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How do we react when companies respond?

Barabas, Paulina LU ; Potop, Alexandra-Ioana LU and Ziga, Ena LU (2026) IBUH19 20261
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
Geopolitical conflicts have increasingly exposed multinational firms to consumer boycott pressure, raising the question of how companies should respond to protect consumer relationships. This thesis examines how corporate response strategies to geopolitical boycott pressure influence purchase intention and brand trust among university students in Sweden. While crisis communication and consumer boycott behavior have been studied separately, the intersection of these two streams has received limited empirical attention. Using a quantitative between-subjects vignette survey experiment conducted among students at Lund University, this study compares four response strategies: Denial, Minimization, Corrective Action, and Market Exit. The... (More)
Geopolitical conflicts have increasingly exposed multinational firms to consumer boycott pressure, raising the question of how companies should respond to protect consumer relationships. This thesis examines how corporate response strategies to geopolitical boycott pressure influence purchase intention and brand trust among university students in Sweden. While crisis communication and consumer boycott behavior have been studied separately, the intersection of these two streams has received limited empirical attention. Using a quantitative between-subjects vignette survey experiment conducted among students at Lund University, this study compares four response strategies: Denial, Minimization, Corrective Action, and Market Exit. The findings indicate that Corrective Action and Market Exit generated significantly more favorable results than Denial and Minimization across both dependent variables, while the two defensive strategies did not differ significantly from each other. Moreover, female respondents reported significantly lower purchase intention than male respondents. These findings underscore the importance of firms' actions when facing geopolitically driven consumer pressure. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Barabas, Paulina LU ; Potop, Alexandra-Ioana LU and Ziga, Ena LU
supervisor
organization
course
IBUH19 20261
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
geopolitical boycotts, corporate response strategies, purchase intention, brand trust, market exit, vignette survey experiment, quantitative research method
language
English
id
9244577
date added to LUP
2026-06-26 14:40:50
date last changed
2026-06-26 14:40:50
@misc{9244577,
  abstract     = {{Geopolitical conflicts have increasingly exposed multinational firms to consumer boycott pressure, raising the question of how companies should respond to protect consumer relationships. This thesis examines how corporate response strategies to geopolitical boycott pressure influence purchase intention and brand trust among university students in Sweden. While crisis communication and consumer boycott behavior have been studied separately, the intersection of these two streams has received limited empirical attention. Using a quantitative between-subjects vignette survey experiment conducted among students at Lund University, this study compares four response strategies: Denial, Minimization, Corrective Action, and Market Exit. The findings indicate that Corrective Action and Market Exit generated significantly more favorable results than Denial and Minimization across both dependent variables, while the two defensive strategies did not differ significantly from each other. Moreover, female respondents reported significantly lower purchase intention than male respondents. These findings underscore the importance of firms' actions when facing geopolitically driven consumer pressure.}},
  author       = {{Barabas, Paulina and Potop, Alexandra-Ioana and Ziga, Ena}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{How do we react when companies respond?}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}