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I am a consumer behavior researcher at the University of Virginia who studies political attitudes in marketing—that is, how consumers’ and brands’ political attitudes influence consumer behavior, and how brands can communicate effectively about politicized topics. Read on to learn about my most recent work, or scroll down for a full list of papers.
BRANDS AND POLITICS
Politics is increasingly salient in the marketplace, and today's consumers are attuned to it. Everything from the brands people buy to the clothing styles they wear and the leisure activities they enjoy has become left- or right-coded — a way to express one's political values and allegiances.
Being seen as having a political ideology is often unavoidable for brands. Consumers can infer a brand's political leanings from a range of indirect cues including its industry, geography, social responsibility initiatives, operational decision-making, and even the way it communicates about nonpolitical topics online.
It is more important than ever for managers to understand how perceptions of their brand's political ideology shape consumers' perceptions, expectations, and judgments.
Joe Siev
Postdoctoral Fellow in Marketing
Darden School of Business
University of Virginia
The Liberal Hypocrisy Effect
My research shows that one way brand ideology shapes consumer judgment is by influencing how consumers evaluate even a brand's non-political business decisions.
Being perceived as liberal raises the standards of 'distributive fairness' to which brands are held. In other words, consumers expect liberal brands to be less economically self-interested.
This is a double edged sword for liberal brands. Because consumers have favorable expectations about their pricing and benefits, they tend to be more popular than other brands at baseline.
However, liberal (vs. non-liberal) brands are more likely to be perceived as morally hypocritical and face more severe reputational damage when they make decisions that protect the bottom line, such as raising prices or restricting benefits that customers believe they are owed.
Although U.S. corporations have traditionally leaned to the political right, today more brands than ever are viewed as politically liberal. My work helps clarify how this perceived corporate liberal shift might be reshaping consumer–brand relationships.
RESEARCH
In The Review Process
Peer Reviewed Publications
Peer Reviewed Publications
Feel free to email me about these papers
Siev, Joseph J., Serena F. Hagerty, and Tami Kim, “The Liberal Hypocrisy Effect: How Brand Political Ideology Shapes Consumer Judgment.”
Siev, Joseph J., Serena F. Hagerty, Tami Kim, and Luca Cian, “Neutral Necessities: Product Type Shapes Consumer Opposition to Corporate Political Advocacy.”
Siev, Joseph J. and Jacob D. Teeny, "The Assassination Paradox: Why Violent Attacks against Elected Leaders Do Not Increase Political Conflict."
Peer Reviewed Publications
Peer Reviewed Publications
Peer Reviewed Publications
Siev, Joseph J. and Jacob D. Teeny (2024), “Personal Misconduct Elicits Harsher Professional Consequences for Artists (vs. Scientists): A Moral Decoupling Process,” Psychological Science, 35 (1), 82-92. [PDF] [DOI]
- Related Media: Serious Inquiries Only (podcast), Character & Context (blog)
Siev, Joseph J. and Richard E. Petty (2024), “Ambivalent Attitudes Promote Support for Extreme Political Actions,” Science Advances, 10 (24), eadn2965. [PDF] [DOI]
- Related Media: Opinion Science (podcast), The Conversation, Psychology Today
Siev, Joseph J., Aviva Philipp-Muller, Geoffrey R. O. Durso, and Duane T. Wegener (2024), “Endorsing Both Sides, Pleasing Neither: Ambivalent Individuals Face Unexpected Social Costs in Political Conflicts,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 114, 104631. [PDF] [DOI]
- Related Media: Wall Street Journal, PsyPost, Psychology Today
Siev, Joseph J., Daniel R. Rovenpor, and Richard E. Petty (2024), “Independents, Not Partisans, Are More Likely to Hold and Express Electoral Preferences Based in Negativity,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 110, 104538. [PDF] [DOI]
- Related Media: KCBS, Psychology Today
Siev, Joseph J., Richard E. Petty, Borja Paredes, and Pablo Briñol (2023), “Behavioral Extremity Moderates the Association between Certainty in Attitudes about Covid and Willingness to Engage in Mitigation-Related Behaviors,” Social and Personality Psychology Compass, e12767. [PDF] [DOI]
Petty, Richard E., Joseph J. Siev, and Pablo Briñol (2023), “Attitude Strength: What’s New?” Spanish Journal of Psychology, 26, e4, 1-13. [PDF] [DOI]
Durso, Geoffrey R. O., Richard E. Petty, Pablo Briñol, Joseph J. Siev, Lucas Hinsenkamp, and Vanessa Sawicki (2021), “Dampening Affect via Expectations: The Case of Ambivalence,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 121 (6), 1172-1194. [PDF] [DOI]
Teeny, Jacob D., Joseph J. Siev, Pablo Briñol, and Richard E. Petty (2021), “A Review and Conceptual Framework for Understanding Personalized Matching Effects in Persuasion," Journal of Consumer Psychology, 31 (2), 382-414. [PDF] [DOI]
- Media: Kellogg Insight, Psychology Today
Chamberlain, Rebecca, Jennifer E. Drake, Aaron Kozbelt, Rachel Hickman, Joseph J. Siev, and Johans Wagemans (2019), “Artists as Experts in Visual Cognition: An Update," Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 13 (1), 58-73. [DOI]
Siev, Jedidiah, Shelby E. Zuckerman, and Joseph J. Siev (2018), “The Relationship between Immorality and Cleansing: A Meta-analysis of the Macbeth Effect,” Journal of Social Psychology, 49, 303-309. [DOI]
Chamberlain, Rebecca, Nicola Brunswick, Joseph J. Siev, and I. C. McManus (2018), “Meta-analytic Findings Reveal Lower Means but Higher Variances in Visuospatial Ability in Dyslexia,” British Journal of Psychology, 109 (4), 897-916. [DOI]
Book Chapters
Book Chapters
Book Chapters
Siev, Joseph J. and Richard E. Petty (2025), “Attitude Strength and Consumer Behavior,” In Eric R. Spangenberg and Katie Spangenberg (Eds.). The Handbook of Social Psychology & Consumer Behavior. [PDF]
Susmann, Mark, Joseph J. Siev, Duane T. Wegener, and Richard E. Petty (2025), “Personalized Matching in the Misinformation Domain,” In Richard E. Petty, Andrew Luttrell, and Jacob D. Teeny (Eds.). The Handbook of Personalized Persuasion. New York, NY: Routledge. [PDF] [DOI]
Siev, Joseph J., Mengran Xu, Andrew Luttrell, and Richard E. Petty (2024), “The Role of Attitude Strength in Addressing the COVID-19 Pandemic,” In M. Miller (Ed). The Social Science of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Call to Action for Researchers. Oxford University Press. [PDF] [DOI]
Siev, Joseph J., Richard E. Petty, and Pablo Briñol (2022), “Attitudinal Extremism,” In A.W. Kruglanski, C. Kopetz, & E. Szumowska (Eds.). The Psychology of Extremism: A Motivational Perspective. Taylor & Francis. [PDF] [DOI]
Siev, Joseph J., Sydney N. Williams, and Richard E. Petty (2022), “The Elaboration Likelihood Model,” In E. Ho, C. Bylund, and J. van Weert (Eds.), The International Encyclopedia of Health Communication. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. [PDF] [DOI]
Other Media
Book Chapters
Book Chapters
WRITING
- "When Companies Speak Out on Hot Political Issues, They Often Get It Wrong," Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2024
- “Who Supports Political Violence?” Psychology Today, July 2, 2024
- “What Happened to Nuance in Political Debates?” Psychology Today, June 27, 2024
- “People Ambivalent about Political Issues Support Violence More than Those with Clear Opinions,”
- The Conversation, June 13, 2024
- “Separating the Science from the Scientist,” SPSP Character & Context, March 18, 2024
- “Who Are the Most Negative Voters?” Psychology Today, September 20, 2023
- “Does Personalized Marketing Work?” Psychology Today, May 4, 2021
AUDIO
- "Taking Extreme Actions," Opinion Science Podcast, January 6, 2025
- "Artists Punished More Than Scientists for the Same Misconduct," Serious Inquiries Only Podcast, February 26, 2024
- "Study Shows That Independents Express the Most Negativity, Why?" KCBS Radio, September 30, 2023