Previous research indicates that consumers may resist negative publicity when they perceive a firm to be socially responsible (Klein & Dawar, 2004; Chernev & Blair,2015). However, other research shows corporate social responsibility (CSR) may boomerang the damage of negative publicity (Sohn & Lariscy,2012). Firms may participate in CSR and it is important for market practitioners and researchers to understand the role of different types of CSR in minimizing the impact of negative publicity. This research aims to examine the moderating role of two types of CSR in the effect of negative publicity on consumer responses. An experiment with a 2 (negative publicity type: ability-related vs. morality-related) x 2 (CSR type: philanthropic donation vs. employee wellbeing) between-subjects factorial design was conducted in a major city of China. In the morality-related negative publicity and employee wellbeing condition, the participants were shown with employee wellbeing materials and a morality-related negatively publicized article about a fictitious hotel. Similar arrangements were setup for other different conditions. Then, consumer responses such as firm evaluation and patronage intention were measured. Results of two-way ANOVA revealed a significant interaction effect. The findings indicate that consumers’ patronage intention is lower when a morality-related negative publicity has happened to a firm having “philanthropic donation” type of CSR, and also when an ability-related negative publicity has happened to a firm having “employee wellbeing” type of CSR. Managerial

Communicating corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become increasingly important for the success of organizations (Coombs and Holladay, 2012; McWilliams and Siegel, 2001). Several studies have focused on consumer responses to CSR and found that positive evaluations of CSR initiatives led to greater loyalty to both companies and their brands and to more positive behaviors toward companies (Dhanesh, 2015; Glavas and Godwin, 2013; Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001). Therefore, the effective communication of these CSR initiatives appears to be important (Eberle, et al., 2013; Lee et al., 2013). However, research on how consumers perceive a company’s communication of specific CSR motives in relation to its corporate reputation is scarce (De Vries et al., 2013). The current study aimed to investigate the role that communicating CSR motives plays in someone’s perception of a company. To investigate the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motives in explaining consumer-company identification, scepticism and reputation, we conducted two online consumer survey studies. In Study 1 (N=178), we used a well-known personal care product (PCP). In Study 2 (N=220), in the context of a large worldwide furniture retailer, we tried to replicate the findings of Study 1. In contrast to Study 1, we now added situational scepticism. The results of the current study show that the positive relationship between intrinsic CSR motives and company evaluations were replicated from previous studies. In this relationship consumer-company identification and scepticism play a mediating role. However this role seems to be different for positive versus negative attributions. The negative relationship between extrinsic CSR motives and company evaluations seems to be more ambiguous. Suggestions are made for a more meta-analytical approach to distinct consumers’ perceptions on a company’s CSR motives.

The expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness of the information source all positively influence information recipients’ eWOM (Electronic Word-of-Mouth), acceptance of CSR messages, as well as their attitudes to the company.

With increasing challenges like climate change, companies are confronted with rising expectations from stakeholders, especially consumers. The paper investigates consumers’ reactions towards CSR strategies using a case-study and focus-groups. Results imply that digitally-based strategies at the core of newly found fashion companies are perceived generally positive, although with mixed impressions.

This research aims to look at the contradictory effects of corporate social responsibility as conducted by luxury brands. On the one hand, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is known to product positive effects on brands such as the transfer of goodwill and image but on the other hand because of the purported impact of disfluency, previous research has argued that the emphasis on self enhancement runs counter to the more social agenda of CSR. In this study we examine of power and how that can mediate when positive and negative impact of CSR when such campaigns are implemented by luxury brands.

본 연구는 해외시장에 진출한 한국기업 현지자회사의 CSR 활동의 유형과 동인을 살펴보고, 현지자회사의 CSR 활동이 자회사의 경영성과에 기여하는지를 분석해 보고자 하였다. 먼저, 제도이론, 이해관계자이론 및 자원기반이 론 등 기존 CSR 연구이론을 통합적인 시각에서 조망하면서 현지자회사 CSR 활동을 반응적 CSR과 전략적 CSR로 유형화하고, 전략적 CSR을 중심으로 CSR 활동의 동인을 파악하였으며, 더 나아가 각각의 CSR 유형과 경영성과와의 관계를 연구모형으로 설계하여 검증하였다. 본 논문에서는 현지자회사의 CSR 활동을 반응적 CSR 과 전략적 CSR로 구분하였는데, 반응적 CSR 활동이 현지에서의 법, 규제에 대한 대응적 성격이 강한 반면, 전 략적 CSR 활동은 현지에서의 네트워크 구축, 경영자원 투자 및 가치사슬 혁신활동과 연계하여 보다 장기적이고 전략적인 특성을 갖고 있다. CSR의 동인에 관한 연구결과, 현지 ‘이해관계자의 영향력’ 및 자회사의 ‘현지화 수준’ 변수가 반응적 CSR보다 는 전략적 CSR에 보다 큰 정(+)의 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. CSR과 경영성과에 관한 연구결과는 전략 적 CSR이 반응적 CSR보다 현지자회사의 재무 및 비재무성과 모두에 보다 큰 정(+)의 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구는 한국기업 해외자회사를 대상으로 해외자회사의 CSR 활동을 반응적 CSR과 전략적 CSR로 유형화하 고 경영성과와의 관계를 실증적으로 분석하였다는 점에 그 의의가 있다. 또한 탐색적 시도로써 전략적 CSR의 특 징을 정의하고 전략적 CSR의 동인 및 성과효과에 있어 반응적 CSR과의 상대적인 영향도를 분석해 봄으로써 기 존 CSR 문헌의 연구범위를 확대하였다. 본 연구 결과는 글로벌 시장에서의 위상 및 역할이 증가하고 있는 한국 기업의 해외자회사들이 현지 이해관계자 및 제도 특성은 물론 역량과 전략방향을 고려하여 현지에서의 지속가능 경영 관점에서 CSR 활동의 정책방향을 수립하고 세부 프로그램을 설계하는데 시사점을 제공할 것으로 기대된다.

우리나라는 대기업, 재벌에 대한 반기업정서가 상대적으로 크게 형성되어 있어 반기업정서에 대한 논의가 중요하게 다뤄지고 있다. 이러한 배경 하에서 본 연구는 반기업정서와 기업 평판, 사회공헌 활동의 관계 및 영향력에 대해서 평상시와 위기시로 구분하여 분석하여 보았다. 연구결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 본 연구는 실제 우리나라 유수 대기업들의 반기업정서 태도에 대하여 기업별 점수를 측정하여 삼성, SK, 현대, CJ가 반기업정서가 높은 기업임을 분석하였다. 둘째, 반기업정서들은(인지적 차원이건, 감정적 차원이건) 모두 조직평판에 부정적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 셋째, 위기 상황, 그것도 기업의 도덕적 위기 상황에서는 기업의 사회적 책임 활동이 반기업정서가 평판에 영향을 미치는 데 있어서 더욱 높은 영향력 변인으로 작용하는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 결과는 기업이 평상시 지속적인 사회적 책임 수행의 필요성에 대한 함의를 던진다.

The social responsibility of fashion companies has become a crucial factor considering company image and awareness. Businesses have thus increased their CSR activities. However, few studies have shown clear and consistent results regarding the effectiveness of CSR activities. Therefore, this study focuses on the evaluation of the direct effect of CSR on trust and corporate reputation including its moderation by consumer's perceived fit and motivation. A total of 284 completed questionnaires were obtained from adult consumers in the fashion market with promotional leaflets for CSR activities as stimuli. The results were as follows. First, the dimensions for CSR activities were categorized as follows: Social welfare responsibility, environment protection, economic responsibility, social regulation compliance, customer protection, and culture and arts support. Further social regulation compliance, and economic and social welfare responsibilities positively affected corporate trust and reputation. Second, the main effect of perceived CSR activities and fit on corporate trust and reputation was significant, and the interaction effects of the social welfare, environment protection, and culture and arts support of CSR activities and fit were significant. Finally, the interaction effect of perceived CSR activities and motivation on corporate trust and reputation was not significant, but the main effect was significant. Implications of how to manage and enhance the effectiveness of CSR activities are offered.

Recently, some fashion retailers have initiated sustainable actions in the form of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to address consumers’ social concerns. This study intends to combine the concept of CSR motivation attributions with brand extension literature in order to examine how consumers’ trust of a parent brand affects their CSR motivation attributions and ultimately their attitudes towards parent-brand CSR activities and sustainable extension lines. A self-administered online survey was conducted using scenarios describing a fast fashion retailer introducing a sustainable line. Data from 303 female U.S. consumers, aged between 18 and 34 years, were used for the statistical analysis. Data analyses were conducted using SPSS 21.0 for descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and regression analysis. The results revealed that all hypotheses were supported. The findings show that consumers’ trust of a parent brand has an indirect impact on positive attitudes towards the parent brand’s CSR activities as well as the sustainable extension product line, mediating positive evaluations of the brand’s social CSR motivations. In addition, this study suggests consumers’ prior trust of the parent brand is a variable that affects consumers’ evaluation of CSR motivation sincerity. Marketing suggestions and thoughts based on the findings of this study were provided.

최근 조직의 커뮤니케이션에서 공중들이 중요하게 인식 및 평가하고 있는 진정성은 다양한 분야에서 연구들이 급증하고 있으나 서로 다른 개념적 정의와 측정으로 인하여 진정성 개념의 타당성과 다차원성에서 이론적 한계를 지니고 있다. 이에 본 연구는 보편적으로 사용가능한 커뮤니케이션 진정성의 측정을 위한 다차원적 개념의 표준 척도를 개발하고 대표적인 PR 활동인 CSR과 위기관리 분야에서의 차이를 살펴보고자 하였다. 기존 연구들을 바탕으로 도출한 21개의 측정항목들을 가지고 탐색적 요인분석을 한 결과에서 진정성은 이성적(진실성), 감성적(진심성), 그리고 행동적(실천성) 3가지 차원으로 구성됨을 확인하였다. 그리고 사전적 성향의 PR 활동인 CSR의 경우는 행동적 진정성이, 사후적 PR 활동인 위기관리 커뮤니케이션에서는 감성적 진정성이 다른 차원들보다 더욱 크게 공중의 커뮤니케이션 진정성 인식에 영향을 주는 것임을 알 수 있었다. 결국 커뮤니케이션 진정성은 진심, 진실, 실천의 의미를 포함하는 이성적, 감성적, 행동적 차원으로 구성된 다차원적 구성개념이라는 것이 확인되었다.

The potential of a scale to measure relationship authenticity in marketing is explored. A measure of this type is argued to be particular valuable when brands have a difficult time in partnering with charitable organizations. An exploratory study and a pilot study suggest that there is potential for development of a full scale.

This paper aims to investigate the alignment between fashion companies’ CSR policy, as communicated through company website, and CSR retail practices customers can actually observe or get information about when visiting company’s retail stores. The case study analysis is carried out using the Mystery Shopping technique. The sample is made up of companies belonging to the top of the fashion luxury pyramid, whilst the visited stores are located in Italy. The purpose of this paper is to provide a classification of companies’ behaviours in deploying CRS policy at the retail level, and to highlight different levels of fit between companies’ CSR policy and CSR practices communicated at the retail-store level. Our results reveal that several companies show a mismatch between their CSR policy and CRS practices communicated in stores to customers.

이 연구의 목적은 인터넷 포털 기업의 사회적 책임 영역에 대한 공중 평가가 해당 포털 사이트의 신뢰도, 선호도 및 충성도에 어떤 영향을 미치는지 살펴보는 것이다. 구체적으로 우리나라 상위 포털 기업인 <네이버>, <다음>, <네이트>가 수행하는 CSR에 대한 영역별 공중 평가가 해당 사이트의 신뢰도, 선호도, 및 충성도에 미치는 영향을 파악하고, 더불어 각 포털 사이트 신뢰도와 선호도가 해당 포털 사이트 충성도에 어떤 영향을 미치는지 검증하는 것이다. 이를 위해 대학생 258명을 설문조사하였다. 연구결과, 인터넷 포털 기업 CSR에 대한 영역별 공중 평가는 해당 사이트의 신뢰도, 선호도, 및 충성도에 유의미한 영향을 나타냈다. 특히, 인터넷 포털 기업의 CSR 영역별 평가 가운데, “법적 책임”과 “윤리적 책임” 영역 평가는 공통적으로 연구대상 포털 사이트 신뢰도에 유의미한 영향을 미치는 변인이었다. “경제적 책임” 영역 평가의 경우, 세 포털 사이트 선호도에 공통적으로 유의미한 영향을 나타냈다. 각 인터넷 포털 기업별로 <네이버>의 경우, 포털 사이트 신뢰도와 선호도 모두 포털 사이트 충성도에 유의미한 영향을 미친 반면에, <다음>과 <네이트>는 포털 사이트 선호도만이 포털 사이트 충성도에 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다.

이 연구의 목적은 인터넷 포털 기업의 사회적 책임 영역에 대한 공중 평가가 해당 포털 사이트의 신뢰도, 선호도 및 충성도에 어떤 영향을 미치는지 살펴보는 것이다. 구체적으로 우리나라 상위 포털 기업인 <네이버>, <다음>, <네이트>가 수행하는 CSR에 대한 영역별 공중 평가가 해당 사이트의 신뢰도, 선호도, 및 충성도에 미치는 영향을 파악하고, 더불어 각 포털 사이트 신뢰도와 선호도가 해당 포털 사이트 충성도에 어떤 영향을 미치는지 검증하는 것이다. 이를 위해 대학생 258명을 설문조사하였다. 연구결과, 인터넷 포털 기업 CSR에 대한 영역별 공중 평가는 해당 사이트의 신뢰도, 선호도, 및 충성도에 유의미한 영향을 나타냈다. 특히, 인터넷 포털 기업의 CSR 영역별 평가 가운데, “법적 책임”과 “윤리적 책임” 영역 평가는 공통적으로 연구대상 포털 사이트 신뢰도에 유의미한 영향을 미치는 변인이었다. “경제적 책임” 영역 평가의 경우, 세 포털 사이트 선호도에 공통적으로 유의미한 영향을 나타냈다. 각 인터넷 포털 기업별로 <네이버>의 경우, 포털 사이트 신뢰도와 선호도 모두 포털 사이트 충성도에 유의미한 영향을 미친 반면에, <다음>과 <네이트>는 포털 사이트 선호도만이 포털 사이트 충성도에 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다.

This study investigated the effects that corporate social responsibility (CSR) had on the credibility and image of a food corporation by analyzing the purchasing intention and food purchases of consumers. This analysis was undertaken in an attempt to establish a marketing strategy that meets consumer demands, and the results showed that all CSR activities undertaken by the food corporation had a positive effect on the reliability and image of the corporation and on consumers' purchase intention. The results indicate that the ethical aspect of the CSR activities had the greatest effect while their charitable aspect had the least effect on the reliability and purchase intention of the customers regarding the food corporation. Thus, it appears that establishing of suitable ethical doctrines and guidelines for corporate management by food corporation is effective in emphasizing the ethical aspects of their policies through transparent management by means of fair trade.

The main aim of this study is to propose a conceptual model for marketers’ contributions to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs. Thus, this study could possibly reveal synergies between Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility Programs (CSR). Customers have expectations that firms need to carry out CSR activities and hence customers have various responses towards companies’ CSR actions. This implies that marketers’ contributions seem necessary in the development and implementation of CSR programs. This research provides a conceptual model to examine possible synergies between marketing and CSR. Based on the resource based theory of firms, it can be argued that marketers need to contribute to CSR initiatives. From the perspective of return on investments on CSR activities, CSR programs can be viewed as being philanthropic or strategic in nature. Customers tend to respond to both of these CSR types. Hence we propose that contribution of marketers seems important to both kinds of CSR, which in turn would increase customer satisfaction about CSR programs. Consequently, companies’ performance can be enhanced. A mix method is proposed for this study. It is envisaged that in near future, this conceptual model would be empirically tested by collecting data from customers and marketing managers of the Sri Lankan financial institutions. This research concludes with practical implications.

There is much evidence in literature supporting the advantageous benefits resulted from corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives (Luo and Bhattacharya, 2006). Among others, consumers’ favorable reactions (e.g., enhanced produce evaluation, purchase intention, brand attitude and relationship) (Brown and Dacin 1997; Klein and Dawar 2004) were widely documented. Importantly, consumers tend to use their perceptions on a company’s CSR performance to infer the characteristics of relevant persons (e.g., self and other consumers) due to the meaning-transferring mechanism (Currás-Pérez et al., 2009; Yoon et al., 2006). Although literature suggests that people do good things in order to feel themselves in a positive light, there is a lack of explicit discussion on the impact of consumers’ participation in CSR programs on their perceptions of self. This is an important issue for designing effective CSR programs which can enhance consumer feelings as well. To bridge the academic gap, this research is aimed to address this question. As brands can be viewed as extended self and brand associations can be transferred into self-definition, good associations related with CSR practices will enhance consumers’ self-perceptions and self-esteem once they engage in CSR-related consumptions. However, many company-specific factors (e.g., product quality) and individual specific factors (e.g., CSR support and beliefs) will vary consumers’ responses to CSR efforts (Sen and Bhattacharya 2001). Similarly, CSR’s impact on self-perceptions may be moderated by significant factors. One of the most important determinants underlying differential customer response to CSR is consumers’ attribution of corporate motives. Consumers may attribute a company’s motivation for engaging in CSR simply as self-serving (e.g., high profit) or other-serving (e.g., engagement in social causes) (Becker-Olsen et al. 2006; Yoon et al. 2006), or further differentiate self-serving motives into strategic and egoistic ones and other-serving motives into value-driven and stakeholders-driven ones (Ellen et al., 2006). We examine the effect of self-serving motive vs. other-serving motive on the linkage of CSR and consumers’ self-perceptions and self-esteem in this research. Further we predict that the relevance of a CSR program with an individual consumer (i.e., self-CSR relevance) interacts with specific corporate motives in enhancing the CSR’s effect on consumers’ self-perceptions and self-esteem. A pilot study was first conducted to examine how CSR performance influences consumers’ perceptions (as well as consumers’ believes on their reference group’s perceptions) on a company’s typical customers’ image and then their purchase intention. In this study, we let respondents play judgers’ role and ask them about the relation of CSR and others’ image. A paper-and-pencil survey on university students was conducted. Three hundred and twenty one copies of questionnaires are sent out and collected in total. After deleting the incomplete ones, 302 valid data points constitute the final sample. The number of female and male respondents is comparable (Male: 49%) with average age of 21.4 year-old. We tested the hypothesized relations through structure equation modeling following Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) two-step approach. The measurement model has good convergent and discrimiant validity. The structural model testing results indicate that CSR has significant positive impact on people’s perceptions on the image of a company’s typical customers (r=.227, P<.001) and on beliefs of reference group’s perceptions on the image of a company’s typical customers (r=.234, P<.001), which subsequently enhance purchase intention (r=.607, P<.001; r=.149, P<.01). As such, the hypothesized relations are supported. Although consumers’ perceptions on others rather than self-perceptions and self-esteem are investigated in this study, findings provide preliminary support on the notion that a company’s CSR behaviors will be used as significant information to evaluate relevant persons (here are typical customers). In the main experiment study, we ask subjects play actors’ role and further examine the connection of CSR and self-perceptions. Results indicate a significant interactive effect between corporate motive and self-relevance. High self-relevance enlarges the difference of self-evaluations after participation in self-entered CSR programs vs. participation in other-centered CSR programs. This study explicitly examines the impact of consumer participation in CSR-related program on consumer self-perceptions and self-esteem. The findings deepen our understanding on the impact of corporate CSR initiatives on consumer responses, particularly the impact on consumer self-perceptions. It provides important implications for management to provide more effective CSR programs with consumers’ welfare considered.

This study explores the moderating role of perceived sponsor motive and event-self congruence on the relationship between event-sponsor congruence and attitude toward sponsor in CSR advertisingcampaigns. A scenario based 2 (event-sponsor congruence: high/low) ⅹ 2 (perceived sponsor motive: selfish/altruistic) ⅹ 2 (event-self congruence: high/low) between-subjects design experiments are conducted for the test of hypotheses. According to the results of ANCOVA, consumers' perceived sponsor motive and event-self congruence are shown to moderate the effect of event-sponsor congruence on consumers' attitude toward sponsor. And, when the consumer perceives sponsor motive as ‘altruistic’ and event-self congruence as ‘high’, the difference of attitude toward sponsor between the high group and low group of event-sponsor congruence perception is the lowest.

In the past few decades, much attention has been focused on corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Dahlrud, 2008; McWilliams & Siegel, 2001; Maignan & Ralston, 2002; Montiel, 2008), consumer responses to CSR initiatives (Brown & Dacin, 1997; Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001) and more recently, employee attitudes towards CSR (Kim et al., 2010; Michailides & Lipsett, 2012; Rupp et al., 2006; Zhu et al., 2012). Although awareness of environmental sustainability has increased over the past few decades, the current market share of sustainable products remains low. Because of their market position, large-scale and high- volume customer interactions (Vella et al., 2009), supermarkets appear to be appropriate venues for investigating perceived sustainability initiatives (Hampl & Loock, 2013). Our study examined the extent to which supermarkets are perceived to have embedded sustainability initiatives in their marketing strategies and to have taken sustainable tactical measures on the store floor. In addition, the study considered the roles played by social identification (as an indicator for intrinsic motives) and by perceived external prestige (as an indicator for extrinsic motives). Based on a literature review and semi-structured qualitative interviews with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of Dutch supermarkets (n = 8), we conducted an online panel survey among the managers of these supermarkets (n = 99). The results of the qualitative study show that although CEOs’ opinions differed regarding the relevance of sustainability, the majority of CEOs indicated that the implementation of a sustainability strategy is strongly dependent on the intrinsic motivation of board members, the family business in general or local entrepreneurs (supermarket managers). Specifically, the role of the supermarket manager was recognized as important concerning sustainability initiatives on the shop floor. The results of the quantitative study show the positive impacts of managers’ social identification with a sustainable consumer group and managers’ perceived external prestige on the perceived environmental sustainability initiatives of Dutch supermarkets. The study finds that managers’ social identifications are powerful ways to engender employee loyalty. Moreover, organizations that are perceived to have more external prestige are perceived as being more capable of developing sustainability policies.