IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v157y2019i2d10.1007_s10551-017-3609-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Makes CSR Communication Lead to CSR Participation? Testing the Mediating Effects of CSR Associations, CSR Credibility, and Organization–Public Relationships

Author

Listed:
  • Sun Young Lee

    (Texas Tech University)

  • Weiwu Zhang

    (Texas Tech University)

  • Alan Abitbol

    (University of Dayton)

Abstract

This study examines consumers’ uses of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication channels, the relationship of such uses to consumers’ CSR awareness, and the mechanisms through which consumers’ CSR awareness can lead to their intention to participate in CSR activities. Specifically, we explored the mediation effects of consumers’ CSR associations with a company, consumers’ assessment of the company’s CSR credibility, and consumers’ perceptions of their relationship with the company, applying the conceptual frameworks of the uses and gratification theory, source credibility theory, and organization–public relationship (OPR) scholarship. We conducted an online survey of a company’s customers (N = 394), and the results showed that their level of awareness of the company’s CSR activities was positively related to the degree of use of all communication channels through which they received CSR messages, except CSR reports. The degree of the customers’ awareness of the company’s CSR programs, however, did not always correspond to the customers’ intention to participate in the programs: a crucial condition mediating between the customers’ knowledge of CSR programs and their intention to participate in the programs was their associating the company with CSR. The CSR associations influenced CSR credibility and perceived OPR quality, which, in turn, led to CSR participation intention. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Sun Young Lee & Weiwu Zhang & Alan Abitbol, 2019. "What Makes CSR Communication Lead to CSR Participation? Testing the Mediating Effects of CSR Associations, CSR Credibility, and Organization–Public Relationships," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 413-429, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:157:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3609-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-017-3609-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-017-3609-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-017-3609-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yuhei Inoue & Aubrey Kent, 2014. "A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Effects of Corporate Social Marketing on Consumer Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(4), pages 621-633, June.
    2. Newell, Stephen J. & Goldsmith, Ronald E., 2001. "The development of a scale to measure perceived corporate credibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 235-247, June.
    3. Jay B. Barney & Mark H. Hansen, 1994. "Trustworthiness as a Source of Competitive Advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(S1), pages 175-190, December.
    4. C. Bhattacharya & Daniel Korschun & Sankar Sen, 2009. "Strengthening Stakeholder–Company Relationships Through Mutually Beneficial Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 257-272, April.
    5. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    6. McCracken, Grant, 1989. "Who Is the Celebrity Endorser? Cultural Foundations of the Endorsement Process," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 16(3), pages 310-321, December.
    7. Siv Skard & Helge Thorbjørnsen, 2014. "Is Publicity Always Better than Advertising? The Role of Brand Reputation in Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 149-160, September.
    8. David Eberle & Guido Berens & Ting Li, 2013. "The Impact of Interactive Corporate Social Responsibility Communication on Corporate Reputation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(4), pages 731-746, December.
    9. Lafferty, Barbara A. & Goldsmith, Ronald E., 1999. "Corporate Credibility's Role in Consumers' Attitudes and Purchase Intentions When a High versus a Low Credibility Endorser Is Used in the Ad," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 109-116, February.
    10. Matthew Walker & Aubrey Kent, 2013. "The Roles of Credibility and Social Consciousness in the Corporate Philanthropy-Consumer Behavior Relationship," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(2), pages 341-353, August.
    11. Goldberg, Marvin E & Hartwick, Jon, 1990. "The Effects of Advertiser Reputation and Extremity of Advertising Claim on Advertising Effectiveness," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 17(2), pages 172-179, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. François Maon & Valérie Swaen & Kenneth de Roeck, 2021. "Coporate branding and corporate social responsibility: Toward a multi-stakeholder interpretive perspective," Post-Print hal-03275858, HAL.
    2. Jiaen Hu & Luis Miguel López-Bonilla & Jesús Manuel López-Bonilla, 2023. "CSR Perceptions and Brand Attitudes in Chinese Luxury Hospitality: The Moderating Effect of Ads vs. Media Reports," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, May.
    3. Yi Grace Ji & Weiting Tao & Hyejoon Rim, 2022. "Theoretical Insights of CSR Research in Communication from 1980 to 2018: A Bibliometric Network Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 327-349, May.
    4. Abdelmohsen A. Nassani & Maher Badawi & Maria Giovanna Confetto & Maria Palazzo & Maria Antonella Ferri & Mohamed Haffar, 2023. "Towards Ethical Consumption Activities among Tourism Firms: Nexus of Environmental Knowledge, CSR Participation and Psychological Social Support," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-13, March.
    5. Yaping Fang & Feng Liu & Sunmin Kim & Minchan Pyo, 2023. "Consumer Participation in CSR: Spending Money versus Spending Time," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, March.
    6. Kim, Yeonshin & Hur, Won-Moo & Lee, Luri, 2023. "Understanding customer participation in CSR activities: The impact of perceptions of CSR, affective commitment, brand equity, and corporate reputation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    7. Egle Jakunskiene & Egle Kazlauskiene, 2022. "The Evaluation of Business Tools for Encouraging Social Responsibility in Older Consumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-23, March.
    8. Patrick Hartmann & Paula Fernández & Vanessa Apaolaza & Martin Eisend & Clare D’Souza, 2021. "Explaining Viral CSR Message Propagation in Social Media: The Role of Normative Influences," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 365-385, October.
    9. Veronika Jezkova & Zuzana Rowland & Veronika Machova & Jan Hejda, 2020. "The Intrinsic Value of an Enterprise Determined by Means of the FCFE Tool," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-13, October.
    10. Ginder, Whitney & Byun, Sang-Eun, 2022. "To trust or not to trust? The interplay between labor-related CSR claim type and prior CSR reputation of apparel retailers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    11. Boris Bartikowski & Fernando Fastoso & Heribert Gierl, 2021. "How Nationalistic Appeals Affect Foreign Luxury Brand Reputation: A Study of Ambivalent Effects," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 261-277, March.
    12. Mario Morales-Parragué & Luis Araya-Castillo & Fidel Molina-Luque & Hugo Moraga-Flores, 2022. "Scientometric Analysis of Research on Corporate Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-22, February.
    13. Yafei Zhang & Chuqing Dong & Andrea M. M. Weare & Song Harris Ao, 2021. "Contextualizing Motivating Language to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): How Leader Motivating Language Affects Employees’ CSR Engagement and Employee–Organization Relationships," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Won‐Moo Hur & Tae‐Won Moon & Hanna Kim, 2020. "When and how does customer engagement in CSR initiatives lead to greater CSR participation? The role of CSR credibility and customer–company identification," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1878-1891, July.
    15. Michael C. Peasley & Parker J. Woodroof & Joshua T. Coleman, 2021. "Processing Contradictory CSR Information: The Influence of Primacy and Recency Effects on the Consumer-Firm Relationship," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(2), pages 275-289, August.
    16. Kanwal Ikqbal Khan & Ayesha Mushtaq, "undated". "Corporate Social Responsibility And Firms Credibility A Comparative Study Of Family And Non-Family Firms; Evidence From Pakistan Stock Exchange," Review of Socio - Economic Perspectives 202056, Reviewsep.
    17. Floritzel Moreno & Jiyun Kang, 2020. "How to alleviate consumer skepticism concerning corporate responsibility: The role of content and delivery in CSR communications," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2477-2490, November.
    18. Zimmer, Lukas & Swoboda, Bernhard, 2023. "Perceived corporate social responsibility effects across nations – The role of national institutions," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3).
    19. Virginia S. Harrison & Michail Vafeiadis & Joseph Bober, 2022. "Greening Professional Sport: How Communicating the Fit, Proximity, and Impact of Sustainability Efforts Affects Fan Perceptions and Supportive Intentions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-21, March.
    20. Didier Louis & Cindy Lombart, 2024. "Impact of a corporate social responsibility message on consumers' sustainable behaviours and purchase intentions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 579-599, January.
    21. Eva Alexandra Jakob & Holger Steinmetz & Marius Claus Wehner & Christina Engelhardt & Rüdiger Kabst, 2022. "Like It or Not: When Corporate Social Responsibility Does Not Attract Potential Applicants," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 105-127, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Menno D. T. Jong & Mark Meer, 2017. "How Does It Fit? Exploring the Congruence Between Organizations and Their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Activities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 71-83, June.
    2. Patrick Hartmann & Paula Fernández & Vanessa Apaolaza & Martin Eisend & Clare D’Souza, 2021. "Explaining Viral CSR Message Propagation in Social Media: The Role of Normative Influences," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 365-385, October.
    3. Won‐Moo Hur & Tae‐Won Moon & Hanna Kim, 2020. "When and how does customer engagement in CSR initiatives lead to greater CSR participation? The role of CSR credibility and customer–company identification," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1878-1891, July.
    4. Yuhei Inoue & Aubrey Kent, 2014. "A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Effects of Corporate Social Marketing on Consumer Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(4), pages 621-633, June.
    5. Halder, Deepa & Pradhan, Debasis & Roy Chaudhuri, Himadri, 2021. "Forty-five years of celebrity credibility and endorsement literature: Review and learnings," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 397-415.
    6. S. Venus Jin & Aziz Muqaddam, 2019. "Product placement 2.0: “Do Brands Need Influencers, or Do Influencers Need Brands?”," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(5), pages 522-537, September.
    7. Farah Mastura Noor Azman & Zainol Bidin, 2015. "Factors Influencing Zakat Compliance Behavior on Saving," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 5(1), pages 118-128, January.
    8. Maria Teresa Cuomo & Pantea Foroudi & Debora Tortora & Shahzeb Hussain & T.C. Melewar, 2019. "Celebrity Endorsement and the Attitude Towards Luxury Brands for Sustainable Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-21, November.
    9. Maria del García-de los Salmones & Angel Herrero & Patricia Martínez, 2021. "Determinants of Electronic Word-of-Mouth on Social Networking Sites About Negative News on CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(3), pages 583-597, July.
    10. Lafferty, Barbara A., 2007. "The relevance of fit in a cause-brand alliance when consumers evaluate corporate credibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(5), pages 447-453, May.
    11. Moazzam Abbas & Yongqiang Gao & Sayyed Sadaqat Hussain Shah, 2018. "CSR and Customer Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Customer Engagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-15, November.
    12. El Hedhli, Kamel & Zourrig, Haithem & Becheur, Imene, 2021. "Celebrity endorsements: Investigating the interactive effects of internalization, identification and product type on consumers’ attitudes and intentions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    13. Kevin Money & Anastasiya Saraeva & Irene Garnelo-Gomez & Stephen Pain & Carola Hillenbrand, 2017. "Corporate Reputation Past and Future: A Review and Integration of Existing Literature and a Framework for Future Research," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(3), pages 193-211, November.
    14. Farah Mastura Noor Azman & Zainol Bidin, 2015. "Factors Influencing Zakat Compliance Behavior on Saving," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 5(1), pages 118-128, January.
    15. Kumar, Prashant & Polonsky, Micheal Jay, 2019. "In-store experience quality and perceived credibility: A green retailer context," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 23-34.
    16. Rakesh Kumar & Vibhuti Tripathi, 2022. "Green Advertising: Examining the Role of Celebrity’s Credibility Using SEM Approach," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 23(2), pages 440-459, April.
    17. Ramendra Pratap Singh & Neelotpaul Banerjee, 2018. "Exploring the Influence of Celebrity Credibility on Brand Attitude, Advertisement Attitude and Purchase Intention," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(6), pages 1622-1639, December.
    18. Matthew Walker & Stephen Hills & Bob Heere, 2017. "Evaluating a Socially Responsible Employment Program: Beneficiary Impacts and Stakeholder Perceptions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 53-70, June.
    19. Carroll, Ryall & Kachersky, Luke, 2019. "Service fundraising and the role of perceived donation efficacy in individual charitable giving," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 254-263.
    20. Jackson, Elizabeth & Quaddus, Mohammed & Islam, Nazrul & Stanton, John & Hoque, Zohurul, 2007. "A Multi-Disciplinary Approach For Determining Adoption Of Agricultural Price Risk Management Strategies," 81st Annual Conference, April 2-4, 2007, Reading University, UK 7985, Agricultural Economics Society.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:157:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-017-3609-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.