Cogent Business & Management

Purpose-Driven Branding Across Cultures: Balancing Authenticity, Risk, and Consumer Trust

Brands today operate in a world shaped by political conflict, cultural disagreements, and global instability. This environment has created pressure for companies to speak openly about social, environmental, and ethical concerns. Issues like climate change, racial equality, and gender rights are now central to how organizations present themselves. Purpose-driven branding offers a way to highlight values and connect with consumers, but it also carries risk. In divided societies, brand activism can inspire loyalty from some, while sparking criticism or resistance from others. This Article Collection aims to see purpose-driven branding from a diverse cultural context lens, with a focus on the interplay between consumer trust, risk, and authenticity. In addition, cross-cultural insights highlighted through this will guide both practitioners and scholars in developing and trustworthy and meaningful brand narratives.

This Article Collection aims to critically examine the promises and pitfalls of purpose-driven branding across cultural contexts. Today, brands support and raise voices for social, environmental, and ethical causes rather than pursuing just profit. While purpose-driven branding creates meaningful social impact, it can boost consumer loyalty and trust; it can also activate backlash, reputational harm, and scepticism if customers perceive it as perceived as opportunistic or inauthentic. Hence, this issue invites contributions that discover the ways a business comes up with authenticity in diverse cultural contexts, manages financial results, controversial issues, conflicting stakeholder expectations, and the overall reputation of a brand. Particular areas of interest include identifying how consumer responses are affected by doubt and trust and uncovering the balance between opportunism and activism.

We invite original research and review articles on purpose-driven branding across cultures, with particular attention to how authenticity, risk, and consumer trust are navigated in today’s dynamic global environment. This article collection aims to shed light on how brands engage with social and environmental causes, balance competing stakeholder expectations, and manage the reputational and financial implications of taking a stand. We also welcome contributions that offer theoretical advancements, critical reflections, or cross-cultural comparisons to clarify future research directions and provide actionable insights for businesses striving to build authentic, trust-based brand identities worldwide.

Topics:

• Cross-Cultural Perceptions: How cultural norms and histories influence consumer trust in brand activism.
• Media Narratives: How traditional and digital media shape global discourse on brand purpose.
• Brand Activism and Consumer Backlash: Why activism strengthens loyalty in some markets but triggers resistance in others.
• Identity Politics: How race, gender, religion, and class shape consumer alignment with brand purpose.
• Stakeholder Trust and Engagement: How employees, investors, and communities respond to purpose-driven brands.
• Social Media and Polarization: How algorithms, virality, and influencers amplify or bridge cultural divides.
• Risk and Governance: Frameworks and ethics for reducing reputational and political risks in activism.
• Long-Term Impacts: Financial, reputational, and relational effects of purpose-led strategies.
• Global Case Studies: Lessons from successful and failed international brand activism initiatives.

Maria Palazzo (PhD, AFHEA, FHEA, MSc (Honours), MA, BA (Honours)) is an Associate Professor at Universitas Mercatorum (Italy). She was a former Lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire, School of Business (London, Luton, UK), a Visiting Scholar at the University of Granada (Granada, Spain) and a Visiting Lecturer at the Universidad del Norte, Escuela de Negocios (Barranquilla, Colombia). She was also a senior lecturer at University of Salerno (Italy). Her articles have been published in the Corporate Social Responsibility & Environmental Management, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, Journal of Brand Management and in other academic outlets.

Dr. Asad Abbas Jaffari received his Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of the West of Scotland, United Kingdom, and holds an MBA from the University of Sargodha, Pakistan. He won a number of international scholarships and awards in the field of his academic specialization. He writes and presents on issues of Branding, Consumer Behavior, Artificial Intelligence, Sustainability, and Leadership. He has published scientific articles and book chapters. He is a scientific committee member and keynote speaker at international conferences, an editorial board member, and a reviewer at international journals within prestigious publishing houses.

Neither Guest Advisor has any conflicts of interest to disclose.

For more information about this Collection, please contact the commissioning editor, Dr. Molly Cole, and [email protected].