DONDENA Seminar - Eleonora Alabrese

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“Politicized Scientists: Credibility Cost of Political Expression on Twitter” 

SPEAKER: Eleonora Alabrese (University of Bath)

ABSTRACT: 

As social media becomes prominent within academia, we examine its reputational costs for academics. Analyzing Twitter posts from 98,000 scientists (2016–22), we uncover substantial political expression. Online experiments with 6,000 U.S. respondents and 135 journalists, rating synthetic academic profiles with different political affiliations, reveal that politically neutral scientists are seen as the most credible. Strikingly, political expressions result in monotonic penalties: stronger posts reduce perceived credibility of scientists and their research and audience engagement more, particularly among oppositely aligned respondents. Two surveys with scientists highlight their awareness of penalties, their perceived benefits, and a consensus on limiting political expression outside their expertise.

BIO:

Eleonora Alabrese is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Bath. She is interested in empirical political economy. Her research focuses on populism, misinformation, and voters’ behaviour, with a particular emphasis on the role of media and its relationship with science and science communication.