Bystanders and Assisting Victims in Online Bullying

Cyberbullying presents persistent challenges due to the socio-technical nature of online environments, where anonymity, reduced social cues and the rapid spread of harmful content shape how bystanders interpret incidents and consider possible responses. While frameworks such as the Bystander Intervention Model and the Response Decision Model provide useful foundations, their application to digital contexts has remained largely separate. The integrated Bystander Decision Response Model (BDRM) offers a more comprehensive structure for understanding multi stage bystander decision making online, yet further conceptual development is needed to clarify how socio-technical and psychological factors influence these processes. This study is designed to examine how anonymity, social norms and self-efficacy shape anticipated bystander responses in cyberbullying situations. Although these factors have been identified as potentially influential in online helping behaviour, they have not yet been explored together within a unified decision making framework. By focusing on these mechanisms, the study aims to contribute to theoretical refinement and to broader discussions on digital resilience and safe online engagement. The methodological approach centres on an online questionnaire aligned with the sequential stages of the BDRM. The questionnaire is structured to capture how individuals interpret cyberbullying incidents, evaluate responsibility and consider possible behavioural reactions across the model’s stages. A self-efficacy component is included to assess participants’ confidence in acting within these stages. A vignette depicting a cyberbullying scenario is embedded within the questionnaire. In this vignette, anonymity and social norms are varied to create controlled socio-technical conditions that reflect realistic online environments. This structure enables exploration of how contextual cues interact with individual factors when anticipating bystander behaviour. Through this design, the study aims to generate insights that enhance theoretical understanding of bystander decision making in digital contexts and inform interventions, educational strategies and platform level measures that support safer and more responsive online communities.