How Corporate Social Advocacy Affects Attitude Change Toward Controversial Social Issues

The current study reveals that a corporate statement on a controversial social issue is effective in changing an individual’s attitude toward the issue depending on how much the issue is relevant to the individual’s goals and/or if the corporate statement is supported by other corporations. Advocacy fit, corporate credibility, the bandwagon heuristic, and position advocated were varied in a fully crossed 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 experiment (N = 677). The relevance of the controversial social issue to each participant’s goals and values was also considered. Findings indicate that the fit of an issue mattered for attitude change when the issue was relevant to one’s goals. The number of corporations that agreed with the corporate statement affected attitude change when the issue was relevant to each participant’s goals and values. Corporate credibility did not have any significant effect on whether individuals changed their attitudes. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.