Researchers from Cal Poly, Washington State University, and Claremont-McKenna Graduate School published a new Journal of Public Policy & Marketing ( JPP&M ) article finding that companies who engage in political advocacy experience lower sentiment on social media, lower brand attitudes and purchase intentions overall, and that these effects are driven by consumers lower in political efficacy, who lack faith in political institutions to represent them effectively.
The study, part of the JPP&M Special Issue, “Marketing to Prevent Radicalization: Developing Insights for Policies,” is titled “ Differential Response to Corporate Political Advocacy and Corporate Social Responsibility: Implications for Political Polarization and Radicalization .” It is authored by T.J. Weber, Jeff Joireman, David E. Sprott, and Chris Hydock.
Engaging in corporate political advocacy has become an increasingly popular way to differentiate a firm through building associations with a political party, cause, or candidate. For instance, Hobby Lobby, Amazon, Citigroup, Levi’s, Yelp and many other firms have taken public stances on abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs, allowing abortion to be outlawed in many states. However, at the same time, early evidence suggests at least 90% of companies have not and do not plan to take a stance on Dobbs.
Both contemporary firms and consumers exist in a marketplace characterized by intense political polarization and a society where governments increasingly struggle to address basic social and economic issues. As a result, firms have increasingly waded into political waters through corporate political advocacy as way to use their resources to supplement public policy unrelated to firm operations while appealing to likeminded consumers.
However, the current consumer marketplace, and society more generally, is defined by political polarization. Correspondingly, any political advocacy is likely to be seen as favoriting one side over the other, with reactions split between those who agree and those who disagree. Further, with nearly unlimited apolitical substitutes in the marketplace, consumers are more likely to switch away from a political mismatch than switch toward a political match at the expense of more relevant product or service characteristics, such as price or quality.
A central consequence of political polarization is that public institutions, particularly in the US, are either unwilling or unable to solve societal problems. Correspondingly, many consumers are low in political efficacy, or the idea that institutions are responsive to their priorities. Amplifying this lack of political efficacy is messaging from both parties declaring that their votes might not count either through voter intimidation or suppression laws (Democratic Party) or a massive conspiracy on behalf of voting machines (Republican Party). While our work is not a commentary on the factuality or robustness of these claims, it is easy to see why many modern Americans lack faith in political institutions.
Correspondingly, our study finds that consumers lowest in political efficacy are also the most likely to respond negatively to companies engaging of political advocacy that does not match their political values. For consumers that self-report lower political efficacy than 5.8 (on a 7-point scale) – which make up nearly 80% of our sample – responses to political advocacy are overwhelmingly negative and wash out any potential positive effects from advocacy that might match their values. Intuitively, they are more likely to believe their marketplace dollars strategically functions as political influence, as a substitute for public institutions they are skeptical represent them.
However, in sharp contrast, consumers high in political efficacy (above 5.8 out of 7) respond positively to advocacy that both does and does not reflect their values. This seems likely to be a reflection of their overall belief that institutions represent them effectively, and have little motivation to boycott or buycott firms undertaking any kind of political advocacy.
This research informs management and policy by recommending that:
Full article and contact information here: https://doi.org/10.1177/07439156221133073
About the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing ( JPP&M ) is a forum for understanding the nexus of marketing and public policy, with each issue featuring a wide-range of topics including, but not limited to, ecology, ethics and social responsibility, nutrition and health, regulation and deregulation, security and privacy.
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Journal of Public Policy & Marketing
Differential Response to Corporate Political Advocacy and Corporate Social Responsibility: Implications for Political Polarization and Radicalization
1-Oct-2022