Consumers’ Active Reaction to Brands Taking Stands on Public Issues on Twitter

With the growing interest in sustainability, brands increasingly use social media not simply to advertise their products but also to share their positions on ongoing public issues. This study investigates the effect of public-issue posts on consumers’ active reactions and provides comparisons betwee...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2022-01, Vol.14 (1), p.567
Main Authors: Berestova, Anastasiia, Kim, Da-Yeon, Kim, Sang-Yong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activism
Anthropomorphism
Authenticity
Brand loyalty
Celebrities
Climate change
Clothing industry
Communication
Consumer attitudes
Consumer behavior
Consumers
Customers
Exploratory behavior
Hypotheses
Market strategy
Marketing
Marketing research
Online social networks
Personality
Political activism
Political activity
Political aspects
Political campaigns
Psychological aspects
Public relations
Social activism
Social networks
Sustainability
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Summary:With the growing interest in sustainability, brands increasingly use social media not simply to advertise their products but also to share their positions on ongoing public issues. This study investigates the effect of public-issue posts on consumers’ active reactions and provides comparisons between two samples—public-issue posts and all Twitter posts. After collecting data from Twitter based on tweets from official sportswear brand pages, we find that public-issue posts have a positive influence on consumers’ active reaction (i.e., number of retweets, number of quotes, number of replies, and post-social search behavior). Moreover, the effect of brand activeness, which is brand social activity on Twitter, and media type (photo or video presence in a tweet) are included in the analysis. With user engagement in the public-issue post sample, the effect of the media type is not significant, whereas the effect of brand activeness is significant. This study aggregates literature on brand activism and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria to propose a measurement for a public issue in a single post rather than at the corporate level. The results of this study are useful for brands of all scales taking sustainable marketing strategies and aiming to improve interactions with consumers on Twitter.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su14010567