Brand activism and millennial loyalty in the post-pandemic era: the mediating roles of authenticity and value congruence and the moderating role of emotional engagement

Abstract

Background: The post-pandemic era has fundamentally restructured the relationship between brands and consumers, particularly among Millennials - a cohort defined by heightened social consciousness and digital fluency. Objective: This study investigates the influence of brand activism on Millennial consumer loyalty in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, examining perceived authenticity and value congruence as mediating variables and emotional engagement as a moderating variable. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was employed. Data were collected using quota-based purposive sampling from 412 Millennial respondents (aged 27-42) across four major Indonesian cities (Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, and Yogyakarta). Structural Equation Modeling with partial least squares (PLS-SEM) was used for analysis. Results: Brand activism exerted a significant positive direct effect on consumer loyalty. Perceived authenticity and value congruence each served as significant partial mediators. Emotional engagement moderated the direct activism-loyalty path, amplifying the relationship among highly engaged consumers. The model explained 58.7% of the variance in consumer loyalty (R² = 0.587). Conclusions: Post-pandemic Millennials demonstrate heightened responsiveness to activist brand positioning, affiliating loyalty with brands whose moral commitments align with their evolving worldview. This study extends Social Identity Theory into a post-crisis consumer context and provides a non-Western empirical test of the activism-loyalty mechanism. Brand managers are advised to treat activism as a long-term institutional commitment calibrated to target Millennial value profiles, delivered through emotionally resonant communication, to maximize loyalty returns in post-pandemic markets.