From Silence to Stance: Mapping the Rise of Brand Activism Research

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to examine the evolution, intellectual structure, and thematic development of brand activism research. Specifically, it investigates publication and citation trends, identifies influential contributors, and highlights the major themes and future research directions in the brand activism domain.

Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a bibliometric analysis approach using Scopus-indexed publications on brand activism from 2007 to 2026. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 181 documents were retained for final analysis. Performance analysis was conducted to identify publication trends, citation patterns, leading authors, productive countries, influential institutions, prominent journals, and highly cited documents. Further, science mapping techniques, including co-citation analysis and author keyword co-occurrence analysis, were performed using VOSviewer software to examine and visualize the intellectual and thematic structure of the field.

Findings: The findings reveal that research on brand activism had been budding till 2020, and grew exponentially after 2021. Thus, in recent years, far more scholars have paid attention to brands’ involvement in social, political, ethical and environmental issues. The U.S. and the U.K. were determined as the most influential countries, with Amanda Spry, Jessica Vredenburg, Sommer Kapitan, Joya A. Kemper and Chris Hydock identified as leading authors. The top-cited journals were Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of Brand Management. Several studies have played an influential role in shaping the brand activism literature. Among them, Vredenburg et al. (2020), Mukherjee and Althuizen (2020), and Hydock et al. (2020) are particularly significant, as these works provide foundational insights into authentic brand activism, consumer responses to controversial brand stances, and the impact of corporate political advocacy on brand outcomes. A co-citation analysis highlights three key intellectual streams associated with proactive brand behavior. These include the strategic and socio-political foundations of brand activism; authenticity and woke-washing; and consumer responses to activist brand messages. The keyword analysis showed that CSR, authenticity, woke washing, brand purpose, political ideology, boycott, buycott, social media, and consumer-brand identification are key themes in brand activism research.

Originality/value: This study adds to the existing literature on brand activism by giving a systematic and data-based overview of the evolution of the field. This bibliometric study contrasts traditional narrative reviews by mapping brand activism research’s performance, intellectual foundations, and thematic evolution. This study provides a framework for scholars to better understand the domain and offers future research directions for examining authenticity, consumer polarization, political ideology and activism, woke washing, and the long-term impact of brand activism on brand performance.