Skip to main content
Article | Journal of Digital Marketing and Communication | Volume 6 - Issue 2 - 2026 | 109−126 | https://doi.org/10.53623/jdmc.v6i2.1173
© 2026 by the author(s), and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License

Brand Animosity as a Driver of Digital Boycotts: How Socio-Political Issues Shape Generation Z Consumer Behaviour in Indonesia

Author(s): Annisa Tusolihah , Andi Azhar
Author(s) information:
Department of Management, Universitas Muhammadiyah Bengkulu, Bengkulu, Indonesia

Corresponding author

Journal of Digital Marketing and Communication

Volume 6 - Issue 2 - 2026

 About the journal
Submit your article

The rise of digitally mediated consumer activism has fundamentally altered the dynamics between global brands and value-conscious consumers. This study investigates how socio-political issues activate brand animosity among Generation Z consumers in a Muslim-majority emerging market context and how such animosity translates into digital boycott participation. The research adopts a qualitative exploratory design grounded in an integrative framework that combines Brand Animosity Theory, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and Cognitive Dissonance Theory. Data were collected through netnographic observation across TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram between December 2024 and January 2026, supplemented by twelve semi-structured, in-depth interviews with purposively selected Generation Z respondents aged 18–24 years. Theoretical saturation was assessed through systematic monitoring of code novelty rates, with the final two interviews yielding fewer than 5% new codes. Reflexive thematic analysis was applied to the interview transcripts and netnographic field notes, with inter-coder agreement testing conducted on a 25% subsample, yielding a Cohen's kappa value of 0.81. The findings reveal three primary mechanisms through which socio-political issues generate brand animosity: moral-religious framing of geopolitical conflict, viral social contagion of negative brand associations, and collective identity reinforcement through digital solidarity rituals. Cognitive dissonance resolution and digital social norm pressure operate as critical mediating pathways between brand animosity and actual boycott participation. The study proposes a tentative construct labelled networked moral outrage, conceptualised as a digital-era extension of brand animosity that complements existing constructs of online moral outrage and digital activism while remaining grounded in brand-level affect. The findings have important implications for brand crisis communication strategies in digitally connected emerging markets.

Read Full-Text
Previous article
Next article

Lasarov, W.; Hoffmann, S.; Orth, U. (2023). Vanishing boycott impetus: Why and how consumer participation in a boycott decreases over time. Journal of Business Ethics, 182(4), 1129–1154. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04997-9.

Chang, E.; Kim, H.; Park, J. (2025). Digital boycotts and social media mobilization: A global perspective. Journal of Business Research, 170, 114311.

APJII (Asosiasi Penyelenggara Jasa Internet Indonesia). Laporan Survei Internet APJII 2024: Penetrasi dan Perilaku Pengguna Internet Indonesia. (accessed on [insert access date]) Available online: https://apjii.or.id/survei2024.

We Are Social & Meltwater. (2025). Digital 2025: Indonesia – Essential Insights into the State of Digital; We Are Social: London, United Kingdom.

Kusumawati, A.; Ishamiyya, A. (2025). From intention to action: How boycott motivation influences participation. Journal of Consumer Sciences, 10(3), 484–508.

Kim, C.; Kim, W.B.; Lee, S.H.; Baek, E.; Yan, X.; et al. (2025). Relations among consumer boycotts, country affinity, and global brands: The moderating effect of subjective norms. Asia Pacific Management Review, 30(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2024.11.005.

Akhtar, N.; Khan, H.; Siddiqi, U.I.; Islam, T.; Atanassova, I. (2024). Critical perspective on consumer animosity amid Russia–Ukraine war. critical perspectives on international business, 20(1), 73–94. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-02-2023-0015.

Klein, J.G.; Ettenson, R.; Morris, M.D. (1998). The animosity model of foreign product purchase: An empirical test in the People's Republic of China. Journal of Marketing, 62(1), 89–100. https://doi.org/10.2307/1251805.

Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T.

Hanathasia, M.; Lestari, A.F. (2024). The effect of consumer perception and image restoration strategy on organization–public relationship: A case study of McDonald's Indonesia facing boycott of pro-Israel products. Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental, 18(6). https://doi.org/10.24857/rgsa.v18n6-024.

Amirul, M.; Abdullah, A. (2024). Military activism in Malaysia and its boycott towards McDonald's Malaysia: A case study of Palestine–Israel conflict. Journal of Media and Information Warfare, 17(1), 1–22.

Crockett, M.J. (2017). Moral outrage in the digital age. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(11), 769–771. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0213-3.

Earl, J.; Kimport, K. (2011). Digitally Enabled Social Change: Activism in the Internet Age; MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA.

Abosag, I.; Farah, M.F. (2014). The influence of religiously motivated consumer boycotts on brand image, loyalty and product judgment. European Journal of Marketing, 48(11–12), 2262–2283. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-12-2013-0737.

Maher, A.A.; Mady, S. (2010). Animosity, subjective norms, and anticipated emotions during an international crisis. International Marketing Review, 27(6), 630–651. https://doi.org/10.1108/02651331011088263.

Abdul-Latif, S.A.; Abdul-Talib, A.N.; Saad, M.; Sahar, R.; Matyakubov, U. (2024). An examination of the effects of consumer ethnocentrism, consumer internationalism and consumer cosmopolitanism toward products from China in Malaysia. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 36(3), 224–241. https://doi.org/10.1080/08961530.2023.2251675.

Kim, C.; Yan, X.; Kim, J.; Terasaki, S.; Furukawa, H. (2022). Effect of consumer animosity on boycott campaigns in a cross-cultural context: Does consumer affinity matter? Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 69, 103123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.103123.

Tong, L.; et al. (2024). Repeated exposure and consolidation of boycott norms in social media communities. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 23(2), 555–574.

Salma, A.; Aji, H.M. (2023). Cancel culture in consumer behaviour: A systematic review. Journal of Islamic Marketing, 14(11), 2863–2884.

Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance; Stanford University Press: Stanford, CA, USA.

Chatterjee, S.; Chaudhuri, R.; Kumar, A.; Wang, C.L.; Gupta, S. (2022). Impacts of consumer cognitive process to ascertain online fake review: A cognitive dissonance theory approach. Journal of Business Research, 147, 390–400.

Dalakas, V.; Melancon, J.P.; Ewing, M.T. (2023). Emerging trends in anti-brand research: A review and research agenda. Journal of Business Research, 162, 113893.

Hossain, M.T.; Islam, M.N.; Rahman, M.A. (2025). Understanding the psychology behind the boycott of Israeli-affiliated brands: A TPB-based study in Bangladesh. Acta Psychologica, 256, 104963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.104963.

Ulfah, M.; Sabrina, N.; Putri, A.L. (2025). Psychological drivers of consumer boycott: Understanding emotional and social identity influences in Batam. Journal of Applied Business Administration, 9(1), 36–51. https://doi.org/10.30871/jaba.9152.

Creswell, J.W.; Poth, C.N. (2018). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches, 4th ed.; SAGE Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA, USA.

Kozinets, R.V. (2015). Netnography: Redefined, 2nd ed.; SAGE Publications: London, United Kingdom.

Bessi, A.; Ferrara, E. (2016). Social bots distort the 2016 U.S. presidential election online discussion. First Monday, 21(11).

Guest, G.; Bunce, A.; Johnson, L. (2006). How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods, 18(1), 59–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X05279903.

Hennink, M.; Kaiser, B.N. (2022). Sample sizes for saturation in qualitative research: A systematic review of empirical tests. Social Science & Medicine, 292, 114523. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114523.

Lincoln, Y.S.; Guba, E.G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry; SAGE Publications: Beverly Hills, CA, USA.

Denzin, N.K.; Lincoln, Y.S. (2018). The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, 5th ed.; SAGE Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA, USA.

Braun, V.; Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.

Landis, J.R.; Koch, G.G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33(1), 159–174.

Petersen, M.B.; Osmundsen, M.; Arceneaux, K. (2023). A 'need for chaos' and the sharing of hostile political rumors in advanced democracies. American Political Science Review, 117(2), 660–675.

El-Menawy, A.; Hassan, S.; Abdalla, M. (2024). When consumers click away: Understanding the dynamics of social media boycotts—Lessons from Orange Egypt. Frontiers in Communication, 11, 1732806.

Hamzah, Z.L.; Mustafa, R. (2019). How consumer animosity influences brand avoidance in the context of Israel–Palestine conflict. Asian Journal of Business and Accounting, 12(2), 111–135.

Read Full-Text
About this article

SUBMITTED: 28 April 2026
ACCEPTED: 01 July 2026
PUBLISHED: 10 July 2026
SUBMITTED to ACCEPTED: 64 days
DOI: https://doi.org/10.53623/jdmc.v6i2.1173

Cite this article
Tusolihah, A., & Azhar, A. . (2026). Brand Animosity as a Driver of Digital Boycotts: How Socio-Political Issues Shape Generation Z Consumer Behaviour in Indonesia. Journal of Digital Marketing and Communication, 6(2), 109−126. https://doi.org/10.53623/jdmc.v6i2.1173
Citations
0
Share this article