The paradox of youth's online political party brand engagement on Facebook: a congruity theory perspective

This study aims to solve the mystery of youth's online political party brand engagement (OPBE) on social networking platforms, such as Facebook through popular perspectives in Consumer Psychology. Drawing extensively on the Congruity theory and Theory of the spiral of silence, this study assesses congruity-based drivers [self-image congruity (SIC), value congruity (VC), and ideological congruity (IDC)] to predict voters' OPBE on Facebook, and subsequently, their voting intentions. The study tested research propositions on a young sample (aged between 20 and 32) of 324 electorates by employing Structural Equation Modeling using AMOS. The results highlight a relatively substantial impact of the electorate's ideological congruity, followed by self-image congruity and value congruity with a political party brand on triggering OPBE. Furthermore, based on social inclusion or exclusion scenarios, perceived social support was found to be a critical construct in moderating the relationship between the self-related antecedents (SIC and IDC) and OPBE. The results further advocate that OPBE positively impacts their voting intentions towards the political party brand. Specifically, the study offers suggestions for political candidate selection, based on shared self-congruence to avoid intra-party conflicts and political brand dilution. Besides, several theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.