Speaking up in Brand Activism : The Impact of Perceived Brand Legitimacy on Consumer Behavior

The current political landscape is in turmoil and brands are joining the narrative. The wave of brands displaying their stands toward sociopolitical issues is growing. To achieve their objectives, Brands are turning to brand activism as a strategy. It is a signal of the brand's engagement and alignment with a chosen sociopolitical cause. Hence, they are using their sociopolitical positioning to differentiate themselves from competitors in the marketplace. Consequently, Brands aim at attracting consumers who are aligned with the same sociopolitical cause, brands seek to convey legitimacy alongside their activism efforts. Using a quantitative approach through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the present research is focused on the underlying mechanism guiding the influence of perceived brand legitimacy on consumer-brand engagement, purchase intentions, and consumer-based brand equity. Henceforth, we demonstrate empirically that the perception of brand legitimacy does have positive effects on the dependent variables. Our research model exhibits the moderating effects of three additional factors, such as psychological distance, consumer-cause fit, and internal locus of control.