Consumer Responses to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in China

This research explores how consumers respond to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in China with a multiproduct, comparative survey. Empirical results conclude that (1) Chinese consumers, who show a high level of awareness and trust of CSR, are more likely to transform a good CSR record into positive corporate evaluation, product association, and purchase intention; (2) Consumer responses to CSR vary across different product categories. Those firms selling experience products (vs. search and credence products) are more likely to gain consumers’ positive product associations and purchase support through CSR practices; and (3) The relationships between consumer demographics and their CSR responses are not linear, and those consumers with a middle level of age and income would respond to CSR more positively. Managerial implications are provided.     

How individualism–collectivism influences consumer responses to the sharing economy: Consociality and promotional type

With the explosion of online exchange of products, the sharing economy is experiencing ever-increasing growth. Despite the increasing popularity of lateral exchange market platforms as part of the sharing economy, research has not yet adequately investigated cultural effects on how consumers’ intentions to purchase products on these platforms. Using two studies, this paper examines whether consumers high in individualism versus consumers high in collectivism respond differently to platforms with low versus high consociality and how individualistic and collectivistic consumers respond differently to two types of promotions that relate to self-maximization. Findings in Study 1 indicated that consumers high in individualism (collectivism) have higher patronage intentions toward a platform low (high) in consociality. Findings in Study 2 suggested that in the presence of a promotion, collectivistic consumers respond comparably to promotional types across platforms, whereas individualistic consumers respond more positively to collective (individual) promotions when consociality is low (high). Further, felt commitment to others as a result of the consociality/promotional type relationship explains these effects. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

The underdog trap: The moderating role of transgression type in forgiving underdog brands

This study aims to investigate the interactive effects of brand biography and brand transgression type on consumers’ forgiveness intention. Brand transgression is categorized as relational or nonrelational, with the former (compared to the latter) seriously undermining consumers’ high identification with underdog brands. Across four experimental studies in which transgression type is manipulated in three different ways, it is confirmed that when facing nonrelational transgressions, participants show greater forgiveness intention for underdog than for top‐dog brands. However, when facing relational transgressions, they do not show increased forgiveness intention for underdog brands compared to top‐dog brands. Moreover, perceived anger mediates the interaction effect between brand biography and brand transgression type on forgiveness intention. The theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.     

Too cute to be bad? Cute brand logo reduces consumer punishment following brand transgressions

Research on brand transgressions has suggested that when a brand is involved in a transgression and perceived as harmful, consumers will punish the brand. The present research seeks to extend this literature by investigating how having a cute brand logo may reduce consumer punishment of a transgressing brand. Across five experimental studies, this research shows that a brand logo with high (vs. low) levels of cuteness associated with a transgressing brand can motivate consumers to protect the brand from harm, thus reducing consumer punishment of that brand. Notably, such motivations to protect the brand are driven by an incremental belief about the brand’s development. Moreover, the cuteness effect is attenuated in the case of repeated transgressions. Theoretical contributions to the literature on cuteness, brand logo, and brand transgression are discussed, as well as practical implications.     

Images paired with concrete claims improve skeptical consumers’ responses to advertising promoting a firm’s good deeds

Previous research has focused attention on state skepticism over corporate social responsibility (CSR) communications, but little work has focused on how to override preexisting differences in consumer skepticism. To gain insight into this issue, the present studies explore whether company ads promoting a firm’s good deeds generate more positive responses when the ads contain concrete claims and/or images related to the firm’s corporate social responsibility claims, and how these elements of the CSR communication interact with individual differences in advertising skepticism. Results show that highly skeptical consumers (a) respond less favorably to ads than less skeptical consumers, overall; (b) respond more favorably to ads that contain a combination of concrete claims and images supporting those claims; and (c) respond as favorably as less skeptical consumers when ads feature concrete claims with supporting images. Additional results suggest that images are effective among highly skeptical consumers because skeptical consumers have a reduced ability to visualize advertising claims. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Agents or Stewards? Linking Managerial Behavior and Moral Development

The goal of this paper is to connect managerial behavior on the “agent-steward” scale to managerial moral development and motivation. I introduce agent- and steward-like behavior: the former is self-serving while the latter is others-serving. I suggest that managerial moral development and motivation may be two of the factors that may predict the tendency of managers to behave in a self-serving way (like agents) or to serve the interests of the organization (like stewards). Managers at low levels of moral development are more likely to behave like agents, while managers at higher levels of moral development are more likely to behave like stewards. I also argue that managers at the highest level of moral development may serve the interests of people other than the firm’s owners and thereby transfer wealth from the firm’s owners to third parties. Moral motivation is likely to be a factor that moderates the proposed relationships. Finally, I develop propositions that address the role of material incentives in controlling behavior of managers at different levels of moral development.     

Connecting With Celebrities: How Consumers Appropriate Celebrity Meanings for a Sense of Belonging

We propose that consumers appropriate brand symbolism that comes from celebrity endorsements to construct and communicate their self-concepts. We also argue that consumers with high need to belong (NTB) look to celebrities to a greater extent than those who have lower needs to belong, because high-NTB consumers are more likely to look to celebrities for cues about which brands may aid these consumers' attempts to meet their affiliation needs. High-NTB consumers are also prone to develop one-sided (parasocial) relationships with celebrities, and these parasocial relationships mediate the celebrity endorsement effect on self–brand connections. Three studies support these proposed relationships. Furthermore, the third study also manipulates the degree to which the celebrity's image matches that of the brand being advertised, revealing that a symbolic match between the celebrity image and brand image is important for consumers who do not form parasocial relationships with celebrities (i.e., low-NTB consumers).     

The Cake Looks Yummy on the Shelf up There: The Interactive Effect of Retail Shelf Position and Consumers’ Personal Sense of Power on Indulgent Choice

This paper advances our understanding of consumer responses to retail product displays by examining the interplay between the vertical shelf position of choice options and consumers’ personal sense of power in determining their preference for indulgent options. Six experiments show that when consumers choose from assortments placed on a low shelf position, requiring them to lower their heads, those higher (vs. lower) in personal power are more likely to choose an indulgent option over its prudent counterpart. In contrast, when choosing from assortments placed on a high shelf position, requiring consumers to raise their heads, those lower (vs. higher) in personal power are more likely to choose an indulgent option. This effect hinges on a mismatch (vs. match) between consumers’ personal sense of power and that triggered by the products’ retail shelf position, increasing affective discomfort and guiding consumers, thus, towards indulgent choices.     

Does consumer‐firm affiliation matter? The impact of social distance on consumers’ moral judgments

When the leader of a firm commits a professional transgression, how would customers’ judgments of the transgressor's professional performance and immorality differ from those of noncustomers’? This research answers this question by investigating factors that explain the discrepancy in moral judgments between noncustomers and customers affiliated with the firm of a transgressing leader. Drawing on construal level theory, our two experimental studies consistently demonstrate that relative to high social distance (i.e., noncustomers), low social distance (i.e., customers) leads to more positive judgments of the transgressor's professional performance, but differences in the social distance do not directly lead to disparities in judgments of immorality. Social distance, however, affects both performance and immorality judgments when mediating mechanisms (conscious and nonconscious moral reasoning) are accounted for, such that low social distance indirectly influences customers to be more lenient in not only their performance judgments but also their immorality judgments. This research contributes to the topic of morality that permeates the current discourse on ethical business transgressions and, in particular, to an understanding of specific mechanisms that guide consumers’ moral judgments.     

Environmental and Economic Dimensions of Sustainability and Price Effects on Consumer Responses

The lack of attention to sustainability, as a concept with multiple dimensions, has presented a developmental gap in green marketing literature, sustainability, and marketing literature for decades. Based on the established premise of customer–corporate (C–C) identification, in which consumers respond favorably to companies with corporate social responsibility initiatives that they identify with, we propose that consumers would respond similarly to companies with sustainability initiatives. We postulate that consumers care about protecting and preserving favorable economic environments (an economic dimension of sustainability) as much as they care about natural environments. Thus, we investigate how two sustainability dimensions (i.e., environmental and economic) and price can influence consumer responses. Using an experimental method, we demonstrate that consumers favor sustainability in both dimensions by giving positive evaluations of the company and purchase intent. In addition, consumers respond more negatively to poor company sustainability than to high company sustainability. In comparison, consumers respond more negatively to the company’s poor commitment to caring for the environment than to the company’s poor commitment to economic sustainability. We also find that consumers do not respond favorably to low prices when they have information about the firm’s poor environmental sustainability. Finally, we find support for an interaction effect between consumer support for sustainability and corporate sustainability; that is, consumers evaluate a company more favorably if the company shares the consumers’ social causes. Overall, we conclude, from our empirical study, support for the idea that consumers do respond to multiple dimensions of sustainability.     

Minorities in Children's Television Commercials: New,Improved, and Stereotyped

Mass media is one means by which consumers learn how to behave as consumers. Consumers’ beliefs about minorities as consumers are also influenced by mass media, and the impact is likely highest among young children. A content analysis of 813 commercials in children's television programming reveals that while Caucasians continue to be the predominant models in terms of numbers and in the types of roles they play, the numerical representation of minorities, especially Blacks, has improved. However, the study found that minorities are more likely than Caucasians to have minor roles and to be portrayed in certain product categories, settings, and relationships. Societal impacts and implications for minority consumers are discussed.     

The effects of power on consumers’ evaluation of a luxury brand's corporate social responsibility

This paper examines how power affects consumers’ responses to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of luxury brands. The results of three studies show that high‐power individuals evaluated a luxury brand's CSR campaign more positively than low‐power individuals. High‐power individuals viewed CSR activities as being more fluent than low‐power individuals. This study further demonstrates that power influences consumers’ responses to nonluxury brand's CSR activities. Low‐power individuals, who are more receptive to warmth, evaluated nonluxury brand's CSR more favorably rather than high‐power individuals.     

Investigating the direct and indirect effects of corporate hypocrisy and perceived corporate reputation on consumers’ attitudes toward the company

Consumers are placing increasing importance on the social responsibility of firms when making purchase decisions. Nonetheless, corporate irresponsibility has become more prevalent in the corporate world. Through corporate social responsibility (CSR), companies can showcase their virtues and appear as good citizens while ignoring many internal standards. Hence, the primary purpose of this study was to explore the impact of corporate hypocrisy on CSR belief, corporate reputation, and consumers’ attitudes toward a company that may have a bad reputation. Second, we investigated the mediating effect of CSR belief and perceived corporate reputation on the relationships between corporate hypocrisy and consumers’ attitudes toward the company. We asked a sample of respondents in Australia (n =518) to respond to a real CSR campaign launched by a beer company. The results showed that CSR belief mediates the relationship between corporate hypocrisy and consumers’ attitudes toward the company. The results indicated a perception that companies may use CSR to try to shift the blame from producers to users. The results of this study provide guidelines for managers, social marketers, and public policy makers on how to create and evaluate companies’ CSR campaigns. The results of this study contribute to the debate on how consumers respond to various CSR campaigns as well as the intended or unintended consequences of CSR in directing consumers’ attention away from the negative impacts businesses have on society.     

Relationship type,perceived trust,and ambiguity aversion

Ambiguity averse suggests consumers to prefer risky options over ambiguous ones. In this study, the authors propose that consumer–brand relationship types influence consumers’ ambiguity aversion. Specifically, compared with consumers in exchange relationships with the focal brand, consumers in communal relationships are more likely to trust the focal brand and thereby be less averse to ambiguity. These proposals were tested in two experiments. In experiment 1, participants in communal relationships showed less ambiguity aversion than those in exchange relationships. In experiment 2, participants in communal relationships had higher perceived trust with the focal brand than the participants in exchange relationships, and they showed less dislike for tensile promotions. Experiment 2 also tested for and confirmed the mediating effect of perceived trust. This study concludes with a discussion of the theoretical contributions and practical implications of the results.     

The Moderating Role of Personal Need for Structure on the Evaluation of Incrementally New Products versus Really New Products

Previous literature about the impacts of product newness on consumers’ acceptance of new products pointed out that consumers are more prone to purchase incrementally new products (INPs) than really new products (RNPs). This study investigated the moderating role of individual difference in personal need for structure (PNS) on consumers’ evaluation of INP versus RNP. The inverted‐U evaluation pattern of the schema congruity effect was predicted to be left‐skewed for high‐PNS consumers and right‐skewed for low‐PNS consumers as regards their evaluations of INP versus RNP. The results of Study 1 showed that low‐PNS consumers evaluated RNPs higher than INPs. High‐PNS consumers evaluated INPs higher than RNPs consistent with the prediction; however, the result was not significant. Relative to this issue, the moderating role of PNS on consumers’ evaluation of INP versus RNP may have been affected by consumers’ product category knowledge. The results of Study 2 verified the left‐ and right‐skewed inverted‐U hypotheses and showed that the moderating effect of PNS was evident only for novice consumers. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications from the results of the studies are discussed.     

When goliaths win and davids lose: The moderating role of perceived risk in brand biography effects

Brand biographies trace a brand's evolution to position it as an underdog (i.e., passion and determination that lead to success despite limited resources) or a topdog (i.e., success based on abundance of resources) brand. This study examines how consumers’ risk perceptions associated with brand choice influence brand biography effects. It demonstrates that when perceived risk associated with brand choice is low, consumers process brand biographies narratively, experience greater narrative transportation into underdog (vs. topdog) brand biographies, and evaluate the underdog brand more favorably. When perceived risk associated with brand choice is high, consumers respond more positively to topdog (vs. underdog) brand biographies, due to topdog brands’ greater perceived ability to reduce risk. The topdog effect observed at higher levels of perceived risk reverses, however, when consumers have the opportunity to process the brand biography before receiving high risk information, as this allows for narrative transportation into the brand biography. This study contributes to research on moderators of brand biography effects and suggests that perceived risk should play a role in marketers’ decision to emphasize underdog or topdog characteristics in brand biographies.     

Effect of service recovery on customers’ perceived justice,satisfaction, and word-of-mouth intentions on online shopping websites

As consumers become better informed and more demanding about their purchase of services, service provider's failure to satisfy all consumers during delivery of service is unavoidable. Consequently, to alleviate consumer dissatisfaction that results from service failure has become important. However, empirical consensus has been lacking on the effects of various service recovery activities. Thus, this study examines the impact of different types of service recovery on customers’ perceptions of justice, post-recovery satisfaction, and word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions. The results indicated that consumers’ perceptions of distributive and interactional justice differ by the types of service recovery and supported significant relationships among perceptions of justice, satisfaction, and WOM intentions. The results implied that consumers respond differently to different types of service recovery and that consumers particularly favor apology among types of service recovery.     

The effect of overspending on tariff choices and customer churn: Evidence from mobile plan choices

Understanding the relation between consumer overspending, tariff choices and customer churn is extremely important in many industries. If consumers are insensitive to their overspending and keep making mistakes in tariff choices, firms may profit from overspending and do not have to worry about customer churn. In this paper, using a rich panel data from a major mobile network operator in China, we show evidence that consumers respond to financial incentives and try to reduce overspending by switching to another plan or terminating the relationships with the operator. Given the trade-off between profiting from overspending and reducing customer churn faced by the operator, we conduct a simple policy simulation and show that the operator should encourage consumers to reduce their overspending. We also show that the effects of switching decisions on future overspending and the hazard of churn differ among upward switchers (i.e. consumers who switch to a larger plan) and downward switchers (i.e., consumers who switch to a smaller plan). Specifically, we find that consumers who switch down are more likely to reduce their future overspending, while consumers who switch up are less likely to churn.     

Window displays and consumer shopping decisions

Window displays are an ubiquitous and prominent but under-researched element of retail strategy. This paper explores how the store and product category information communicated by a store's windows are related to consumers’ shopping decisions, such as store entry and product purchase, and how these relationships vary for consumer segments that differ in terms of their knowledge of the retailer's product(s). Results of a study conducted in the context of clothing retailers demonstrate that the store entry decision is related both directly as well as indirectly (through acquisition of inferred, store-related information) to the acquisition of observed, store-related information from window displays. However, it is product category-related information (e.g. fashion and product-self fit) rather than store-related information (e.g. merchandise and store image) that is more strongly associated with the product purchase decision. Moreover, consumers with medium levels of clothing knowledge are more influenced by windows in their shopping decisions than those with low or high levels.     

Celebrity Scandal Fallout: How Attribution Style Can Protect the Sponsor

An attribution is an inference about why an event occurred or about a person's disposition or other psychological state. This study is designed to examine the effects of consumers’ attribution styles (i.e., dispositional and situational) and moderating role of celebrity identification and brand commitment in the evaluation of negative information about a celebrity endorser. The study finds that people who make dispositional attributions judge the endorsed brand more negatively than do those who make situational attributions. The findings also suggest that consumers with a higher level of identification with the celebrity are less likely to react negatively to the bad publicity. Finally, the study found that, when faced with a celebrity scandal, people with high brand commitment showed more favorable attitudes toward the brand as well as higher purchase intention than those with low brand commitment.