Week 2
Sen, S., Du, S., & Bhattacharya, C. B. (2016). Corporate social responsibility:
consumer psychology perspective. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 70-75.
Main Aim: understanding consumer reactions to corporate social responsibility
Behavioural Responses to CSR:
- ranges from advocacy behaviors to negative information about a company or its
products
- studies found that CSR can reduce anger and negative WoM following services
failures
Underlying Mechanisms:
- CSR-based image can alter consumers’ more speci c perceptions of a product’s
features and performances
- green products are deemed less rather than more e ective by consumers high on
environmental concern and on strength-related product attributes
- CSR-based dimensions of a company’s identity are particularly attractive to
consumers motivated to de ne, enhance, and distinguish from others their sense
of self through identi cation with the company, producing, in turn, support for the
socially responsible company
- drivers of consumers’ intentions to purchase an ethical product: moral emotions
(pride, guilt) and feelings of empathy and gratitude
Contingencies:
a. aspects of CSR
- companies’ motives for engaging in CSR: intrinsic, producing positive consumer
reactions or extrinsic, producing negative or at best neutral reactions
- consumers’ perceived e ciency of CSR: consumers’ intentions to support a
brand engaging in CSR depend not just on the gravity of the focal CSR issue but
on the sense for the brand’s ability to remedy it
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, b. aspects of the company
- perceived t between an initiative and its sponsoring company highly important,
leading to more positive reactions
- moderators are CSR initiative type and intendedness, level and focus of
consumers’ thoughts regarding it, their issue a nity and perceived company
motive
- e.g. when consumer’s issue a nity is high or when the perceived company
motive is extrinsic, CSR-company t has little impact on consumer responses
- recent research showed that when a company allows consumers to choose the
CSR issue it supports, their resulting perceptions of a heightened personal role
and greater value alignment with the company produce more positive responses
- consumers repost more positively to a company’s CSR when it products are
perceived as stand-alone brands rather than as part of a monolithic cooperate
brand
- in the corporate brand context, consumers’ positive responses to CSR in one
product category can spillover to other categories with no direct CSR association
- consumers responses more positive for companies with better reputation (esp. in
terms of product quality)
- more negatively towards luxury brands because of a mismatch between their
self-transcendence association with product quality and self-transcendence
association with CSR legitimacy
c. aspects of CSR communication
- abstract positive CSR statements, when followed by reported negative CSR
behaviors, are less likely to trigger perceptions of corporate hypocrisy as
compared to concrete CSR statements
- source of communication matters, nonpro t-partners more credible
d. aspects of the consumer
- consumers place more weight on CSR considerations when forming
consideration sets through the sequential elimination of choice options from
these sets rather than their sequential inclusion
- consumer a nity or support for CSR issue is a positive moderator of consumer
responses
13
fi ffi ffi fi fi ffi
Sen, S., Du, S., & Bhattacharya, C. B. (2016). Corporate social responsibility:
consumer psychology perspective. Current Opinion in Psychology, 10, 70-75.
Main Aim: understanding consumer reactions to corporate social responsibility
Behavioural Responses to CSR:
- ranges from advocacy behaviors to negative information about a company or its
products
- studies found that CSR can reduce anger and negative WoM following services
failures
Underlying Mechanisms:
- CSR-based image can alter consumers’ more speci c perceptions of a product’s
features and performances
- green products are deemed less rather than more e ective by consumers high on
environmental concern and on strength-related product attributes
- CSR-based dimensions of a company’s identity are particularly attractive to
consumers motivated to de ne, enhance, and distinguish from others their sense
of self through identi cation with the company, producing, in turn, support for the
socially responsible company
- drivers of consumers’ intentions to purchase an ethical product: moral emotions
(pride, guilt) and feelings of empathy and gratitude
Contingencies:
a. aspects of CSR
- companies’ motives for engaging in CSR: intrinsic, producing positive consumer
reactions or extrinsic, producing negative or at best neutral reactions
- consumers’ perceived e ciency of CSR: consumers’ intentions to support a
brand engaging in CSR depend not just on the gravity of the focal CSR issue but
on the sense for the brand’s ability to remedy it
12
fi ffi fi fffi
, b. aspects of the company
- perceived t between an initiative and its sponsoring company highly important,
leading to more positive reactions
- moderators are CSR initiative type and intendedness, level and focus of
consumers’ thoughts regarding it, their issue a nity and perceived company
motive
- e.g. when consumer’s issue a nity is high or when the perceived company
motive is extrinsic, CSR-company t has little impact on consumer responses
- recent research showed that when a company allows consumers to choose the
CSR issue it supports, their resulting perceptions of a heightened personal role
and greater value alignment with the company produce more positive responses
- consumers repost more positively to a company’s CSR when it products are
perceived as stand-alone brands rather than as part of a monolithic cooperate
brand
- in the corporate brand context, consumers’ positive responses to CSR in one
product category can spillover to other categories with no direct CSR association
- consumers responses more positive for companies with better reputation (esp. in
terms of product quality)
- more negatively towards luxury brands because of a mismatch between their
self-transcendence association with product quality and self-transcendence
association with CSR legitimacy
c. aspects of CSR communication
- abstract positive CSR statements, when followed by reported negative CSR
behaviors, are less likely to trigger perceptions of corporate hypocrisy as
compared to concrete CSR statements
- source of communication matters, nonpro t-partners more credible
d. aspects of the consumer
- consumers place more weight on CSR considerations when forming
consideration sets through the sequential elimination of choice options from
these sets rather than their sequential inclusion
- consumer a nity or support for CSR issue is a positive moderator of consumer
responses
13
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