Talking Politics and Engaging in Activism: The Influence of Publics’ Social Networks on Corporations in the Public Sphere

Abstract

Scholars have extensively theorized how citizens’ political discussion networks have implications for elected political actors and can affect political and civic participation and knowledge. We shift the focus to another important political actor—corporations—to examine whether political discussion networks affect citizens’ perceptions of a politically involved corporation and their intentions to engage in consumer activism. With social network influence perspective and an egocentric design, we examined the influences of one’s network characteristics, opinion climate, and network heterogeneity. We found that the ethnic diversity of discussion partners and heterogeneity of opinions substantially influenced perceptions and behavioral intentions.