Civic awareness of social entrepreneurship and consumer boycotts: A collective action approach

This study investigates how societal civic awareness of social entrepreneurship drives consumer boycotts. In our theoretical framework, we argue that this type of civic awareness fosters alignment around shared societal values, promoting a collective identity that motivates individuals’ boycott participation. Drawing on a collective action lens, we explain how civic awareness cultivates a shared sense of responsibility, driving morally inspired collective action. To test our arguments, we quantify civic awareness of social entrepreneurship using Google Trends and measure boycott propensity using data from the World Values Survey. Analyzing data from 135 countries over the period from 2000 to 2022, we find that greater civic awareness of social entrepreneurship in a country increases the likelihood of consumer participation in product boycotts.