Peer effects on brand activism: evidence from brand and user chatter on Twitter

Although brands appear to be taking public stands on sociopolitical issues with increasing frequency, the predictors of such strategies are still under-explored. In this research, we investigate whether the activism of peers has an effect on a brand’s decision to engage in social media activism. Analysing tweets from 177 brands over a five-year period on three prominent sociopolitical issues (Black Lives Matter, LGBTQIA rights, and COVID-19 policies), we find evidence that brands not only monitor and react to peer social media activism, but that such peer effects occur across industries. Furthermore, the data support the notion that brands also monitor consumer reactions to peer social media activism in order to weigh the risk of taking a stand as well as the risk of staying silent. Overall, the findings suggest that while weighing the risks and benefits of engaging in activism on social media, brand managers monitor not only the activism of other brands, but also the real-time public reactions to those initiatives.