IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i7p4099-d783296.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Toward an Audience-Centric Framework of Corporate Social Advocacy Strategy: An Exploratory Study of Young Consumers from Generation Z

Author

Listed:
  • Ioana A. Coman

    (Department of Public Relations and Strategic Communication Management, College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA)

  • Shupei Yuan

    (Department of Communication, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA)

  • Jiun-Yi Tsai

    (School of Communication, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA)

Abstract

Increasingly, business-to-consumer companies engage in corporate social advocacy (CSA) to respond to growing pressures from stakeholders. CSA studies are quickly accumulating, yet in-depth explanations of when and why the public expect companies to take a stance (sometimes even action) on controversial issues remain scarce. To fill these gaps, we unpack how Generation Z audiences expect companies to act on public agendas and their reasoning process through a mixed-method analysis of an exploratory survey ( N = 388) conducted at a public university. The results show major changes in CSA expectations and illuminate the reasoning behind them. The results highlight a critical need to further understand CSA from audience perceptions and inform message design and testing guided by audience-centric models.

Suggested Citation

  • Ioana A. Coman & Shupei Yuan & Jiun-Yi Tsai, 2022. "Toward an Audience-Centric Framework of Corporate Social Advocacy Strategy: An Exploratory Study of Young Consumers from Generation Z," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-17, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:4099-:d:783296
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/4099/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/4099/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chang-Dae Ham & Jeesun Kim, 2019. "The Role of CSR in Crises: Integration of Situational Crisis Communication Theory and the Persuasion Knowledge Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 353-372, August.
    2. Sang Jun Cho & Chune Young Chung & Jason Young, 2019. "Study on the Relationship between CSR and Financial Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-26, January.
    3. Jeremy Berry, 2013. "Canadian public relations students' interest in government communication," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 36(5), pages 528-544, April.
    4. Kafula Chisanga & Ernest Mbega & Patrick Alois Ndakidemi, 2019. "Socio-Economic Factors for Anthill Soil Utilization by Smallholder Farmers in Zambia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-17, September.
    5. Becker-Olsen, Karen L. & Cudmore, B. Andrew & Hill, Ronald Paul, 2006. "The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 46-53, January.
    6. Pichler, Shaun & Kohli, Chiranjeev & Granitz, Neil, 2021. "DITTO for Gen Z: A framework for leveraging the uniqueness of the new generation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 64(5), pages 599-610.
    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. Khirul Basar Mim & Tunmin (Catherine) Jai & Stacy H. Lee, 2022. "The Influence of Sustainable Positioning on eWOM and Brand Loyalty: Analysis of Credible Sources and Transparency Practices Based on the S-O-R Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.

    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. Athanasios Krystallis & Vlad Zaharia & Antonis Zairis, 2021. "“When” Does It Pay to Be Good? Attributions Mediate the Way CSR Elements Impact on Consumer Responses, and Are Controllable," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Xie, Quan & Wang, Tianjiao (Grace), 2022. "Promoting corporate social responsibility message in COVID-19 advertising: How threat persuasion affects consumer responses to altruistic versus strategic CSR," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 315-324.
    3. Mercedes Rubio‐Andrés & María del Mar Ramos‐González & Miguel Ángel Sastre‐Castillo & Ignacio Danvila‐del‐Valle, 2020. "Exploring sustainability, good governance, and social responsibility in small and medium enterprises," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 852-869, March.
    4. Alexandra ZBUCHEA & Florina PÎNZARU, 2017. "Tailoring CSR Strategy to Company Size?," Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, College of Management, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, vol. 5(3), pages 415-437, September.
    5. Chris Hydock & Neeru Paharia & T. J. Weber, 2019. "The Consumer Response to Corporate Political Advocacy: a Review and Future Directions," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 6(3), pages 76-83, December.
    6. Lucia Reisch & Clive L Spash & Sabine Bietz, 2008. "Sustainable Consumption and Mass Communication: A German Experiment," Socio-Economics and the Environment in Discussion (SEED) Working Paper Series 2008-12, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems.
    7. Cornelis, Erlinde & Peter, Paula C., 2017. "The real campaign: The role of authenticity in the effectiveness of advertising disclaimers in digitally enhanced images," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 102-112.
    8. Skarmeas, Dionysis & Leonidou, Constantinos N., 2013. "When consumers doubt, Watch out! The role of CSR skepticism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1831-1838.
    9. Rubio-Andrés, Mercedes & Ramos-González, Mª del Mar & Sastre-Castillo, Miguel Ángel & Gutiérrez-Broncano, Santiago, 2023. "Stakeholder pressure and innovation capacity of SMEs in the COVID-19 pandemic: Mediating and multigroup analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    10. Xiaodong Zhu & Rongrong Gu & Bingbing Wu & Shunsuke Managi, 2017. "Does Hazy Weather Influence Earnings Management of Heavy-Polluting Enterprises? A Chinese Empirical Study from the Perspective of Negative Social Concerns," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-15, December.
    11. Mohammad Nurunnabi & Yazeed Alfakhri & Demah H. Alfakhri, 2018. "Consumer perceptions and corporate social responsibility: what we know so far," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 15(2), pages 161-187, June.
    12. Rana Essam Shazly & Abeer A. Mahrous, 2020. "Capture the hearts to win the minds: cause-related marketing in Egypt," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 17(3), pages 255-276, September.
    13. Andrea Pérez & Ignacio Rodríguez del Bosque, 2015. "How Customer Support for Corporate Social Responsibility Influences the Image of Companies: Evidence from the Banking Industry," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(3), pages 155-168, May.
    14. Lee, Eun Mi & Park, Seong-Yeon & Rapert, Molly I. & Newman, Christopher L., 2012. "Does perceived consumer fit matter in corporate social responsibility issues?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(11), pages 1558-1564.
    15. Souheila Kaabachi & Mohamed Karim Kefi & Monyédodo Régis Kpossa & Ahmed Anis Charfi, 2021. "Celebrity Endorsement vs Influencer Endorsement for Financial Brands: What does Gen-Z think?," Post-Print hal-03767446, HAL.
    16. Anup Raj & Andrei Kuznetsov & Thankom Gopinath Arun, 2020. "Culture of Sustainability and Marketing Orientation of Indian Agribusiness in implementing CSR Programs—Insights from Emerging Market," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, November.
    17. Wang Hongxin & Mohammed Arshad Khan & Jian Zhenqiang & Laura-Mariana Cismaș & Mohammad Athar Ali & Usama Saleem & Lucia Negruț, 2022. "Unleashing the Role of CSR and Employees’ Pro-Environmental Behavior for Organizational Success: The Role of Connectedness to Nature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-22, March.
    18. Carmen Berné-Manero & Marta Pedraja-Iglesias & Pilar Ramo-Sáez, 2017. "Socially responsible markets involved in the consumer-organization identification process," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 14(2), pages 179-196, June.
    19. Pamela Kent & Robyn McCormack & Tamara Zunker, 2021. "Employee disclosures in the grocery industry before the COVID‐19 pandemic," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 4833-4858, September.
    20. Dong-Woo Koo, 2018. "The Impact of Risk Perceptions of Food Ingredients on the Restaurant Industry: Focused on the Moderating Role of Corporate Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-11, September.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:4099-:d:783296. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.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.