Professional Practice in the Digital Age: Evaluating Ethical Branding of Bahraini Architectural Firms on Social Media

TThis study examines how Bahraini architectural firms utilize social media for professional branding. Adopting a qualitative mixed-methods research design, the research investigated the Instagram activity of four firms and evaluated them across six dimensions of ethical branding: Ethical Transparency, Brand Identity, Originality and Enjoyment, Narrative Depth and Interest, Cultural Sensitivity and Localization, and Authenticity. This investigation is supported by two questionnaires targeting practitioners and the audience, as well as semi-structured interviews. The research concludes that Bahraini practices shine in narrative storytelling and cultural localization but underperform in transparency, brand consistency, and clarity of authorship. The research proposes professional standards for digital branding ethics, including caption regulation, process-centric storytelling, and visual identity systems. The research finds that Instagram can be used as an ethics-focused platform for architectural representation, with the potential to reconcile creativity and regulatory responsibility in digital practices in Bahrain.