The influence of social network on consumers’ negative reactions toward corporate social advocacy: An egocentric network analysis

This study investigates how consumers’ real life social networks affect their intentions to engage in negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) and boycott behaviors when confronted with a brand’s Corporate Social Advocacy (CSA) that contradicts their preexisting attitudes toward the issue. A total of 178 participants completed an online egocentric network survey, which included 604 reported alters. The results suggest individuals’ intentions of NWOM and boycott are predominantly shaped by the attitudes of alters in the network, rather than the size of the network or network density. Anger and contempt significantly facilitate the impact of network characteristics on NWOM and boycott. The findings highlight that cohesion amplifies conformity, but it is shared meaning and affective resonance that ultimately motivate behavior. • Issue attitudes are significantly predicted by the attitude homophily within social network. • Individual emotions are shaped by the average emotions in their social networks. • Negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) intentions are predicted by network attitude disparity. • Boycott intentions are significantly influenced by attitude homophily in the network. • Emotions mediate the impact of network characteristics on DVs.