy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18(7), 337–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2014.04.008

Duncombe, C. (2019). Digital Diplomacy: Emotion and Identity in the Public Realm. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 14(1–2), 102–116. https://doi.org/10.1163/1871191X-14101016

Enli, G. (2017). Twitter as arena for the authentic outsider: Exploring the social media campaigns of Trump and Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election. European Journal of Communication, 32(1), 50–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323116682802

Farkas, X., & Bene, M. (2021). Images, politicians, and social media: Patterns and effects of politicians’ image-based political communication strategies on social media. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 26(1), 119–142. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161220959553

Gerbaudo, P. (2017). The mask and the flag: Populism, citizenism, and global protest. Oxford University Press.

Haßler, J., Wurst, A.-K., & Pohl, K. (2024). Politicians over issues? Visual personalization in three Instagram election campaigns. Information, Communication & Society, 27(5), 815–835. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2023.2227684

Holm, M., Skhiri, Y., & Zetterberg, P. (2024). Political institutions and the gendered use of social media among political candidates: Evidence from Tunisia. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 21(2), 132–145. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2023.2173701

Kreiss, D. (2016). Prototype politics: Technology-intensive campaigning and the data of democracy. Oxford university press.

Lalancette, M., & Raynauld, V. (2019). The power of political image: Justin Trudeau, Instagram, and celebrity politics. American Behavioral Scientist, 63(7), 888–924. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764217744838

Lee, S., & Kweon, S. H. (2013). A study on empathy, credibility, and political attitude in social media: Focused on the relationship between empathetic intention and the motivation of belonging on intended pro-social and political behavior. Advances in Journalism and Communication, 01(03), 26–40. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajc.2013.13004

Marcus, G. E. (2023). Evaluating the status of theories of emotion in political science and psychology. Frontiers in Political Science, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2022.1080884

Muna, C., Prisanto, G. F., Ernungtyas, N. F., Irwansyah, I., & Putri, S. A. (2020). Empati dan homofili dalam komunikasi politik pemenangan pemilihan legislatif. Scriptura, 9(2), 82–90. https://doi.org/10.9744/scriptura.9.2.82-90

Pellegrino, G. (2011). Introduction: Studying (Im)mobility through a politics of proximity. In The Politics of Proximity: Mobility and Immobility in Practice (pp. 1–14). Routledge.

Prihatini, E. S. (2020). Women and social media during legislative elections in Indonesia. Women’s Studies International Forum, 83, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2020.102417

Renstrom, R. A., & Ottati, V. C. (2020). “I feel your pain”: The effect of displaying empathy on political candidate evaluation. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 8(2), 767–787. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v8i2.1292

Schreier, M. (2012). Qualitative content analysis in practice. SAGE Publication.

Steffan, D., & Grabe, M. E. (2025). Gendered news coverage at the apex of political leadership: Validating and applying a visual character frame instrument to the campaigns of Merkel, Clinton, and their male opponents. Communication Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251389039

Suiter, J., & Fletcher, R. (2020). Polarization and partisanship: Key drivers of distrust in media old and new? European Journal of Communication, 35(5), 484–501. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323120903685

Theocharis, Y., Boulianne, S., Koc-Michalska, K., & Bimber, B. (2023). Platform affordances and political participation: How social media reshape political engagement. West European Politics, 46(4), 788–811. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2022.2087410

Trimble, L., Curtin, J., Auer, M., Wagner, A., & Woodman, V. K. G. (2022). Works well with others: Gendered mediation of collaborative leadership skills. Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, 43(2), 245–255. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554477X.2022.2028509

Trimble, L., Wagner, A., Sampert, S., Raphael, D., & Gerrits, B. (2013). Is it personal? Gendered mediation in newspaper coverage of Canadian national party leadership contests, 1975–2012. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 18(4), 462–481. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161213495455

Van Aelst, P., Sheafer, T., & Stanyer, J. (2012). The personalization of mediated political communication: A review of concepts, operationalizations and key findings. Journalism, 13(2), 203–220. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884911427802

Van Aelst, P., Strömbäck, J., Aalberg, T., Esser, F., de Vreese, C., Matthes, J., Hopmann, D., Salgado, S., Hubé, N., Stępińska, A., Papathanassopoulos, S., Berganza, R., Legnante, G., Reinemann, C., Sheafer, T., & Stanyer, J. (2017). Political communication in a high-choice media environment: a challenge for democracy? Annals of the International Communication Association, 41(1), 3–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2017.1288551

van Dijck, J., Poell, T., & de Waal, M. (2018). The platform society. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190889760.001.0001

Vanolo, A. (2016). Is there anybody out there? The place and role of citizens in tomorrow’s smart cities. Futures, 82, 26–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2016.05.010

Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2019). Emotions, media and politics. John Wiley & Sons.

Waskul, D., & Vannini, P. (2016). The performative body: Dramaturgy, the body, and embodiment. In The Drama of Social Life. Routledge.

Whiteley, G. M. (2018). From being one to being-in-common: Political performativity, proxemics, and the joys of provisional unity. Performance Matters, 4(3), 91–107.

Widiyanti, A., & Pamungkas, I. N. A. (2025). Communication identity of digital immigrant micro-entrepreneur in adapting to promotional innovation. Jurnal Manajemen Komunikasi, 9(2), 238–259. https://doi.org/10.24198/jmk.v9i2.58147

Zein, D., & Setiaman, A. (2023). Boosting confidence in Indonesian women: Unraveling Instagram’s CrossFit influence and social comparisons. Jurnal Manajemen Komunikasi, 8(1), 117–136. https://doi.org/10.24198/jmk.v8i1.47154

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24198/jmk.v10i2.69969