Social Dominance Orientation and European Social Identity in the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict: Understanding Attitudes Towards the EU’s political actions

Research suggests that individual differences in Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) may influence attitude towards Europe and supranational governance, whereas the relationship between SDO and identification with the EU has not been directly tested so far. The main aim of this study is to address this theoretical gap in the literature. In addition, we also explored the influence of SDO and identification with the EU on attitudes towards the EU’s political actions regarding the Ukrainian conflict. We expected SDO to negatively influence attitudes towards the EU’s political actions regarding the Ukrainian conflict, through a serial mediation process involving identification with the EU (mediator 1) and trust in the EU institutions (mediator 2). A survey (N = 310, 182 females; Mage = 33.5) was conducted to assess this pattern of relations through structural equation modelling (SEM). The results indicated a significant and negative relation between SDO and identification with the EU. As expected, SDO exerted both direct and indirect effects on attitudes toward the EU’s political actions regarding the Ukrainian conflict, with identification with the EU and trust in EU institutions as significant mediators. Results contribute to the growing body of literature on the psychological factors influencing citizens’ sense of belonging to the EU and attitudes towards EU politics.