Posting and politics: the effects of corporate political advocacy on user-generated content

Purpose This study aims to contribute to growing bodies of literature on corporate political advocacy (CPA) and user-generated content (UGC). Specifically, it examines how consumers’ UGC efforts are driven by ideological alignment with brands’ CPA endeavors. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were tested via a series of three experimental studies across three contexts. Study 1 examined the main effects of consumer-brand alignment on consumers’ intent to create brand-related UGC and tested the mediating effects of self-brand identity congruency, while Study 2 examined the moderating effects of message controversy, and Study 3 investigated UGC valence and the moderating effects of individual political orientation. Findings The authors find that alignment between consumers’ beliefs and brands’ CPA efforts leads to greater intent to create brand-related UGC. These effects are mediated by self-brand identity congruency and moderated by the level of controversy present in the CPA messaging, as well as individual political orientation. Consumers whose beliefs align with brands’ CPA show greater intent to create positive brand-related UGC, while those whose beliefs are misaligned with CPA show greater intent to create negative brand-related UGC. Originality/value This research integrates two growing but largely unconnected research streams – CPA and UGC – to generate novel insights into how and why brands’ political advocacy efforts drive consumer engagement.