Chernev, A. & Blair, S. (2015). Doing well by doing good: The benevolent halo of
corporate social responsibility. Journal of Consumer Research, 41, 1412–1425
This research documents that acts of social goodwill, even when they are unrelated to the company’s
core business, can alter product perceptions, such that products of companies engaged in prosocial
activities are perceived as performing better. More important, the data show that inferences drawn
from a company’s prosocial actions are strong enough to alter the product evaluations even when
consumers can directly observe and experience the product. The data further show that this effect is
a function of the moral undertone of the company’s motivation for engaging in socially responsible
behavior and is attenuated when consumers believe that the company’s behavior is driven by self-
interest rather than by benevolence.
Introduction
Despite this upswing in corporate social responsibility, it has been viewed only as a tool for
enhancing reputations and engendering goodwill among customers. And managers do not consider
csr activities to have a material impact on perceived product performance. The goal of this research,
therefore, is to examine the validity of the prevailing belief among managers that the impact of a
company’s socially responsible activities is limited to corporate reputation and is unlikely to influence
the perceived performance of a company’s products. We show that acts of corporate social
responsibility, even when they are unrelated to the company’s core business, as in the case of
charitable giving to socially responsible causes, can influence consumer perceptions of the functional
performance of the company’s products.
Theoretical background
Prior research has argued that socially responsible firms are likely to deliver superior financial
performance. It decreases consumers’ price sensitivity, increases brand loyalty, favourable attitudes,
perceived ethics and trustworthiness. But, firms that engage in socially responsible activities also
have more costs for behaviors that have few measurable economic benefits.
It has been argued that because corporate social responsibility has little relevance to the company’s
ability to produce goods or services, it is unlikely to influence perceived product performance. Some
research does argue a positive effect: perceive csr active firms will produce superior products. And
some research argue a negative effect: perceive csr active firms will be less competent and put too
much of their money in csr rather than the product. We expect that corporate social responsibility
involving charitable giving is likely to have a positive impact on consumers’ perceptions of product
performance: spillover effect/halo effect.
The halo effect refers to the tendency of overall evaluations of a person/object to influence
evaluations of the specific properties of that person/object in a way that is consistent with the
overall evaluation. In the absence of attribute-specific information, consumers’ evaluation of a
product’s performance on a particular attribute is likely to be influenced by their overall impression
of the product. We expect that a company’s prosocial behavior can give rise to a halo effect that will
influence the perceived performance of the company’s products. More specifically:
• We expect the halo effect associated with a company’s prosocial activities to be more
pronounced when expertise is low rather than high (degree of uncertainty is involved).
• We expect that the halo effect associated with a company’s prosocial activities is likely to be
more pronounced in cases when it is motivated by benevolence rather than when it is
motivated by self-interest (individual’s moral judgements).
• We expect the moral undertone of the company’s prosocial behavior to have a greater
impact on perceived product performance when the motive behind the company’s actions is
corporate social responsibility. Journal of Consumer Research, 41, 1412–1425
This research documents that acts of social goodwill, even when they are unrelated to the company’s
core business, can alter product perceptions, such that products of companies engaged in prosocial
activities are perceived as performing better. More important, the data show that inferences drawn
from a company’s prosocial actions are strong enough to alter the product evaluations even when
consumers can directly observe and experience the product. The data further show that this effect is
a function of the moral undertone of the company’s motivation for engaging in socially responsible
behavior and is attenuated when consumers believe that the company’s behavior is driven by self-
interest rather than by benevolence.
Introduction
Despite this upswing in corporate social responsibility, it has been viewed only as a tool for
enhancing reputations and engendering goodwill among customers. And managers do not consider
csr activities to have a material impact on perceived product performance. The goal of this research,
therefore, is to examine the validity of the prevailing belief among managers that the impact of a
company’s socially responsible activities is limited to corporate reputation and is unlikely to influence
the perceived performance of a company’s products. We show that acts of corporate social
responsibility, even when they are unrelated to the company’s core business, as in the case of
charitable giving to socially responsible causes, can influence consumer perceptions of the functional
performance of the company’s products.
Theoretical background
Prior research has argued that socially responsible firms are likely to deliver superior financial
performance. It decreases consumers’ price sensitivity, increases brand loyalty, favourable attitudes,
perceived ethics and trustworthiness. But, firms that engage in socially responsible activities also
have more costs for behaviors that have few measurable economic benefits.
It has been argued that because corporate social responsibility has little relevance to the company’s
ability to produce goods or services, it is unlikely to influence perceived product performance. Some
research does argue a positive effect: perceive csr active firms will produce superior products. And
some research argue a negative effect: perceive csr active firms will be less competent and put too
much of their money in csr rather than the product. We expect that corporate social responsibility
involving charitable giving is likely to have a positive impact on consumers’ perceptions of product
performance: spillover effect/halo effect.
The halo effect refers to the tendency of overall evaluations of a person/object to influence
evaluations of the specific properties of that person/object in a way that is consistent with the
overall evaluation. In the absence of attribute-specific information, consumers’ evaluation of a
product’s performance on a particular attribute is likely to be influenced by their overall impression
of the product. We expect that a company’s prosocial behavior can give rise to a halo effect that will
influence the perceived performance of the company’s products. More specifically:
• We expect the halo effect associated with a company’s prosocial activities to be more
pronounced when expertise is low rather than high (degree of uncertainty is involved).
• We expect that the halo effect associated with a company’s prosocial activities is likely to be
more pronounced in cases when it is motivated by benevolence rather than when it is
motivated by self-interest (individual’s moral judgements).
• We expect the moral undertone of the company’s prosocial behavior to have a greater
impact on perceived product performance when the motive behind the company’s actions is
