Building Corporate Associations: Consumer Attributions for Corporate Socially Responsible Programs

Abstract

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.

Won’t Get Fooled Again: The Effects of Internal and External CSR ECO-Labeling

“…Consumers do thus not generally infer perceived self-interest by the company only because the CSR information is presented by a low credibility source as suggested by Dawkins (2004). This study gives reason to assume that, up to a certain level, consumers might also attribute intrinsic motives to uncertified internal CSR claims, because (regardless of its source) CSR itself may be viewed positively (Ellen et al 2006). This makes it all the more important to provide better guidance and explanations toward consumers with respect to the status and information value of different claim and label types.…”

“…In contrast, consumers attributing externally may conclude that the company is participating in CSR because of situational factors, such as pressure from the market. Furthermore, CSR literature likewise testifies to the involvement of attributional processes in the evaluation of CSR messages (Ellen et al 2006;Webb and Mohr 1998;Nyilasy et al 2014).…”

“…Whereas internal CSR communication itself will thus rather be perceived as extrinsic, positive external CSR communication should drive attributions to intrinsic motives due to higher levels of credibility and trust (Parguel et al 2011;Becker-Olsen et al 2006). Prior research found that consumers are more likely to have negative attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors toward the organization when they assign extrinsic motives compared to intrinsic motives (Becker-Olsen et al 2006;Ellen et al 2006;Mohr et al 1998;Yoon et al 2006).…”

“…Indeed, CSR initiatives based on one of the three dimensions-social, ethical, or commercial-have been proven to affect consumer responses. For example, engaging in CSR may strengthen the relationship with consumers and may improve-over time-the corporate reputation (Du et al 2010;Pomering and Johnson 2009), generates positive attitudes toward the firm, and may increase purchase behaviors (Becker-Olsen, Cudmore and Hill 2006;Du et al 2010;Ellen et al 2006;Sen and Bhatachharya 2001). Furthermore, although some studies found the opposite effect (e.g., Schuldt and Hannahan 2013), CSR communication may boost product perceptions.…”

Giving the Gift of Goodness: An Exploration of Socially Responsible Gift-Giving

“…Consumer support for CSR activities is influenced by a variety of factors such as the fit between the company and the cause (i.e., Barone et al 2007), the type of product associated with a cause-related marketing campaign (Strahilevitz and Myers 1998), and the attributions consumers make regarding company's engagement in CSR (i.e., Ellen et al 2006). Future research could examine whether the factors previously explored in the CSR literature still maintain the importance to consumers as it relates to socially responsible gift-giving.…”