How scarcity influences home country consumers' attitudes toward the firm engaging in cross-border philanthropy? The role of perceived distributive justice
International Marketing Review
ISSN: 0265-1335
Article publication date: 24 March 2022
Issue publication date: 4 August 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to explore how experienced scarcity affects home country consumers' attitudes toward the firm engaging in cross-border philanthropy by analyzing perceived distributive justice as a mediating variable. This research also investigates the moderating factor of this effect to identify practical strategies for managers.
Design/methodology/approach
This research conducted one survey (Study 1) and three experiments (Studies 2–4) by manipulating scarcity to provide robust evidence for the influence of experienced scarcity on consumer perception of the company conducting cross-border philanthropy.
Findings
This paper provides empirical insights about the significant negative effect of experienced scarcity on consumer attitudes toward the firm engaging in cross-border philanthropy. It proposes that home country consumers with high versus low experienced scarcity show lower perceived distributive justice for cross-border philanthropy, which generates less favorable attitudes toward the firm. To alleviate the negative impact of experienced scarcity on consumers' perceptions of corporate reputation, providing donation amount comparisons between home and foreign countries has a significant moderating effect.
Practical implications
This paper provides several suggestions for marketers seeking cross-border philanthropy to improve consumers' attitudes toward the firm.
Originality/value
This paper enriches the literature on corporate social responsibility in the domain of cross-border philanthropy and explains contradictory findings on consumers' attitudes toward corporate cross-border philanthropy. Moreover, this study makes meaningful contributions to the scarcity and justice literature.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Conflict of Interest Statement: The manuscript has not been published before and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. All authors have contributed to the creation of this manuscript. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Funding: This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 71772003, 71832015 and 71672054).
Citation
Tong, Z., Ma, F., Xiao, H., Haan, P. and Feng, W. (2022), "How scarcity influences home country consumers' attitudes toward the firm engaging in cross-border philanthropy? The role of perceived distributive justice", International Marketing Review, Vol. 39 No. 4, pp. 852-888. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMR-02-2021-0081
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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