TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to understanding the effects of framing apology statements with corporate social responsibility (CSR) communications after a company has suffered negative publicity. Specifically, this study examined the role of CSR fit on consumers’ skepticism toward the apology statement and attitude toward the company compared to a no-CSR message condition. In addition, the study also analyzed the interaction effects between CSR fit and history on skepticism toward the apology statement and attitude toward the company.Design/methodology/approach A 2 (CSR fit: high or low) × 2 (CSR history: long or short) between-subject design was employed to examine the hypotheses. In addition, a no-CSR message group without any mention of CSR activities was included. To test the hypothesized constructs of main interest (i.e. CSR fit and CSR history) and incremental validity in the same set of model equations, this study used a hierarchical regression approach.Findings The high CSR fit condition led to less skepticism toward the apology statement and a more positive attitude toward the company than the no-CSR message condition did. The low CSR fit condition, in contrast, led to more skepticism toward the apology statement and a less positive attitude toward the company than the no-CSR message condition did. In addition, the results showed that the interaction effects between CSR fit and history will predict skepticism toward the apology statement and attitude toward the company.Originality/value There is little research on the effectiveness of high (congruent) and low (incongruent) CSR fit compared to a no-CSR message condition. To address this gap, this paper compared the effectiveness of the two conditions to a no-CSR condition.
VL  - 23
IS  - 3
SN  - 1356-3289
DO  - 10.1108/CCIJ-06-2017-0055
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-06-2017-0055
AU  - Chung Angie
PY  - 2018
Y1  - 2018/01/01
TI  - Examining the effectiveness of using CSR communication in apology statements after bad publicity
T2  - Corporate Communications: An International Journal
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 357
EP  - 376
Y2  - 2024/09/22
ER  -