The impact of CSR on nonprofit outcomes: how the choice of corporate partner influences reputation and supportive intentions

Abstract

PurposeWhile research has shown that corporate social responsibility (CSR) can enhance a company's reputation, less is known about the effects of CSR communication on nonprofits. Hence, the current study seeks to understand how corporate reputation, message credibility and message source may impact consumers' attitudinal and behavioral intentions toward nonprofits.Design/methodology/approachA 2 (corporate reputation: low vs high) × 2 (CSR communication source: newspaper blog vs nonprofit blog) between-subjects online experiment was conducted. Real-world corporations (Toyota and Volkswagen) and a nonprofit (World Wildlife Fund) were chosen based on a pretest.FindingsNonprofit reputation increased after reading a CSR message, especially when it involved a partnership with a low-reputation corporation. Nevertheless, CSR partnerships with high-reputation corporations evoked higher volunteer intentions. Message credibility mediated the relationship between corporate reputation and nonprofit reputation. When the communication source was the nonprofit and the partnership involved a high-reputation corporation, positive evaluations of nonprofit likeability and competence resulted.Practical implicationsNonprofit communication managers should understand the merit of communicating CSR partnerships with their constituents, regardless of medium. Additionally, the choice of a corporate partner is important for certain nonprofit outcomes. Lastly, message credibility is another important factor that should be considered.Originality/valueThe study bridges literature in communications that typically examines CSR by focusing on its effects on corporate outcomes with literature in nonprofit management that looks at nonprofit outcome measures. This study demonstrated that nonprofit–corporate alliances can also influence nonprofit reputation and donation/volunteer intentions based on the reputation of the corporate partner.

Greening Professional Sport: How Communicating the Fit, Proximity, and Impact of Sustainability Efforts Affects Fan Perceptions and Supportive Intentions

“…Attitudes towards the organization is a common dependent variable in sport CSR research, particularly when combined with purchase intent or other consumer behaviors [22,26]. These are affective judgments of the organization, and research across disciplines have demonstrated that CSR messages lead to positive affective judgments about the organization communicating about the CSR [22,35,64,66,69]. Thus, we predict that sport fans will similarly view a sport organization positively after reading about its efforts to support sustainability programming.…”

“…When CSR studies discuss the impact of the CSR program, it is conceptualized as the number of people benefitting from the CSR activity [22,35] or the resulting supportive intentions towards an organization or initiative [31,64]; however, the perceived impact of the CSR may be inherent in the program itself [22], and actually be a predictor of consumer attitudes towards the CSR [57]. Often, the concept of impact is operationalized as other variables such as donation amount [19,57] or commitment and effort toward the program [35,65].…”

“…Lee et al [47] found that the CSR partnership may have impacted feelings of fit and efficacy, which in turn motivated fans to donate to the advertised CSR initiative. Work in CRM has also shown that corporate support for a nonprofit brand can influence consumers to support the nonprofit themselves [69], and communication about environmentally focused corporate-nonprofit partnerships can motivate environmentally conscious consumers to support the CSR initiative [64]. Thus, we want to add to the conversation about ways that sustainability-specific communication can motivate sport fans to support these efforts themselves.…”

“…Thus, we want to add to the conversation about ways that sustainability-specific communication can motivate sport fans to support these efforts themselves. Hence, our study examines the ways that affective outcomes of the sustainability communication may motivate fans to take action such as by donating [47] or volunteering [64,94].…”

“…Finally, our study's emphasis on supportive intentions towards sustainability initiatives is a contribution to the sport CSR literature, which often focuses on business intentions [18,28]. A recent trend in CSR communication is to evaluate the intention to support a CSR initiative [47,64,94], as the financial benefit for businesses is well-established in marketing and CSR literature [35,66]. We found support for all of our intention measures, especially showing that trust, authenticity, and fandom seemed to be the most influential in predicting supportive intentions; however, the intent to donate or volunteer with the sports league's sustainability initiative did not seem to have strong support as compared to the intention to "show support" generally or to post on social media.…”