Testing the viability of emotions and issue involvement as predictors of CSA response behaviors

Matching words with actions: understanding the effects of CSA stance-action consistency on negative consumer responses

“…Despite the accumulation of research, the risk of CSA has been rarely discussed. Among the studies discussing the potential negative effects of CSA, most of them explored the direct implication when a corporation's stance collides with some people's stance on an issue and indicated a negative relationship between CSA attitude and negative consumer responses (Li et al, 2021;Overton et al, 2020). This study adds evidence to this line of research and encourages scholars to dig deeper into the mind of stakeholders who oppose a corporation's stance.…”

“…Second, current CSA literature more frequently takes a top-down approach and views the CSA practice from an organization's perspective without considering individual characteristics (Dodd and Supa, 2015;Park and Jiang, 2020;Yim, 2021). Along with emerging studies considering the role of involvement (Li et al, 2021;Overton et al, 2020;Parcha and Westerman, 2020), this study suggested that social issue activism is an important factor in explaining the effects of stance-action consistency on negative consumer responses. Individual characteristics and physical attributes such as gender, age and education have been documented to influence stakeholders' reactions to CSR communication (Rosati et al, 2018;Wisse et al, 2018).…”

“…In early research, based on the theory of planned behavior, CSA was documented to influence purchase intention among consumers who align with the corporate stance (Dodd andSupa, 2014, 2015). Besides purchase intention, Overton et al (2020) also revealed that CSA attitude changes positive and negative WOM. As research progresses, a growing number of scholars attempt to disclose how CSA affects behaviors.…”

“…Unsatisfied customers are more likely to spread NWOM (Laczniak et al, 2001). In CSA literature, people's attitudes toward a company's stance on controversial issues affect NWOM negatively (Li et al, 2021;Overton et al, 2020). Boycott denotes activist groups' campaigns to stop the transaction between consumers and companies (Garrett, 1987).…”

“…and positive word-of-mouth (WOM) (Li et al, 2021;Overton et al, 2020). However, the inconsistency between corporate statements and actions is an alarming fact of unethical behavior in CSA promotions, which is likely to generate negative responses.…”