The Three Musketeers? The Roles of Authenticity, Justice, and Empathy in Consumer Responses to Brand-Issue Incongruence

Today’s brands must navigate the complexity of consumer expectations regarding their involvement in social justice issues. Consumers can respond in considerably different ways toward brand activism events. Research suggests that brand-issue incongruence (BII) has an impact on consumer responses. Across three studies, we examine the effect of BII on purchase intention, the mediating roles of authenticity and justice, and the moderating effect of empathy. We show that low and moderate BII elicit higher purchase intention than high BII, and that low BII elicits higher purchase intention than moderate BII. Moreover, authenticity and justice perceptions drive these effects, and both direct and indirect effects of BII on purchasing intention depend on a person’s empathy toward the sociopolitical issue. Collectively, the findings advance our understanding of the underlying mechanisms and the boundary conditions of BII and provide practitioners and change-makers with recommendations for brand activism strategy.