Effects of message appeal and service type in CSR communication strategies

Abstract

Studies highlight the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for companies' stakeholders. Consumers, however, are often unaware of such initiatives. Understanding how to effectively communicate socially responsible initiatives is an important challenge for both researchers and managers, who invest considerable resources in CSR initiatives. This study examines consumers' responses to two types of CSR initiatives (environment-related and employee-based) using two types of message appeals (emotional and rational) across two service types (hedonic and utilitarian). Consumers' responses provide data on their awareness of CSR initiatives, attitude toward the company, perceived firm uniqueness, emotional response, and attributions of company motives to engage in CSR activities. Rational appeals more effectively communicate environment-related CSR initiatives, whereas emotional appeals more effectively communicate employee-based CSR initiatives. Effects on consumers' attributions of company motives to engage in CSR are significant in both service types. Finally, rational message appeals affect consumers' CSR awareness and emotional responses, but only in utilitarian service.

Effects of argument quality, source credibility and self‐reported diabetes knowledge on message attitudes: an experiment using diabetes related messages

“…To ensure that the manipulation of message appeal (high and low argument quality) was conducted appropriately, the study followed a procedure adopted from previous research . The total score for the three argument quality items in the formal experiment was 14.739 for the high argument quality version and 7.622 for the low argument quality version.…”

“…[17][18][19] Regarding general Internet use, the ELM has been applied for exploring the effects of Web personalisation design, corporate social responsibility messaging design and crowdfunding information. [20][21][22] For behaviour specifically involving searching for health information, the ELM has been applied to examine the effect of messages regarding electronic health records (EHRs) on attitudes towards EHR adoption, 23 to investigate the effect of counter-advertising on front-of-package promotions for unhealthy foods, 24 and to assess the effect of health websites' design quality on perception of their credibility. 13 In addition, related ELM studies found that the message recipients' knowledge level has a moderating effect on message attitude.…”

Entrepreneurial Marketing and Airline-Cause Sponsorship Congruence: Passenger Sponsorship Response to US-Based Full-Service Airlines

“…Whilst CSR and sustainability has been an important issue for companies, Plewa and Quester [35] presented a range of sponsor-related factors (i.e., congruence, prominence, articulation, and leveraging), influencing consumer perception of CSR in a conceptual framework by investigating the link between sponsorship and CSR. In particular, whilst attribution has received continued attention [6,8,48], recent research on consumers' attribution highlighted the importance of companies' sincerity in terms of the associated relationship between the business itself and the cause. In other words, people tend to be more attracted to altruistic and/or strategic rather than egoistic-and strategic-driven CSR initiatives [7].…”

Efeitos De Apelos De Responsabilidade Socioambiental E De Interesse Do Consumidor: Uma Análise No Setor Bancário

“…Em uma perspectiva comparativa, tivemos ainda a pesquisa de Andreu, Casado-Díaz e Mattila (2015), que operacionalizou as reações dos consumidores de bancos como dependentes de três fatores: tipo de estímulo de RSA, apelo contido na mensagem e tipo de serviço. Nesse caso, os autores utilizaram estímulos relacionados ao meio ambiente e aos funcionários, com apelos de natureza racional e emocional, sobre serviços utilitarista (banco) e hedônico (restaurante).…”

“…Esse conjunto de hipóteses, contudo, não se alinha aos resultados da pesquisade Mattila, Hanks e Kim (2010), na qual as mensagens relacionadas ao banco apresentaram melhores níveis de atitude quando comparadas com as relacionadas à empresa de telefonia. Há convergência com o estudo experimental de Andreu, Casado-Díaz eMattila (2015), no qual os resultados mostraram que a conscientização dos consumidores acerca de ações de RSA depende do tipo de serviço, do apelo da mensagem, e da iniciativa de RSA.Esse resultado da hipótese H5, e sua variação em relação a estudos realizados em outros países, parece confirmar a suposição de que, no Brasil, as instituições bancárias são vistas pelos consumidores com suspeita e ceticismo, o que pode afetar a avaliação dos consumidores quando comparados com outros tipos de empresa. Ao mesmo tempo, conforme ressaltam Pérez e Rodríguez del Bosque (2014), clientes de instituições bancárias focam mais nos seus interesses, o que os tornam indiferentes a outros tipos de iniciativas de RSA.Os resultados refletem, na verdade, que a desconfiança dos consumidores é um problema a ser solucionado pelos gestores do setor bancário, mas que seu efeito pode se dissipar mediante um gerenciamento mais ativo de sua imagem frente à sociedade.…”