IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v27y2020i2p925-936.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What corporate social responsibility brings to brand management? The two pathways from social responsibility to brand commitment

Author

Listed:
  • Tarek Abid
  • Marie‐Aude Abid‐Dupont
  • Jean‐Louis Moulins

Abstract

Social responsibility has become a cornerstone of brand management, enabling brand differentiation in a high growth market. By distinguishing between symbolic and utilitarian associations of social responsibility, our study identifies two levers for consumer brand commitment. We posit that utilitarian associations enhance consumer brand commitment by strengthening consumer trust. We also argue that brands can encourage consumer commitment through their environmental and philanthropic engagements by conveying values with which consumers can identify to foster brand identification. This second commitment lever is argued to be particularly effective for consumers with strong social/environmental personal norms. We empirically test our research model on a sample of regular consumers of organic food brands, validating the two pathways from social responsibility to brand commitment. The moderating role of consumers' personal norms on the process was confirmed regarding the philanthropic dimension but not the environmental one. Contributions and implications for sustainable marketing are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Tarek Abid & Marie‐Aude Abid‐Dupont & Jean‐Louis Moulins, 2020. "What corporate social responsibility brings to brand management? The two pathways from social responsibility to brand commitment," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 925-936, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:27:y:2020:i:2:p:925-936
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.1856
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1856
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.1856?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McGuire, William J, 1976. "Some Internal Psychological Factors Influencing Consumer Choice," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 2(4), pages 302-319, March.
    2. Urša Golob & Klement Podnar, 2019. "Researching CSR and brands in the here and now: an integrative perspective," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(1), pages 1-8, January.
    3. A. Lindgreen & Y.T. Xu & F. Maon & J. Wilcock, 2012. "Corporate social responsibility brand leadership: A multiple case study," Post-Print hal-00800278, HAL.
    4. Fournier, Susan, 1998. "Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(4), pages 343-373, March.
    5. Longinos Marin & Salvador Ruiz & Alicia Rubio, 2009. "The Role of Identity Salience in the Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Consumer Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(1), pages 65-78, January.
    6. Yuan‐Shuh Lii & Kuang‐Wen Wu & May‐Ching Ding, 2013. "Doing Good Does Good? Sustainable Marketing of CSR and Consumer Evaluations," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 15-28, January.
    7. Shuili Du & C. B. Bhattacharya & Sankar Sen, 2011. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Competitive Advantage: Overcoming the Trust Barrier," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(9), pages 1528-1545, March.
    8. P. Gurviez & M. Korchia, 2002. "Proposition d'une échelle de mesure multidimensionnelle de la confiance dans la marque," Post-Print hal-02020609, HAL.
    9. Guido Palazzo & Kunal Basu, 2007. "The Ethical Backlash of Corporate Branding," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 73(4), pages 333-346, July.
    10. A. Lindgreen & V. Swaen & W. Johnston, 2009. "Corporate social responsibility : an empirical investigation of U.S. organizations," Post-Print hal-00575825, HAL.
    11. Kumar Ramesh & Raiswa Saha & Susoban Goswami & Sekar & Richa Dahiya, 2019. "Consumer's response to CSR activities: Mediating role of brand image and brand attitude," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 377-387, March.
    12. Adam Lindgreen & Valérie Swaen & Wesley Johnston, 2009. "Corporate Social Responsibility: An Empirical Investigation of U.S. Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 303-323, April.
    13. Russell Lacey & Pamela Kennett-Hensel, 2010. "Longitudinal Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Customer Relationships," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 97(4), pages 581-597, December.
    14. Xinshu Zhao & John G. Lynch & Qimei Chen, 2010. "Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(2), pages 197-206, August.
    15. Christian Boris Brunner & Tobias Langner, 2017. "Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility for Brands," CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance, in: Sandra Diehl & Matthias Karmasin & Barbara Mueller & Ralf Terlutter & Franzisca Weder (ed.), Handbook of Integrated CSR Communication, pages 149-169, Springer.
    16. Flavio Boccia & Rosa Malgeri Manzo & Daniela Covino, 2019. "Consumer behavior and corporate social responsibility: An evaluation by a choice experiment," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1), pages 97-105, January.
    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. Ilaria Baghi & Paolo Antonetti, 2021. "The higher they climb, the harder they fall: The role of self‐brand connectedness in consumer responses to corporate social responsibility hypocrisy," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 1216-1230, July.
    2. Pilar Fernández‐Ferrín & Sandra Castro‐González & Belén Bande, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility, emotions, and consumer loyalty in the food retail context: Exploring the moderating effect of regional identity," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 648-666, March.
    3. Mahesh Shaw & Abhijit Majumdar & Kannan Govindan, 2022. "Barriers of social sustainability: an improved interpretive structural model of Indian textile and clothing supply chain," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1616-1633, December.
    4. Fan Fan, 2023. "Brand, Quality, and CSR: Which Management Strategy Achieves High Financial Performance for Agricultural Small-Medium Enterprises?," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    5. Zamira Ataniyazova & Barry A. Friedman & Prabha Kiran, 2022. "New corporate social responsibility brand evaluation in a developing country: Uzbekistan," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. 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.

    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. Jinhua Li & Yongyi Chen & Qiankai Qing, 2021. "Differentiated consumer responses to corporate social responsibility domains moderated by corporate social responsibility perceptions: A Kano model‐based perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1606-1619, November.
    2. Zamira Ataniyazova & Barry A. Friedman & Prabha Kiran, 2022. "New corporate social responsibility brand evaluation in a developing country: Uzbekistan," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Vicenta Sierra & Oriol Iglesias & Stefan Markovic & Jatinder Jit Singh, 2017. "Does Ethical Image Build Equity in Corporate Services Brands? The Influence of Customer Perceived Ethicality on Affect, Perceived Quality, and Equity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 661-676, September.
    4. Petar Gidaković & Mateja Kos Koklič & Mila Zečević & Vesna Žabkar, 2022. "The influence of brand sustainability on purchase intentions: the mediating role of brand impressions and brand attitudes," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(6), pages 556-568, November.
    5. Marco Lerro & Riccardo Vecchio & Francesco Caracciolo & Stefano Pascucci & Luigi Cembalo, 2018. "Consumers' heterogeneous preferences for corporate social responsibility in the food industry," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1050-1061, November.
    6. Swaen, Valérie & Demoulin, Nathalie & Pauwels-Delassus, Véronique, 2021. "Impact of customers’ perceptions regarding corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility in the grocery retailing industry: The role of corporate reputation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 709-721.
    7. Urša Golob & Klement Podnar, 2019. "Researching CSR and brands in the here and now: an integrative perspective," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(1), pages 1-8, January.
    8. Elbedweihy, Alaa M. & Jayawardhena, Chanaka & Elsharnouby, Mohamed H. & Elsharnouby, Tamer H., 2016. "Customer relationship building: The role of brand attractiveness and consumer–brand identification," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2901-2910.
    9. Tourky, Marwa & Kitchen, Philip & Shaalan, Ahmed, 2020. "The role of corporate identity in CSR implementation: An integrative framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 694-706.
    10. Pedro Cuesta‐Valiño & Pablo Gutiérrez Rodríguez & Estela Núñez‐Barriopedro, 2019. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on customer loyalty in hypermarkets: A new socially responsible strategy," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 761-769, July.
    11. Jean-François Toti & Oliviane Brodin, 2017. "Le détournement publicitaire sur les réseaux sociaux en lien avec une cause éthique et ses conséquences sur la confiance envers la marque," Post-Print hal-03350232, HAL.
    12. Rafael Currás‐Pérez & Consuelo Dolz‐Dolz & María J. Miquel‐Romero & Isabel Sánchez‐García, 2018. "How social, environmental, and economic CSR affects consumer‐perceived value: Does perceived consumer effectiveness make a difference?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(5), pages 733-747, September.
    13. Jonathan Luffarelli & Panos Markou & Antonios Stamatogiannakis & Dilney Gonçalves, 2019. "The effect of corporate social performance on the financial performance of business‐to‐business and business‐to‐consumer firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1333-1350, November.
    14. Louis, Didier & Lombart, Cindy, 2018. "Retailers’ communication on ugly fruits and vegetables: What are consumers’ perceptions?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 256-271.
    15. José Luis Vázquez-Burguete & César Sahelices-Pinto & Ana Lanero-Carrizo, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and consumer behavior in the cosmetics sector: a study in the Spanish context," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 14(3), pages 375-390, September.
    16. Lombart, Cindy & Louis, Didier, 2014. "A study of the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility and price image on retailer personality and consumers' reactions (satisfaction, trust and loyalty to the retailer)," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 630-642.
    17. Rajesh Sharma & Vranda Jain, 2019. "CSR, Trust, Brand Loyalty and Brand Equity: Empirical Evidences from Sportswear Industry in the NCR Region of India," Metamorphosis: A Journal of Management Research, , vol. 18(1), pages 57-67, June.
    18. 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.
    19. Won‐Moo Hur & Yeonshin Kim, 2017. "How Does Culture Improve Consumer Engagement in CSR Initiatives? the Mediating Role of Motivational Attributions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(6), pages 620-633, November.
    20. Yi He & Qimei Chen & Dana L. Alden, 2016. "Time will tell: managing post-purchase changes in brand attitude," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(6), pages 791-805, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:corsem:v:27:y:2020:i:2:p:925-936. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    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.