Motivated message processing as a mechanism of audience engagement with corporate social advocacy: A study of identity and sociopolitical context

Humans are inherently sociopolitical, affiliating with like-minded groups while distancing from opposing ones. Corporate social advocacy (CSA) on divisive issues can evoke varied responses depending on partisan identity alignment (aligned, non-aligned, and misaligned) and issue controversy (moderate or high). High controversy widened pleasantness–unpleasantness gaps between misaligned and aligned/non-aligned audiences, whereas moderate controversy did not. It also increased arousal across all audiences, indicating heightened motivational relevance. However, high controversy evoked anger, counterarguing, and reduced recognition sensitivity and cued recall only among misaligned individuals, consistent with defensive processing. In contrast, aligned audiences maintained stable memory, and non-aligned audiences showed little resistance, suggesting greater openness to CSA. These findings underscore the importance of considering both partisanship and issue controversy in CSA communication.