Original Article

The antecedents and consequences of CSR skepticism: An integrated framwork.

Bassam Dalal
Faculty of business and economic, Department of Business Managment, Girne American University, Kyrenia, North Cyprus, Via Mersin 10, Turkey.
  • Explore the Article >>
  • PDF

Main Article Content

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) skepticism is examined in marketing literature, but the understanding of its role in the domain of CSR is lacking. Previous studies revealed that consumers compensate for the companies that engage in CSR activities, but the level of CSR skepticism inhibits the success of CSR programs. This paper describes the antecedents and consequences of CSR skepticism. The antecedents conclude the motives that affect the level of consumer skepticism about CSR programs, while the consequences examined the relationships between CSR skepticism and some outcome variables through two broad dimensions; the companies and consumer behaviors. The results have demonstrated the expected direction force of the motives on CSR skepticism, and the expected consequences of CSR skepticism on both the companies and the consumer behaviors. The findings have indicated that it is not sufficient for a company to solely engage in CSR, but they must also take into account the level or extent of CSR skepticism. This paper contributes to the literature by examining the antecedents and consequences of CSR skepticism, by integrating a framework of research on an important topic, and by offering broad paths for further research.


 


Keywords:
Corporate social responsibility skepticism, antecedents of CSR skepticism, consequences of CSR skepticism
About this Article
Dalal, B. (2020). The antecedents and consequences of CSR skepticism: An integrated framwork. Journal of Sustainable Marketing, 1(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.51300/josm-2020-18

Article Details

Author Biography

Bassam Dalal, Faculty of business and economic, Department of Business Managment, Girne American University, Kyrenia, North Cyprus, Via Mersin 10, Turkey.

 

 

References

Aguinis, H., & Glavas, A. (2012). What We Know and Don’t Know About Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review and Research Agenda. Journal of Management, 38(4), 932–968.

Akbari, M., Salehi, K., & Samadi, M. (2015). Brand Heritage and Word of Mouth: The Mediating Role of Brand Personality, Product Involvement and Customer Satisfaction. Journal of Marketing Management, 3(1), 83–90.

Alhouti, S., Johnson, C. M., & Holloway, B. B. (2016). Corporate social responsibility authenticity: Investigating its antecedents and outcomes. Journal of Business Research, 69(3), 1242–1249.

Aljarah, A. (2020). The nexus between corporate social responsibility and target-based customer citizenship behavior. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28(12), 2044 - 2063.

Amawate, V., & Deb, M. (2019). Antecedents and consequences of consumer skepticism toward cause-related marketing: Gender as moderator and attitude as mediator. Journal of Marketing Communications, 00(00), 1–22.

Berle, A. A. (1931). Corporate Powers as Powers in Trust. Harvard Law Review, 44(7), 1049-1074.

Bove, L. L., Pervan, S. J., Beatty, S. E., & Shiu, E. (2009). Service worker role in encouraging customer organizational citizenship behaviors. Journal of Business Research, 62(7), 698–705.

Bowen, H. (1953). Social Responsibility of the Businessman. New York: Harper and Row.

Brown, T., & Dacin, P. (1997). The Company and the Product: Corporate Associations and Consumer Product Responses. Journal of Marketing, 61(1), 68 - 84.

Carroll, A. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Horizons, 34(4), 39–48.

Connors, S., Anderson-MacDonald, S., & Thomson, M. (2017). Overcoming the ‘Window Dressing’ Effect: Mitigating the Negative Effects of Inherent Skepticism Towards Corporate Social Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 145(3), 599–621.

Ellen, PAM Scholder, Mohr, L. A., & Webb, D. J. (2000). Charitable Programs and the Retailer: Do they mix ? Journal of Retailing, 76(3), 393–406.

Ellen, Pam Scholder, Webb, D. J., & Mohr, L. A. (2006). Building Corporate Associations: Consumer Attributions for Corporate Socially Responsible Programs. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34(2), 147–157.

Elving, W. J. L. (2010). CSR and Skepticism: The Influence of Fit and Reputation on Skepticism Towards CSR Communications. In Conference on corporate communication 2010 (44–61). Wroxton, England: Corporate Communication International at Baruch College.

Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Sandford CA Sandford University.

Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, Attitude, Intention and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research (Addison-Wesley series in social psychology). Addison-Wesley.

Forehand, M. R., & Grier, S. (2003). When Is Honesty the Best Policy? The Effect of Stated Company Intent on Consumer Skepticism. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13(3), 349–356.

Gilde, C., Pace, S., Pervan, S. J., & Strong, C. (2011). Examining the boundary conditions of customer citizenship behaviour: A focus on consumption ritual. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 19(7), 619–631.

Graafland, J., & Schouten, C. M. D. D. (2012). Motives for Corporate Social Responsibility. De Economist, 160(4), 377–396.

Groth, M. (2005). Customers as Good Soldiers: Examining Citizenship Behaviors in Internet Service Deliveries. Journal of Management, 31(1), 7–27.

Ham, C., & Kim, J. (2020). The effects of CSR communication in corporate crises: Examining the role of dispositional and situational CSR skepticism in context. Public Relations Review, 46(2), 101792.

He, H., & Li, Y. (2011). CSR and Service Brand: The Mediating Effect of Brand Identification and Moderating Effect of Service Quality. Journal of Business Ethics, 100(4), 673–688.

Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1–22.

Kelley, H. H. (1967). Attribution Theory in Social Psychology. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 15, 192–238.

Lii, Y.-S., & Lee, M. (2012). Doing Right Leads to Doing Well: When the Type of CSR and Reputation Interact to Affect Consumer Evaluations of the Firm. Journal of Business Ethics, 105(1), 69–81.

Lii, Y.-S., Wu, K.-W., & Ding, M.-C. (2013). Doing Good Does Good? Sustainable Marketing of CSR and Consumer Evaluations. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 20(1), 15–28.

Malik, M. E., Naeem, B., & Munawar, M. (2012). Brand Image: Past, Present and Future. Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research, 2(12), 13069–13075.

Mandl, L., & Hogreve, J. (2018). Buffering effects of brand community identification in service failures: The role of customer citizenship behaviors. Journal of Business Research. 107, 130 – 137.

Nan, X., & Heo, K. (2007). Consumer Responses to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiatives: Examining the Role of Brand-Cause Fit in Cause-Related Marketing. Journal of Advertising, 36(2), 63–74.

Oliver, R. L. (1980). A Cognitive Model of the Antecedents and Consequences of Satisfaction Decisions. Journal of Marketing Research, 17(4), 460–469.

Park, J., Lee, H., & Kim, C. (2014). Corporate social responsibilities, consumer trust and corporate reputation: South Korean consumers’ perspectives. Journal of Business Research, 67(3), 295–302.

Rim, H., & Kim, S. (2016). Dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) skepticism and their impacts on public evaluations toward CSR. Journal of Public Relations Research, 28(5–6), 248–267.

Rivera, J. J., Bigne, E., & Curras-Perez, R. (2016). Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility perception on consumer satisfaction with the brand. Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC, 20(2), 104–114.

Sen, S. and Bhattacharya, C. (2001). Does doing good always lead to doing better? Cunsumer reactions to CSR. Journal of Marketing Research, 38(2), 225–243.

Skarmeas, D., & Leonidou, C. N. (2013). When consumers doubt, Watch out! The role of CSR skepticism. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), 1831–1838.

Skarmeas, D., Leonidou, C. N., & Saridakis, C. (2014). Examining the role of CSR skepticism using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. Journal of Business Research, 67(9), 1796–1805.

Varadarajan, P. R., & Menon, A. (1988). Cause-Related Marketing: A Coalignment of Marketing Strategy and Corporate Philanthropy. Journal of Marketing, 52(3), 58–74.

Vlachos, P. A., Tsamakos, A., Vrechopoulos, A. P., & Avramidis, P. K. (2009). Corporate social responsibility: attributions, loyalty, and the mediating role of trust. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 37(2), 170–180.

Wagner, T., Lutz, R. J., & Weitz, B. A. (2009). Corporate Hypocrisy: Overcoming the Threat of Inconsistent Corporate Social Responsibility Perceptions. Journal of Marketing, 73(6), 77–91.

Webb, D. J., & Mohr, L. a. (1998). Typology Marketing: From Skeptics Responses to Cause-Related Concerned. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 17(2), 226–238.

Weiss, A. M., Anderson, E., & MacInnis, D. J. (1999). Reputation management as a motivation for sales structure decisions. Journal of Marketing, 63(4), 74–89.

Wu, S.-I., & Wang, W.-H. (2014). Impact of CSR Perception on Brand Image, Brand Attitude and Buying Willingness: A Study of a Global Café. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 6(6), 43–56.