Navigating War-torn Waters: Investigating Consumer Perceptions and Crisis Communication Amid Corporate Sociopolitical Activism in the Russia-Ukraine War

Liina Erika Veikkola

Studenteropgave: Kandidatafhandlinger

Abstract

In a polarised geopolitical climate, brands are expected to expand their societal role into previously uncharted domains. However, navigating these complex tensions is challenging and existing literature offers little guidance due to the novelty of this context. In February 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted strong opposing actions from the Western community. While many brands have exited in Russia, others have remained operations in the country. This thesis seeks to understand how consumers perceive brands’ continued operations in Russia and what are the mechanisms underlying these perceptions and their outcomes. Additionally, it explores the effectiveness of crisis response strategies to manage these perceptions and their reputational and behavioural consequences. A review of literature from the domains of corporate sociopolitical activism (CSA), brand transgressions and crisis management forms the basis of a theoretical framework for evaluating brands’ continued operations, recognising brands’ continued Russian operations as a CSR-based challenge posing a reputational threat. To test the theoretical framework and the effectiveness of two alternative paracrisis response strategies, this research employs a quantitative survey experiment.
The results reveal that brands' continued operations in Russia are perceived as a transgression, eliciting moral outrage, and leading to negative behavioral and reputational consequences. Internal issue involvement significantly predicts transgression perceptions, but, contrary to traditional CSR transgression contexts, evaluations of brands’ geopolitical CSA are not significantly driven by prescriptive CSR expectancies. Moreover, the results indicate that a recognition strategy is more effective than refutation in alleviating transgression perceptions and the moral outrage they induce, though no short-term effect on reputational attitudes or boycott intentions is found. This thesis contributes to the literature on CSA and crisis management by confirming that CSA can elicit negative responses if perceived as inadequate. It also elucidates the possibilities and limits of communication in managing geopolitical tensions as a dynamic crisis risk. The thesis is the first to explore the intersection of these two fields of research, highlighting its unique nature and the need for future research.

UddannelserCand.merc.bcm Brand and Communications Management, (Kandidatuddannelse) Afsluttende afhandling
SprogEngelsk
Udgivelsesdato2024
Antal sider128
VejledereMilena Micevski