What shapes public reactions to corporate advocacy? – Scholar Q&A with Xi Liu

In a study supported by the Page Center, scholars Xi Liu, Syracuse University; Jiacheng Huang, University of Minnesota; Moon Lee, Syracuse University; and Alvin Zhou, University of Minnesota are exploring how companies in the past have framed their corporate social advocacy (CSA) message to contribute new insights on how moral framing can reduce backlash. This project is a part of the Page Center’s 2026 Call on Social Responsibility, Advocacy, and Activism in an Age of Political and Cultural Polarization.

What inspired this research project?

I’ve been seeing this phenomenon where corporations are taking a stance on controversial social issues. We all know that how people perceive these stances has a lot to do with their own moral value sets. We want to explore how different communication strategies can reduce the backlash organizations face based on different moral framings.

How do you plan on studying this?

We have a two-study design. In the first study, we will use large language models to analyze CSA posts on social media from Fortune 500 companies from 2012 to 2025. In this analysis, we want to focus on CSA messages across issues such as DEI, LGBTQ+ rights, and climate or energy transition. From that data, we want to see how these companies use moral language to frame their messaging. In the second study, we want to conduct an experiment based on the results of study 1 examines how moral foundation fit shapes public responses to CSA messages.

How do you think this study will inform practice?

We love that the Page Center has an emphasis on connecting academic research to the field. We are hoping that we can come up with a guide practitioners can use when developing CSA messages in the future. Hopefully the results of this study can help companies articulate their stance in a meaningful way that reduces backlash, even when some audiences disagree with the stance itself.

What is the Page Center’s role in making this project happen?

Before we got the Page Center grant, we were going to run a similar study but on a much smaller scale. The Page Center's financial support gives us the ability to expand the scope of this study. We also really value the feedback from practitioners and scholars that we have access to from the Page Center. Doing this project with the Page Center’s financial support and resources will help us reach a more comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon and will make the findings of greater value to the field and other scholars.