Customers often prefer companies aligned with their values, but it has been less clear how they react to firms taking a stance on a polarizing topic. A new study published in Strategic Management Journal explores how individuals respond to firms' communications around a polarizing political issue: whether firms take an apolitical stance, say nothing, or choose an ideological stance. The findings highlight how firm and communication characteristics influence the ways in which individuals' opinions of the firm are affected by management’s political activism, and how individuals may prefer firms to stay neutral.

University of Missouri researchers find that the social media platform Reddit is being used by people who have second thoughts to openly share and seek advice before getting married.