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CSR as a Selling of Indulgences: An Experimental Investigation of Customers’ Perceptions of CSR Activities Depending on Corporate Reputation
Abstract
Companies are increasingly investing in CSR whereby companies with a bad reputation are no exception. The study at hand empirically examines customers’ evaluations of corporate credibility as a reaction to companies’ CSR engagement contingent on the firms’ corporate reputation. Drawing from psychological theories on contrast and recency effects, a conceptual framework is derived which proposes that firms with a bad reputation will benefit more from engaging in CSR compared to those with a favorable reputation. The framework is put to test using a large (N = 1,717), cross-industry sample (including evaluations of 71 independent firms from varying industries), and a between-subjects experimental design (CSR info is given versus no CSR info is given). Results confirm that, indeed, whereas companies with a bad reputation significantly benefit from CSR in terms of an increase in corporate credibility, there is no positive effect of CSR for companies with a good reputation.
... For these companies, nearly any brand activism initiative will be perceived as moderately incongruent. For instance, efforts to build a socially-responsible reputation tend to benefit brands with a negative corporate image (Ulke and Schons 2016). Therefore, the absence of expectations based on prior practice and values would indicate that marketing efforts based on socio-political alignment operate in a narrow zone of consumer satisfaction (e.g., Oliver, Rust, and Varki 1997; see Figure 2). ...
... This satisfaction indicates that marginal improvement in related brand attitudes occurs for each instance of engaging with a socio-political cause that is highly aligned or completely congruent with the pre-existing brand reputation. For instance, corporations with an existing positive reputation for social responsibility tend to benefit less from more communications around their positioning (Ulke and Schons 2016). These messages satisfy and deliver on consumer expectations of the brand, but generally fail to inspire or delight (Schneider and Bowen 1999). ...
In today’s marketplace, consumers want brands to take a stand on sociopolitical issues. When brands match activist messaging, purpose, and values with prosocial corporate practice, they engage in authentic brand activism, creating the most potential for social change and the largest gains in brand equity. In contrast, brands that detach their activist messaging from their purpose, values, and practice are enacting inauthentic brand activism through the practice of “woke washing,” potentially misleading consumers with their claims, damaging both their brand equity and potential for social change. First, the authors draw on theory to inform a typology of brand activism to determine how, and when, a brand engaging with a sociopolitical cause can be viewed as authentic. Second, a theory-driven framework identifies moderate, optimal incongruence between brand and cause as a boundary condition, showing how brand activists may strengthen outcomes in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Third, the authors explore important policy and practice implications for current and aspiring brand activists, from specific brand-level standards in marketing efforts to third-party certifications and public sector partnerships.
... In addition, the econometrics literature provides evidence that GLMs are the most efficient and consistent estimation when the normality assumption about error-term residuals is violated (Kelejian and Robinson 1998). Moreover, we used simple slopes to construct interaction graphs where applicable (Hong et al. 2007;Ulke and Schons 2016). Lastly, to account for an omitted variable's potential impact on our estimates and whether confounding factors cause endogeneity issues, we used the Impact Threshold of a Confounding Variable (ITCV) analysis (Busenbark et al. 2022). ...
Data breaches are increasingly consequential for many business organizations. How firms address data breaches has substantialethical and societal implications. However, there is still uncertainty regarding why certain organizations experience moresevere consequences than others following data breaches and what actions firms can take to minimize the negative outcomes.To answer these questions, we leverage insights from the literature on crisis communication strategies and attribution theoryto predict stock market reactions. We argue that those reactions, as reflected in shareholders’ responses following a breach,depend on the nature of attributional information and are contingent upon firms’ responses and media sentiment. Analyzing asample of 287 data breach events in 95 publicly traded US firms over a decade, we found that when shareholders attribute thedata breach to internal and stable causes, the firm appears “broken,” resulting in a decline in stock market returns. However,our findings also indicate that firms’ ceremonial responses and media sentiment mitigate this negative relationship. Our discussion explores the benefits of understanding the role of crisis communication strategies and applying attribution theorywithin corporate-level studies. We also suggest potential avenues for future research.
... Bianchi et al. [127] state that NFSR affects both companies' reputations and the consumers' intention to buy. Kim [128] states that sustainability reporting positively affects consumer confidence and their view of corporate reputation because the impact of social and humanitarian activities on corporate reputation is far greater than that of avoiding inappropriate activity [129]. For societies, establishing clear positions about environmental, social, ethical, and economic issues will guarantee their inclusion as companies' stakeholders and their adherence to the sustainable development agenda, while at the same time increasing the positive corporate reputation [13]. ...
The present study’s main objective is to assess the impact of non-financial sustainability reporting (NFSR) on corporate reputation and the role of the CEO in the opportunistic behavior of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. In total, 178 firms were assessed for this paper during 2013–2020. In this study for calculating the NFSR, environmental sustainability reporting (ESR), social sustainability reporting (SSR), governance sustainability reporting (GSR) and ethical sustainability reporting (ETSR), Arianpoor and Salehi’s comprehensive and conceptual model has been used. In addition, the literature states that a CEO’s power can be classified as an opportunity for discretion and opportunistic behavior in CEOs that is in contrast with stakeholder demands. To this end, in this study, CEOs’ power has been used as an indicator for the CEO’s opportunistic behavior, and the CEO pay slice (CPS) index was used to calculate the CEO’s level of power. The results revealed that NFSR affects corporate reputation positively. In addition, ESR, SSR, ETSR and GSR positively affect corporate reputation. Moreover, the CEO’s power affects the relationship between NFSR/ESR/SSR/ETSR and corporate reputation. Because managers desire to engage in social and ethical activities, they try to hide the company’s errors and increase its reputation. The results revealed that the CEO’s power did not affect the relationship between GSR and corporate reputation. Since companies in the Tehran Stock Exchange are under intensive supervision, such as in governance, the impact of a CEO’s power and the interaction of a CEO’s power and GSR on company reputation in this study might, thus, not apply to these companies. It is crucial to investigate NFSR, corporate reputation and CEO power within Iran-specific conditions because of differences in emerging markets and developing countries such as Iran, which have diverse ownership structures, economic status, legal systems, government policies, and culture.
... The scale items were related to (a) credit facilities, (b) borrowing behavioural pattern, (c) savings behaviour, (d) financial security offered by institutions, and (e) financial and economic independence. The Cronbach alpha value for this financial inclusion scale was 0.86.Earlier studies suggest that the extent to which CSR influences financial inclusion is also based on demographic characteristics such as gender, age, and income (Mazereeuw-van der Duijn Schouten et al., 2014;Ulke & Schons, 2016). Therefore, in the SEM analysis, three control variables (gender, age, and income) were introduced to measure their effect on the relationship between CSR and financial inclusion. ...
Financial institutions play a vital role in the implementation of effective CSR in local communities with significant initiatives that support financial inclusion. The findings of this study reveal that CSR has a significant, positive impact on financial inclusion. The study rules out any moderating impact of income on the strength of the relationship between CSR and financial inclusion. The research findings of this study will help policymakers to design effective policies to motivate banking organizations to consider CSR as an effective tool to improve financial inclusion.
... So zeigt sich in der Realität, dass CSR entgegen geäußerter Absichten oftmals nur eine untergeordnete Rolle in Kaufentscheidungsprozessen spielt (Mohr, Webb & Harris, 2001;Auger & Devinney, 2007;Devinney, Auger & Eckhardt, 2010). Vor dem Hintergrund zwar nicht abschließend nachzuweisender, aber auch nicht auszuschließender Effekte von CSR auf das Kundenverhalten investieren zahlreiche Unternehmen in entsprechende Aktivitäten und deren Kommunikation (Ulke & Schons, 2016). Nicht wenige von ihnen müssen jedoch feststellen, dass dieses Engagement und vor allem deren Kommunikation sich entweder gar nicht, nur geringfügig oder sogar schädlich auf das Kundenverhalten auswirkt (Klein, Smith & John, 2004;Wagner, Lutz & Weitz, 2009;Yoon, Gürhan-Canli & Schwarz, 2006). ...
Die Digitalisierung beziehungsweise digitale Transformation stellt aufgrund ihrer ubiquitären Durchdringungstiefe einen wesentlichen Treiber gesellschaftlicher Veränderungen dar (Altmeppen et al., 2018). Für Unternehmen bedeutet die digitale Transformation, dass die Veränderungen in vielen Fällen über die Gestaltung von Produkten und internen Prozessen hinaus tief in die Geschäftsmodelle einwirken. Diese Veränderungen geschehen nicht bloß evolutionär, sondern in großen Teilen disruptiv (Keuper et al., 2018).
... So zeigt sich in der Realität, dass CSR entgegen geäußerter Absichten oftmals nur eine untergeordnete Rolle in Kaufentscheidungsprozessen spielt (Mohr, Webb & Harris, 2001;Auger & Devinney, 2007;Devinney, Auger & Eckhardt, 2010). Vor dem Hintergrund zwar nicht abschließend nachzuweisender, aber auch nicht auszuschließender Effekte von CSR auf das Kundenverhalten investieren zahlreiche Unternehmen in entsprechende Aktivitäten und deren Kommunikation (Ulke & Schons, 2016). Nicht wenige von ihnen müssen jedoch feststellen, dass dieses Engagement und vor allem deren Kommunikation sich entweder gar nicht, nur geringfügig oder sogar schädlich auf das Kundenverhalten auswirkt (Klein, Smith & John, 2004;Wagner, Lutz & Weitz, 2009;Yoon, Gürhan-Canli & Schwarz, 2006). ...
Helena Lischka widmet sich der Konzeptualisierung gesellschaftlicher Verantwortung von Unternehmen vor dem Hintergrund der Digitalisierung. Dabei bezieht sie das bestehende Konzept der Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) durch die Integration von Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) auf den digitalen Kontext und nimmt eine Einbettung von CDR in das Marketing vor.
Der Inhalt
• Bestandsaufnahme zu CDR in der gesellschaftlichen Diskussion
• Einordnung von CDR in das Gesamtkonzept der Corporate Social Responsibility
• Entwicklung einer Definition von CDR i.w.S. und i.e.S.
• Darstellung der Relevanz von CDR für das Marketing am Beispiel von Digital Privacy
• Empirische Beiträge zur Wirkung von CSR auf kaufverhaltensrelevante Variablen, von Flagship CSR-Projekten sowie CSR-bezogenen Markenkrisen
• Beitrage zu Privatsphärebedenken und dem Bedürfnis nach Privatsphäre
Die Zielgruppen
• Dozierende und Studierende in den Bereichen der BWL und Marketing
• Praktiker*innen im Bereich Corporate Social Responsibility, Datenschutz und Privatsphäre
Die Autorin
Helena Lischka ist Dozentin für Betriebswirtschaftslehre (BWL, insb. Marketing und empirische Methoden) mit den Forschungsschwerpunkten Corporate Social/Digital Responsibility. Darüber hinaus unterstützt sie als Leitungsassistentin die Durchführung des internationalen mœrs festival.
... From this position, companies can take advantage of sustainability as alleviator of negative consequences of their harmful activities and operations. Moreover, there are authors arguing that companies with bad reputation can implement sustainability as a (greenwashing) mechanism to increase credibility and to improve its reputation conditions (Hult et al., 2018;Ulke and Schons, 2016). ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to summarize previous research findings of the relationship between reputation and sustainability at the firm level.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a systematic literature review of 306 retrieved articles that matched the search criteria. After applying filters and narrowing the sample to a total of 156 articles of a 19-year period (2000–2019) that were finally content analyzed for this study in order to identify sources, authors, theories, methodologies, and opportunities for future research.
Findings
Findings demonstrate that in most of the cases, sustainability appears to be an antecedent of corporate reputation and a tool to enhance stakeholders' acceptance and perceptions on companies' activities.
Practical implications
The study shows the potential of sustainability reporting as a tool to enhance corporate reputation; moreover, it also discussed the likely effect of sustainability over brand equity. This research confirms the importance of having strategic management of both corporate sustainability and reputation management. Including both reputational management and sustainability in the corporate strategy can be a potential source to create value, protect against difficulties and liabilities, and maximize business survival.
Social implications
For business, establishing clear positions in relation to environmental and social issues, building collaborative global networks and authentic local relations, giving signals that reaffirm business purposes with all stakeholders, and adhering to the sustainable development agenda enhance positive corporate reputation.
Originality/value
In addition to answering the stated research question and in fact filling a gap in the literature, this study led us to identify 25 research questions classified in seven different areas (measurement and scales; causes and effects; longitudinal studies; geographical contexts; theory building; digital as a novel environment; and new actors and institutions).
... Interestingly, a study on leveraging a corporate social responsible communication strategy for reputation-building found that CSR appeals have a positive effect on organisations with a negative corporate image, but not for brands with an existing positive reputation ( Ulke and Schons, 2016 ). Likewise, another study reported a "halo effect" for espoused socially responsible marketers where consumers perceive the products to be a better value and higher quality than it is ( Chernev and Blair, 2015 ). ...
The present study applies Pope and Wæraas’ (2016) CSR-washing conceptual framework in a social media context using the recent case involving Streets ‘Pleasure is Diverse’ campaign and the Australian marriage amendment. Sentiment analysis examined the posts to Unilever's Magnum ice-cream campaign. We applied the framework's five conditions, and the findings indicated support for the operationalisation of Pope and Wæraas’ (2016) washing framework. The findings suggest that consumer sentiments in this case of causal ambush marketing had four general themes: (1) Supportive Advocates; (2) Anti-Advocates; (3) Moral Detractors; (4) Sceptics.
... According to a recent report published by Cone (2017) "Nearly 86% of Americans expect companies to do more than make a profit, they should also address social and environmental issues" highlighting the importance CSR has for external stakeholders (i.e: customers). While there have been several studies done to show the direct correlation between CSR initiatives and customer loyalty (Pérez and Bosque 2015, Ulke andSchons 2016, Adebayo, Abimbola et al. 2017) resulting in an almost "intuitive" implementation of practices in order to make customers happier, less research has been done on how it affects employees and their satisfaction, performance and participation within the organisation. ...
In the ever growing and shifting field of CSR there is a strong sentiment that one group of employees remains undervalued and therefore understudied: "Blue-collar employees". In this case study analysis we attempt to identify whether motivation amongst blue-collar employees functions in much the same way as it does with the more broadly studied white-collar ones. By exploring data gained from in depth interviews, observation and documents provided by the organisation through the lenses of first organisational identity , then organisational commitment and finally ethical leadership we are able to apply Bauman and Skitka's (2012) model to blue-collar employees with a few minor changes. Offering an insightful new look into how motivation works amongst those in the lower rungs of the organisation, what to expect from succesfull CSR actions and what potential barriers for motivation and commitment they could face.
... The assumption guiding reliance on industry in psychological research is that industries vary reliably in work, group, organizational, or broader cultural/political demands. Comparisons have been made in terms of particular industry features (e.g., Mardanov, Maertz, & Sterrett, 2008;Van Hoorn, 2015) and in assessing industry-specificity of targeted effects (e.g., Schneider, Smith, Taylor, & Fleenor, 1998;Ulke & Schons, 2016). The former type of study tends to consider industry as a targeted situational main effect, whereas the latter is implicitly interactionist. ...
... In a similar vein, Lacey et al. (2010) demonstrated that awareness of the company and the product knowledge influences the CSR perception. Moreover, interestingly, one study indicated that if a company has a good prior reputation, the benefits induced from claiming CSR are minimal compared to a company with negative reputation (Ulke and Schons, 2016). On a fairly different note, Kim (2011) found that when a well-known company adopts a CSR strategy, it influences the consumer to create not only a CSR association but also a CAb association. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine multinational corporations’ (MNCs) response strategy in social media to effectively communicate their international CSR practices.
Design/methodology/approach
An experiment was conducted by adopting a case of an MNC’s globalized CSR campaign in United Arab Emirates. The interaction effects of corporate communication strategy and company’s response sidedness were examined as well as a mediating role of the perceived altruism.
Findings
The current study suggests how two-sided response strategy can be applied and benefits MNCs’ international CSR campaigns. The findings demonstrate that a company’s two-sided response helps to increase people’s attitude toward the company and word-of-mouth intention through enhanced perceived altruism when the company has no prior CSR experience in a host country.
Practical implications
The current study provides insights on how to respond to negative publicity in social media. MNCs are suggested to use different response strategies based on their prior CSR experience in a host country.
Originality/value
The success of CSR depends on how consumers take the message and perceive a company’s motive of CSR. The current study examines how to best respond to the consumers’ criticism by utilizing message sidedness strategies depending on the company’s presence of CSR.
This study uses online surveys administered in the US ( N = 491), the UAE ( N = 538), and South Korea ( N = 548) to examine the associations between transparency strategies in CSR communication (i.e., participation, substantial information, and accountability) and the public’s evaluation of corporate trust. Additionally, it investigates the mediating roles of perceived altruism and skepticism toward CSR, while also exploring how these associations differ across the three selected countries. When testing a proposed model using the combined data from three countries ( N = 1,577), our findings suggest that transparency strategies do not directly contribute to corporate trust. However, the participation aspect leads to corporate trust only through the influence of perceived altruism, while substantial information predicts a reduced level of CSR skepticism. Notably, results derived from country-specific data reveal intriguing patterns concerning accountability. In the US, accountability leads to altruism and fosters corporate trust, while in the UAE, it contributes to fostering corporate trust. However, in South Korea, it leads to increased skepticism. Conversely, in South Korea, substantial information contributes to building corporate trust. We discuss the implications of these findings from the unique institutional, social, and cultural perspectives of the countries studied.
We study the empirical association between corporate pollution and reputational exposure using a sample of 745 U.S. firms from 2007 to 2019 and an ordered probit model. Our results reveal an inverse relationship between chemical emissions and reputational exposure rating, after controlling for various firm attributes. We examine the roles of corporate governance structure and the demographic background of the top management team in the transmission process from polluting chemical emissions to reputation. Further, the negative impact of corporate pollution on reputational exposure rating is much stronger in areas where residents are convinced that climate change is happening. We perform several tests and analyses designed to mitigate endogeneity issues and correct sample bias to ensure the robustness of our findings. Finally, our results suggest that the negative effect is stronger for companies with higher information asymmetry, which indicates the importance of information transparency for firms' credibility.
This chapter considers the association between a firm’s pollution abatement behavior and reputational risk. We examine the contemporary literature on the interplay between a company’s environmental performance and financial performance, environmental performance and financing costs, and environmental performance and corporate governance characteristics. We discuss the interconnections between corporate ownership and environmental responsibility. We then analyze the links between reputational risk and polluting activities, focusing on the driving factors of corporate reputation risk and CSR. We provide an exploratory analysis of reputational risk, considering the experience of U.S. companies over 13 years before the COVID-19 pandemic. We use corporate chemical emission and reputational risk data from the United Toxic Release Inventory of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the RepRisk database, respectively. Our exploratory results reveal a strong link between corporate pollution and the reputational risk of firms.KeywordsFirm pollutionReputational riskEnvironmental performanceCSR
Offered here is a conceptual model that comprehensively describes essential aspects of corporate social performance (CSP). The three dimensional model address major questions of concern: (1) What is included in the definition of CSR? (2) What are the social/stakeholder issues the firm must address? and (3) What is the organization's strategy/mode/philosophy of social responsiveness.
The first dimension is the source of the original four-part definition of CSR originated: economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary (later termed philanthropic). It was later presented at the CSR Pyramid (1991).
Six decades of survey data consistently indicate that about 70% of consumers think that advertising is often untruthful, it seeks to persuade people to buy things they do not want, it should be more strictly regulated, and it nonetheless provides valuable information. Consumers also tend to find that advertising's benefits outweigh its deficits. These beliefs have remained remarkably stable despite large fluctuations in the scope and vigor of advertising regulation.
The primary objective of this research is to investigate the ability of skepticism toward advertising to moderate the effects of brand familiarity on evaluations (i.e., offer fairness, acquisition value, and purchase intentions) of advertisements containing external reference prices (i.e., invoice prices). The results suggest that consumers high in skepticism toward advertising are positively influenced by a high invoice price (versus a low invoice price) when brand familiarity is high but not when brand familiarity is low. However, consumers low in skepticism toward advertising are positively influenced by a high invoice price (versus a low invoice price) regardless of whether brand familiarity is high or low.
Measures of corporate reputation currently in widespread use suffer from fundamental methodological and conceptual weaknesses. This paper begins with a brief overview of the reputation construct and its expected dimensionality. It then examines some of the major indices in use and documents their principle weakesses. A new instrument is proposed - the 'reputation quotient' - to measure corporate reputations and establish its empirical validity and reliability through focus groups and pilot studies. It concludes that the reputation quotient is a robust measure of corporate reputations that considerable improves the state of the art in reptuation measurement.
In this article, we examine the empirical association between firm value and CSR engagement for firms in sinful industries, such as tobacco, gambling, and alcohol, as well as industries involved with emerging environmental, social, or ethical issues, i.e., weapon, oil, cement, and biotech. We develop and test three hypotheses, the window-dressing hypothesis, the value-enhancement hypothesis, and the value-irrelevance hypothesis. Using an extensive US sample from 1995 to 2009, we find that CSR engagement of firms in controversial industries positively affects firm value after controlling for various firm characteristics. To address the potential endogeneity problem, we further estimate a system of equations and change regression and continue to find a positive relation between CSR engagement and firm value. Our findings support the value-enhancement hypothesis and are consistent with the premise that the top management of US firms in controversial industries, in general, considers social responsibility important even though their products are harmful to human being, society, or environment.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is often used as a key criterion in gauging corporate reputation. This research examined
the influence of consumers’ attributions on corporate outcomes in response to CSR. Researchers and managers have considered
consumers’ beliefs about CSR initiatives to be simplistic, serving either economic ends or reflecting sincere social concerns.
The results of two studies established that consumers’ attributions were more complex than traditionally viewed, mirroring
many of the motives ascribed to companies by managers and researchers. Rather than viewing corporate efforts along a self-
or other-centered continuum, consumers differentiated four types of motives: self-centered motives that are strategic and
egoistic and other-centered motives that are values driven and stakeholder driven. Consumers responded most positively to
CSR efforts they judged as values driven and strategic while responding negatively to efforts perceived as stakeholder driven
or egoistic. Attributions were shown to affect purchase intent as well as mediate the structure of an offer.
The need to investigate the link between rep- utation and responsibility is well established. This paper answers calls to conduct this com- parison from a stakeholder perspective. In so doing a literature review identified models of reputation that engage with stakeholders from their inception to measurement, while no such models of corporate responsibility were found. A qualitative study to conceptualize responsi- bility from the perspective of stakeholders was then conducted. Following this, a formal com- parison between this conceptualization and that of reputation models is undertaken. The results suggest that there is considerable simi- larity between the concepts of responsibility and reputation. Implications may include the use of reputation models as potential measures for many of the aspects conceptualized as responsibility. Questions about the causal relationship between the two concepts are also discussed.
Offered here is a conceptual model that comprehensively describes essential aspects of corporate social performance. The three aspects of the model address major questions of concern to academics and managers alike: (1) What is included in corporate social responsibility? (2) What are the social issues the organization must address? and (3) What is the organization's philosophy or mode of social responsiveness?
While perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) has consistently been linked to socially conscious attitudes, the concept appears to have been confounded with other related constructs in the empirical studies measuring its effects on behavior. In addition, the few studies which have considered the effects of PCE on reported behavior have done so only in aggregate. This research demonstrates that PCE is distinct from environmental concern and contributes uniquely to the prediction of certain pro-ecological behaviors. In addition, differences in PCE are shown to be associated with differences in demographics and political affiliation. The results suggest that motivating consumers to express their concern through actual behavior is to some extent a Junction of increasing their perception that individual actions do make a difference.
A conceptual model articulating the nature and determinants of customer expectations of service is proposed and discussed.
The model specifies three different types of service expectations: desired service, adequate service, and predicted service.
Seventeen propositions about service expectations and their antecedents are provided. Discussion centers on the research implications
of the model and its propositions.
We outline a supply and demand model of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Based on this framework, we hypothesize that a firm's level of CSR will depend on its size, level of diversification, research and development, advertising, government sales, consumer income, labor market conditions, and stage in the industry life cycle. From these hypotheses, we conclude that there is an "ideal" level of CSR, which managers can determine via cost-benefit analysis, and that there is a neutral relationship between CSR and financial performance.
This study investigated 3 broad classes of individual-differences variables (job-search motives, competencies, and constraints) as predictors of job-search intensity among 292 unemployed job seekers. Also assessed was the relationship between job-search intensity and reemployment success in a longitudinal context. Results show significant relationships between the predictors employment commitment, financial hardship, job-search self-efficacy, and motivation control and the outcome job-search intensity. Support was not found for a relationship between perceived job-search constraints and job-search intensity. Motivation control was highlighted as the only lagged predictor of job-search intensity over time for those who were continuously unemployed. Job-search intensity predicted Time 2 reemployment status for the sample as a whole, but not reemployment quality for those who found jobs over the study's duration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Various standard-setting initiatives have developed in recent years that are designed to induce companies to adopt more systematic, progressive and visible corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies. Some derive from forceful regulatory action by some European countries or pan-European regulatory bodies. Most, however, derive from efforts by various government and non-government groups to adopt standards to describe how companies should relate to employees and communities. These developments depart from the more voluntary forms of CSR favored in the USA and are having a significant effect on the reputation-building strategies of global companies in many countries.This paper reviews some of these evolving standards and regulatory developments and focuses attention principally on Europe, where they are being articulated most clearly. The European approach provides a potentially useful benchmark for understanding how companies are strengthening their reputations by converging on international norms of CSR.Corporate Reputation Review (2005) 8, 7-12; doi:10.1057/palgrave.crr.1540235
Set/reset (L. L. Martin; see record
1987-01092-001) hypothesis that contrast demands more cognitive effort than does assimilation was examined. In Exp. 1, the impressions of distracted Ss showed assimilation toward blatantly primed concepts, whereas the impressions of nondistracted Ss showed contrast. In Exp. 2, Ss told that their ratings would be lumped into a group average showed assimilation, whereas Ss told that their ratings would be examined individually showed contrast. In Exp. 3, the impressions of Ss low in need for cognition showed assimilation, whereas the impressions of Ss high in need for cognition showed contrast. Exp. 1 also showed that the results were not due to differences in recall of the target information, and Exp. 3 showed that the results were not due to differences in recall of the priming stimuli. Together, the results suggest that the processes involved in contrast demand more cognitive effort than do the processes involved in assimilation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Discusses the need to demonstrate agreement among individuals' perceptions of climate prior to averaging climate scores from the perspective of aggregation. It is shown that estimates of agreement based on group mean scores have been incorrectly interpreted as perceptual agreement among individuals. Of initial importance is a study by J. A. Drexler (see record
1977-22375-001), who concluded that a considerable proportion of the variance in climate perceptions was accounted for by organizational membership. This conclusion has been employed recently by other authors to support the assumption that individuals in the same environment tend to agree with climate perceptions (e.g., J. R. Hackman and E. E. Lawler, Hackman and G. R. Oldham, and Oldham et al—see PA, Vols 46:9858, 54:2031, and 57:2102, respectively). It is demonstrated that Drexler's analysis provided inflated estimates of agreement among individuals, and the logic of the approach is extended to other studies in which inflated estimates of agreement appeared likely. (54 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The statistical tests used in the analysis of structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error are examined. A drawback of the commonly applied chi square test, in addition to the known problems related to sample size and power, is that it may indicate an increasing correspondence between the hypothesized model and the observed data as both the measurement properties and the relationship between constructs decline. Further, and contrary to common assertion, the risk of making a Type II error can be substantial even when the sample size is large. Moreover, the present testing methods are unable to assess a model's explanatory power. To overcome these problems, the authors develop and apply a testing system based on measures of shared variance within the structural model, measurement model, and overall model.
Interest in the problem of method biases has a long history in the behavioral sciences. Despite this, a comprehensive summary of the potential sources of method biases and how to control for them does not exist. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which method biases influence behavioral research results, identify potential sources of method biases, discuss the cognitive processes through which method biases influence responses to measures, evaluate the many different procedural and statistical techniques that can be used to control method biases, and provide recommendations for how to select appropriate procedural and statistical remedies for different types of research settings.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a hot topic in management today. More than ever before, companies engage in CSR initiatives to make a positive Contribution to society or support their strategic goals. Yet, in the face of a plethora of CSR claims and numerous reported incidents of corporate misconduct, many people doubt the extent to which companies live up to their professed standards, and consumer skepticism toward corporate social involvement is on the rise. Drawing on attribution theory, this study proposes and tests a model that explains both how consumer skepticism toward the CSR of grocery retailers develops and its influence on important consumer-related outcomes. The findings reveal that attributions of egoistic- and stakeholder-driven motives elicit consumer skepticism toward CSR, while values-driven attributions inhibit skepticism. The results also indicate that CSR skepticism hurts retailer equity, decreases resistance to negative information about the retailer, and stimulates unfavorable word of mouth.
Information integration theory and the integrated information response model are used to explore how consumers combine information from advertising and trial. Also investigated is the ability of attitude toward the ad to mediate advertising's effects on brand cognitions and brand attitudes after trial. An experiment is conducted in which three independent variables are manipulated: the information source (ad only, trial only, and ad plus trial), information sequence (ad/trial and trial/ad), and favorability of trial (positive and negative). Results show that (1) advertising can lessen the negative effects of an unfavorable trial experience on brand evaluations, especially when the ad is processed first, (2) when negative trial precedes exposure to advertising, cognitive evaluations of the ad are more negative, (3) the ability of ad attitudes to influence brand cognitions and brand attitudes is significantly reduced after trial, and (4) the ability of brand cognitions to influence brand attitudes is significantly increased after trial. Implications for advertising research and practice are discussed.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate brand credibility, corporate brand equity, and corporate reputation. Structural equation modeling analysis provided support for the hypotheses from a sample of 867 consumers in South Korea. The results showed that CSR has a direct positive effect on corporate brand credibility and corporate reputation. In addition, the results indicate that corporate brand credibility mediates the relationship between CSR and corporate reputation. Moreover, corporate brand credibility mediates the relationship between CSR and corporate reputation. Finally, the relationship between CSR and corporate brand equity is sequentially and fully mediated by corporate brand credibility and corporate reputation. The theoretical and managerial implications of the results and limitations are discussed, and future research directions are suggested.
The authors develop several hypotheses regarding the integration of moment-to-moment emotional responses into overall ad judgments, using the psychological literature dealing with people's preferences for sequences of hedonic outcomes, and they conduct three studies to test these predictions. The results of Study 1 indicate that consumers' global assessments of extended affective episodes elicited by advertisements are dominated by the peak emotional experience and the final moment of the series and also are correlated with the pace at which momentary affective reactions improve over time. Ad duration is related only weakly to overall ad judgments, though longer advertisements have an advantage as long as they build toward a peak emotional experience. In Study 2, the authors replicate these findings under more realistic viewing conditions and demonstrate that the results cannot be attributed solely to memory artifacts that are based on recency. Study 3 implicates adaptation as a possible explanation for the preference for delayed peaks and high ends and further explains the weak effects of ad duration by showing experimentally that longer advertisements can both enhance and depress ad judgments depending on how duration affects the peak emotional experience and the final moment.
Although brand theorists suggest that what a person knows about a company (i. e., corporate associations) can influence perceptions of the company's products, little systematic research on these effects exists. The authors examine the effects of two general types of corporate associations on product responses: One focuses on the company's capabilities for producing products, that is, corporate ability (CA) associations, and the other focuses on the company's perceived social responsibility, that is, corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations. The results of three studies, including one that measures respondents' CA and CSR associations for well-known companies and one that uses consumers recruited in a shopping mall, demonstrate that (1) what consumers know about a company can influence their beliefs about and attitudes toward new products manufactured by that company, (2) CA and CSR associations may have different effects on consumer responses to products, and (3) products of companies with negative associations are not always destined to receive negative responses. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for marketing managers and further research.
A 9-item Likert-type scale was developed to measure consumer skepticism toward advertising Skepticism toward advertising, defined as the general tendency toward disbelief of advertising claims, was hypothesized to be a basic marketplace belief that vanes across individuals and is related to general persuasability. A nomological network was proposed, unidimensionality and internal consistency of the scale were established, and a series of studies were conducted to establish the scale's validity and to investigate the effects of ad skepticism.
Brand equity is a valuable yet fragile asset. The mounting frequency of product-harm crises and ill-prepared corporate responses to such crises can have profound consequences for brand equity. Yet there is little research on the marketing impact of crises. The authors employ the expectations-evidence framework to understand the impact of firms' responses to crises on customer-based brand equity. The results of a field survey and two laboratory experiments indicate that consumers interpret firm re-sponse on the basis of their prior expectations about the firm. The interaction of expectations and firm response is shown to affect postcrisis brand equity. The authors draw implications for the expectations-evidence framework and for the outcomes of different types of firm response (i.e., unambiguous support, ambiguous response, and unambiguous stonewalling) on brand equity.
Based on theories of attribution and suspicion, three experiments highlight the mediating role of perceived sincerity of motives in determining the effectiveness of CSR activities. CSR activities improve a company's image when consumers attribute sincere motives, are ineffective when sincerity of motives is ambiguous, and hurt the company's image when motives are perceived as insincere. Variables affecting perceived sincerity include the benefit salience of the cause, the source through which consumers learn about CSR, and the ratio of CSR contributions and CSR-related advertising. High benefit salience of the cause hurts the company, in particular when consumers learn about it from a company source. This backfire effect can be overcome by spending more on CSR activities than on advertising that features CSR.
The research reported in this article examines how multiple affective stimuli of differing valence (i.e., both positive and negative) are integrated into an overall affective response. Prior research on the integration of positive and negative information has not focused on affect, and previous affect integration research has not considered both positive and negative feelings. Two experiments investigate how positive and negative affective stimuli combine to influence overall affective responses to an advertisement, content-specific beliefs, and overall ad evaluations. Both recency and contrast effects were observed on positive affective response and positive beliefs, but comparable effects on negative affective response and negative beliefs were not evident. The results support a motivational influence of affect on judgments.
Although prior research has addressed the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on perceived customer responses, it is not clear whether CSR affects market value of the firm. This study develops and tests a conceptual framework, which predicts that (1) customer satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between CSR and firm market value (i.e., Tobin’s q and stock return), (2) corporate abilities (innovativeness capability and product quality) moderate the financial returns to CSR, and (3) these moderated relationships are mediated by customer satisfaction. Based on a large-scale secondary data set, the results show support for this framework. Notably, the authors find that in firms with low innovativeness capability, CSR actually reduces customer satisfaction levels and, through the lowered satisfaction, harms market value. The uncovered mediated and asymmetrically moderated results offer important implications for marketing theory and practice.
Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of various factors on retrospective pain evaluation. The factors examined in Experiment 1 were the rate and pattern of change, the intensity (particularly the final intensity), and the duration of the painful experience. Experiment 2 manipulated these factors and, in addition, examined the effect of continuous (on-line) ratings on the overall retrospective evaluation. The two experiments utilized different pain modalities, heat in the first and mechanical pressure in the second. In addition, all subjects in Experiment 1 experienced stimuli with the same physical magnitude, while in Experiment 2 stimuli were individually tailored to make them subjectively equivalent. In both experiments, subjects were presented with a series of painful stimuli and evaluated the intensity of each stimulus immediately upon its termination. The stimuli themselves were composed of multiple intensity levels that differentially changed over time (Intensity-Patterns). Subjects' on-line ratings in Experiment 2 closely mirrored the physical patterns of the intensities. The main conclusion from both experiments is that the retrospective evaluations of painful experiences are influenced primarily by a combination of the final pain intensity and the intensity trend during the latter half of the experience. In addition, results indicated that duration has little impact on retrospective evaluations for stimuli of relatively constant intensity. However, when the stimulus intensity changes over time, duration does play a role. Finally, the task of continuously reporting the stimulus intensity had a moderating impact on the retrospective evaluations.
The statistical tests used in the analysis of structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error are examined. A drawback of the commonly applied chi square test, in addition to the known problems related to sample size and power, is that it may indicate an increasing correspondence between the hypothesized model and the observed data as both the measurement properties and the relationship between constructs decline. Further, and contrary to common assertion, the risk of making a Type II error can be substantial even when the sample size is large. Moreover, the present testing methods are unable to assess a model's explanatory power. To overcome these problems, the authors develop and apply a testing system based on measures of shared variance within the structural model, measurement model, and overall model.
A model is proposed which expresses consumer satisfaction as a function of expectation and expectancy disconfirmation. Satisfaction, in turn, is believed to influence attitude change and purchase intention. Results from a two-stage field study support the scheme for consumers and nonconsumers of a flu inoculation.
In the face of marketp ace polls that attest to the increasing influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumers' purchase behavior, this article examines when, how, and for whom specific CSR initiatives work. The findings implicate both company-specific factors, such as the CSR issues a company chooses to focus on and the quality of its products, and individual-specific factors, such as consumers' personal support for the CSR issues and their general beliefs about CSR, as key moderators of consumers' responses to CSR. The results also highlight the mediating role of consumers' perceptions of congruence between their own characters and that of the company in their reactions to its CSR initiatives. More specifically, the authors find that CSR initiatives can, under certain conditions, decrease consumers' intentions to buy a company's products.
Posits that although behaving “ethically” should be important for its own sake, whether a firm behaves ethically or unethically may also have a significant influence on consumers’ purchase decisions. Examines the issue of unethical corporate behavior from the perspective of consumers. Addresses several questions. First, what are consumers’ expectations regarding the ethicality of corporate behavior? Second, is whether a firm acts ethically or unethically an important consumer concern, and if so, will information regarding a firm’s behavior influence their purchase decision? Demonstrates that consumers say they do care about a firm’s ethics and will adjust their purchase behaviors accordingly.
Considers the importance of a firms' reputation to the success or
failure of its brands; the effect on the firm's brand when a firm's
reputation decays; how important it is for a firm to maintain or advance
I reputation; how a brand's reputation can be transferred to other
products. Addresses and discusses these issues in detail and emphasises
the importance of reputation to the ultimate success of a product and
company and warns against ignoring its fragility.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a set of research propositions concerned with how the alignment between socially responsible corporate image and corporate identity might be enhanced through the reduction of scepticism by considering diagnostic dimensions of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) image advertising claim.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews corporate image advertising, the tool investigated for informing about the firm's CSR record, discusses the scepticism construct and theoretical explanations of why this communication approach might induce scepticism, considers extant empirical findings that lend support to these theories, and describes several elements of CSR advertising claims considered to be diagnostic and capable of inhibiting scepticism responses to CSR image advertisements among consumers. Research propositions are advanced and discussed.
Findings
The paper provides conceptual insights into reducing consumer scepticism toward CSR‐based corporate identity communicated via corporate image advertising.
Research limitations/implications
The paper advances four research propositions, and proposes a method for testing these propositions.
Practical implications
The paper acknowledges the increase in CSR‐based corporate image advertising, discusses why such communication approaches may be prone to consumer scepticism, and considers message elements to inhibit this persuasion‐eroding cognitive response.
Originality/value
This paper suggests a study to understand how corporate identity based on CSR achievements can be more persuasively communicated via CSR‐based corporate image advertising
Organizational researchers are increasingly interested in modeling the multilevel nature of organizational data. Although most organizational researchers have chosen to investigate these models using traditional Ordinary Least Squares approaches, hierarchical linear models (i.e., random coefficient models) recently have been receiving increased attention. One of the key questions in using hierarchical linear models is how a researcher chooses to scale the Level-1 independent variables (e.g., raw metric, grand mean centering, group mean centering), because it directly influences the interpretation of both the level-1 and level-2 parameters. Several scaling options are reviewed and discussed in light of four paradigms of multilevel/cross-level research in organizational science: incremental (i.e., group variables add incremental prediction to individual level outcomes over and above individual level predictors), mediational (i.e., the influence of group level variables on individual outcomes are mediated by individual perceptions), moderational (i.e., the relationship between two individual level variables is moderated by a group level variable), and separate (i.e., separate within group and between group models). The paper concludes with modeling recommendations for each of these paradigms and discusses the importance of matching the paradigm under which one is operating to the appropriate modeling strategy.
Each year businesses spend millions of dollars on advertising to engender a positive attitude among consumers about a specific brand, eliminate any mistrust and suspicion about advertising, and rectify wrong attributions about products. In this research we focused on how doubt about advertisements impacts on their effectiveness, in regard to brand attitude and purchasing intention. We adopted the seemingly unrelated regression model to estimate the parameter, and the mutual relationships among several regression equations are taken into consideration. There were 337 participants in this experiment, and as indicated by the result, doubt about advertisements had a negative effect on brand attitude and purchasing intention. This negative effect will disrupt product involvement.
Much social and behavioral research involves hierarchical data structures. . . . Recent developments in the statistical theory of hierarchical linear models now afford an integrated set of methods for such applications.
This introductory text explicates the theory and use of hierarchical linear models (HLM) through rich, illustrative examples and lucid explanations. The presentation remains reasonably nontechnical by focusing on three general research purposes—improved estimation of effects within an individual unit, estimating and testing hypotheses about cross-level effects, and partitioning of variance and covariance components among levels. This innovative volume describes use of both two and three level models in organizational research, studies of individual development and meta-analysis applications, and concludes with a formal derivation of the statistical methods used in the book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The present research seeks to examine differences in support for corporate social responsibility based on certain personality traits. Secondary data from a nationally representative sample of 6065 respondents were examined. The results demonstrate that individuals motivated by a concern for appearances, an egoistic enhancement motivation, as well as individuals motivated by their values, make purchases in support of corporate philanthropy. However those concerned for appearances do not view CSR as a normative requirement, unlike those motivated by their values.
Copyright
Intuitions relating to outcomes extended over time are examined. Utility integration is proposed as a normative rule for the evaluation of extended episodes. In Experiment 1, subjects explicitly compared aversive experiences of varying durations. By several measures, disutility was a marginally decreasing function of episode duration, even for experiences that were thought to become increasingly aversive. This pattern is a qualitative violation of the integration rule. In Experiment 2, subjects made global evaluations of a hypothetical person's aversive experiences, on the basis of a series of subjective ratings of discomfort made at periodic intervals. The results showed an extreme sensitivity to improving or deteriorating trend and a striking neglect of duration. The final moments of an extended episode appear to exert a strong influence on the overall judgment. This leads to violations of monotonicity when adding some moments of moderate pain reduces judgments of global aversiveness.