Understanding consumer responses to incongruent brand activism: Appraisal and coping processes in a religious and cultural context

Almuajel, Abdulrahman 2025. Understanding consumer responses to incongruent brand activism: Appraisal and coping processes in a religious and cultural context. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Prior research in brand activism (BA) has shown that consumers react positively or negatively to a brand’s stance on controversial issues based on their value alignment. However, these studies often overlook the underlying psychological and social mechanisms that drive such responses to BA, especially in cases of incongruent brand activism (IBA). This thesis addresses this gap by drawing on the Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping (TTSC), conceptualising IBA as a stressor that triggers cognitive appraisal and coping processes. It examines how consumers respond to IBA that conflict with their religious and cultural values, a context largely underexplored in BA research. The research adopts an abductively framed, sequential exploratory mixed-methods design. The qualitative phase explores how Saudi consumers interpret and respond to IBA through 22 in-depth interviews. Building on these insights, the quantitative phase comprises four experimental studies with a total of 635 participants to test the proposed model systematically. Findings show that responses to IBA are not uniformly negative but vary depending on the severity and underlying appraisals. Activism that challenges religious values or is perceived as a threat to social identity often triggers rejection, whereas appreciation of self-dignity can instead foster forgiveness, even in cases of IBA. Brand origin (domestic vs. foreign) does not shield brands from their activism, as consumers hold both to similar moral standards. The thesis makes several contributions. Theoretically, it extends TTSC by illustrating how consumers navigate ideological dissonance in religious and culturally anchored contexts, introducing culturally grounded constructs and psychological pathways. Methodologically, it contributes to an underutilised application of sequential mixed methods in BA research. Managerially, brands are advised to avoid cultural and religious symbolic cues that trigger sacred value violations and to present their activism in ways that uphold dignity and align with consumers’ cultural and religious frameworks. Overall, this thesis moves beyond the dominant binary logic of alignment versus misalignment, offering a more nuanced, culturally contextualised framework for understanding how consumers in religious societies navigate ideological conflict in the marketplace.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Business (Including Economics)
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	27 January 2026
Last Modified:	27 Jan 2026 17:02
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/184213

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