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The impact of diverse corporate social responsibility practices on consumer product evaluations

Xiaoye Chen (School of Business and Entrepreneurship, North Central College, Naperville, Illinois, USA)
Rong Huang (Economics and Business Department, Saint Anselm College, Manchester, New Hampshire, USA)

Journal of Product & Brand Management

ISSN: 1061-0421

Article publication date: 8 November 2018

Issue publication date: 4 December 2018

1862

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts that are oriented toward shared value creation generate any perceptual advantages in terms of consumer product attributes evaluations compared with other types of CSR. The study also uncovers consumers’ pathways that channel the impacts of corporate associations on corporate and product evaluations and purchase intention.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a between-subjects experimental design. In all, 274 undergraduate students from a North American university participated in the 2 (low versus high corporate ability levels) × 4 (CSR types) study. The data were analyzed using the methodologies of path analysis and multiple group analysis in the context of structural equation modeling procedure.

Findings

The findings show that in the context of shared-value CSR, CSR image (i.e. consumer judgments on the moral aspect of the company) can spill over to product attributes evaluations, including perceptions of “product innovativeness” and “product social responsibility,” which, in turn, translate to purchase willingness. Meanwhile, perceived corporate trustworthiness mediates the effects of CSR image and corporate ability (CA) image on the overall corporate evaluation, which subsequently influences consumer product evaluation and purchase intention.

Research limitations/implications

The research provides direct evidence showing that companies have the potential to improve their corporate brand and, in turn, their product evaluations by putting a stronger emphasis on the social responsibility components of their image and placing this at the core of their strategic agenda. Importantly, a contribution to the literature by identifying differential effects of CA image versus CSR image on consumer perception of product innovativeness within different CSR categories is made. The limitations of the research are discussed, which include the usage of a fictitious company and brand and a convenience sample.

Practical implications

The study offers guidance to managers in regard to their choice of different CSR practices to fulfill their company’s product-related strategic goals.

Originality/value

The present study takes a critical stance to show that previous experimental work investigating the impact of CSR image on product evaluations relied predominantly on bipolar manipulations of CSR practices (bad versus good) rather than bringing many shades of CSR into consideration. By incorporating a wide array of CSR formats, especially value-creating CSR, current research generates potential implications based on differential effects of various CSR focuses, which have not been captured by previous studies.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, project number: NSFC 71472115 & NSFC 71572103.

Citation

Chen, X. and Huang, R. (2018), "The impact of diverse corporate social responsibility practices on consumer product evaluations", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 27 No. 6, pp. 701-715. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-01-2017-1390

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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