IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormksc/v45y2026i1p45-62.html

Symbolic vs. Substantive Support: The Impact of Black Lives Matter on Black-Owned Businesses

Author

Listed:
  • Siddharth Sharma

    (Strategy Area, Indian School of Business, Mohali, Punjab 140306, India)

  • Justin Frake

    (Strategy Area, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109)

  • Jared Watson

    (Department of Marketing, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, New York, New York 10012)

Abstract

This study examines the impact of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement on consumer behavior toward Black-owned businesses, using George Floyd’s murder as a shock to the salience of and support for BLM. Utilizing a difference-in-differences design with data on reviews, revenues, and foot traffic from Yelp and SafeGraph, we analyze changes in symbolic support (review frequency and valence) and substantive support (revenues and foot traffic). Our findings show a significant increase in symbolic actions for Black-owned businesses following Floyd’s murder, especially among White and Democrat-leaning consumers. However, we observe no substantial evidence for a corresponding increase in substantive support. This indicates that, although the BLM movement heightened visibility and prompted short-term symbolic gestures, it did not translate into large, lasting economic benefits for Black-owned businesses. Additionally, we observe an increase in “not recommended” (i.e., suspicious) reviews on Yelp following Floyd’s murder, one explanation may be that consumers were leaving inauthentic reviews without visiting the stores. These results highlight the complexities of sociopolitical consumerism and suggest that social movements like BLM may be insufficient on their own to address the economic disparities faced by minority-owned businesses.

Suggested Citation

  • Siddharth Sharma & Justin Frake & Jared Watson, 2026. "Symbolic vs. Substantive Support: The Impact of Black Lives Matter on Black-Owned Businesses," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(1), pages 45-62, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:45:y:2026:i:1:p:45-62
    DOI: 10.1287/mksc.2023.0243
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2023.0243
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mksc.2023.0243?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yang Wang & Marco Shaojun Qin & Xueming Luo & Yu (Eric) Kou, 2022. "Frontiers: How Support for Black Lives Matter Impacts Consumer Responses on Social Media," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(6), pages 1029-1044, November.
    2. Peter Younkin & Venkat Kuppuswamy, 2018. "The Colorblind Crowd? Founder Race and Performance in Crowdfunding," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(7), pages 3269-3287, July.
    3. Jennifer L. Doleac & Luke C.D. Stein, 2013. "The Visible Hand: Race and Online Market Outcomes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123(11), pages 469-492, November.
    4. Bart J. Bronnenberg & Jean-Pierre Dubé, 2023. "Comment on “Frontiers: Spilling the Beans on Political Consumerism: Do Social Media Boycotts and Buycotts Translate to Real Sales Impact?”," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(1), pages 28-31, January.
    5. Nunley, John M. & Owens, Mark F. & Howard, R. Stephen, 2011. "The effects of information and competition on racial discrimination: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 670-679.
    6. Michael Luca, 2011. "Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com," Harvard Business School Working Papers 12-016, Harvard Business School, revised Mar 2016.
    7. Kirk Kristofferson & Katherine White & John Peloza, 2014. "The Nature of Slacktivism: How the Social Observability of an Initial Act of Token Support Affects Subsequent Prosocial Action," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 40(6), pages 1149-1166.
    8. Ashenfelter, Orley & Ciccarella, Stephen & Shatz, Howard J., 2007. "French Wine and the U.S. Boycott of 2003: Does Politics Really Affect Commerce?," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 55-74, April.
    9. Igal Hendel & Saul Lach & Yossi Spiegel, 2017. "Consumers' activism: the cottage cheese boycott," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 48(4), pages 972-1003, December.
    10. Jūra Liaukonytė & Anna Tuchman & Xinrong Zhu, 2023. "Frontiers: Spilling the Beans on Political Consumerism: Do Social Media Boycotts and Buycotts Translate to Real Sales Impact?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(1), pages 11-25, January.
    11. Ruomeng Cui & Jun Li & Dennis J. Zhang, 2020. "Reducing Discrimination with Reviews in the Sharing Economy: Evidence from Field Experiments on Airbnb," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(3), pages 1071-1094, March.
    12. Abhay Aneja & Michael Luca & Oren Reshef, 2025. "The Benefits of Revealing Race: Evidence from Minority-Owned Local Businesses," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 115(2), pages 660-689, February.
    13. Sonal S. Pandya & Rajkumar Venkatesan, 2016. "French Roast: Consumer Response to International Con flict--Evidence from Supermarket Scanner Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(1), pages 42-56, March.
    14. Kunpeng Zhang & Wendy Moe, 2021. "Measuring Brand Favorability Using Large-Scale Social Media Data," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 32(4), pages 1128-1139, December.
    15. Larry Chavis & Phillip Leslie, 2009. "Consumer boycotts: The impact of the Iraq war on French wine sales in the U.S," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 37-67, March.
    16. Qi Sun & Fang Wu & Shanjun Li & Rajdeep Grewal, 2021. "Consumer Boycotts, Country of Origin, and Product Competition: Evidence from China’s Automobile Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5857-5877, September.
    17. Robert Fairlie & Alicia Robb & David T. Robinson, 2022. "Black and White: Access to Capital Among Minority-Owned Start-ups," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(4), pages 2377-2400, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jūra Liaukonytė & Anna Tuchman & Xinrong Zhu, 2023. "Frontiers: Spilling the Beans on Political Consumerism: Do Social Media Boycotts and Buycotts Translate to Real Sales Impact?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(1), pages 11-25, January.
    2. Qi Sun & Fang Wu & Shanjun Li & Rajdeep Grewal, 2021. "Consumer Boycotts, Country of Origin, and Product Competition: Evidence from China’s Automobile Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5857-5877, September.
    3. Alexis Antoniades & Sofronis Clerides & Mingzhi Xu, 2023. "Micro‐responses to shocks: pricing, promotion, and entry," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 125(3), pages 584-615, July.
    4. Pablo A. Peña & Saidé Salazar & Carlos Serrano, 2022. "Trump’s wall and gourmet coffee sales: The effect of a consumer boycott in Mexico," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 113-141, March.
    5. Koenig, Pamina & Poncet, Sandra, 2019. "Social responsibility scandals and trade," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    6. Nan Chen & Zemin (Zachary) Zhong, 2024. "History and Country-of-Origin Effects," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(1), pages 192-212, January.
    7. Zijun Luo & Yonghong Zhou, 2020. "Decomposing the effects of consumer boycotts: evidence from the anti-Japanese demonstration in China," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(6), pages 2615-2634, June.
    8. Pao-Li Chang & Tomoki Fujii & Wei Jin, 2022. "Good Names Beget Favors: The Impact of Country Image on Trade Flows and Welfare," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7555-7596, October.
    9. Michael Luca & Elizaveta Pronkina & Michelangelo Rossi, 2026. "The Evolution of Discrimination in Online Markets: How the Rise in Anti-Asian Bias Affected Airbnb During the Pandemic," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(1), pages 108-122, January.
    10. Cuadras-Morató Xavier & Raya Josep Maria, 2016. "Boycott or Buycott?: Internal Politics and Consumer Choices," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 185-218, January.
    11. Pamina Koenig & Sandra Poncet, 2018. "Activism and Trade," Working Papers halshs-01959943, HAL.
    12. Olga Abramova, 2022. "No matter what the name, we’re all the same? Examining ethnic online discrimination in ridesharing marketplaces," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(3), pages 1419-1446, September.
    13. Stephanie Kelley & Anton Ovchinnikov & David R. Hardoon & Adrienne Heinrich, 2022. "Antidiscrimination Laws, Artificial Intelligence, and Gender Bias: A Case Study in Nonmortgage Fintech Lending," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 24(6), pages 3039-3059, November.
    14. Lewis, Trey & Hunt, Richard A. & Murphy, Maurice J. & Townsend, David M., 2026. "Black entrepreneurship: A multilevel process model of constrained agency across the business venturing lifecycle," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 41(1).
    15. Hongchang Wang & Eric Overby, 2023. "Do Political Differences Inhibit Market Transactions? An Investigation in the Context of Online Lending," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(8), pages 4685-4706, August.
    16. Mohammed, A.R. Shariq, 2025. "Designing for racial impartiality: The impact of relocating host photos on the Airbnb website," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    17. Chuang Tang & Shaobo (Kevin) Li & Yi Ding & Ram D. Gopal & Guanglei Zhang, 2024. "Racial Discrimination and Anti-discrimination: The COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on Chinese Restaurants in North America," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 35(3), pages 1274-1295, September.
    18. Aaron Anglin & Garry D. Bruton & Marcin Bielicki, 2025. "No Credit for Success, Penalized for Failure? An Examination of Entrepreneur Race, Gender, and Prior Fundraising Track Records in Crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 49(5), pages 1392-1430, September.
    19. Mohammed Alyakoob & Mohammad Rahman, 2026. "Market Design Choices, Racial Discrimination, and Equitable Microentrepreneurship in Digital Marketplaces," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 72(3), pages 1878-1903, March.
    20. Ali Umut Guler & Kanishka Misra & Vishal Singh, 2024. "Local Market Reaction to Brand Acquisitions: Evidence from the Craft Beer Industry," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(5), pages 1102-1131, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:45:y:2026:i:1:p:45-62. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.