The Company and the Product: Corporate Associations and Consumer Product Responses

Abstract

Although brand theorists suggest that what a person knows about a company (i.e., corporate associations) can influence perceptions of the company's products, little systematic research on these effects exists. The authors examine the effects of two general types of corporate associations on product responses: One focuses on the company's capabilities for producing products, that is, corporate ability (CA) associations, and the other focuses on the company's perceived social responsibility, that is, corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations. The results of three studies, including one that measures respondents’ CA and CSR associations for well-known companies and one that uses consumers recruited in a shopping mall, demonstrate that (1) what consumers know about a company can influence their beliefs about and attitudes toward new products manufactured by that company, (2) CA and CSR associations may have different effects on consumer responses to products, and (3) products of companies with negative associations are not always destined to receive negative responses. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for marketing managers and further research.

Chinese Consumers’ Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

“…In order to correct the social desirability response bias, several experimental studies have been conducted. These include Creyer and Ross (1997), Brown and Dacin (1997) and Murray and Vogel (1997). Mohr et al (2001) tend to conclude that experiments tend to show that evaluation of products and companies as well as purchase intentions depend on the amount and nature of CSR information provided.…”

“…Since the late 1990s and particularly in this decade, research that focuses on an important stakeholder and driver of CSR -the consumer -has been increasing (Brown and Dacin, 1997;Marin and Ruiz, 2007;Mohr and Webb, 2005;Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001). Although these and other studies highlight the role of CSR in the consumer's evaluation of a company and their decisions to purchase its products, there is a tendency for the focus to be on American and European consumers.…”

Personal Values as A Catalyst for Corporate Social Entrepreneurship

“…In this regard, corporate social responsibility (CSR) may not be conceptualized as an efficient way to run a business, or, it may be handled via a public relations approach. Here, the focus of CSR is to manage stakeholder perceptions and the aim is for the corporation to be seen to be taking its social responsibilities seriously (Brown and Dacin, 1997;McWilliams and Siegel, 2001), regardless of whether this is actually occurring in practice. This latter view takes an instrumental, 'means to an end' approach to CSR, where the emphasis is on corporate image management with stakeholders, purely for competitive advantage (Donaldson and Preston, 1995;Freeman, 1984;Jones, 1995).…”

An Ethical Framework for the Marketing of Corporate Social Responsibility

“…As a result, the behavior of a corporation is judged in virtue ethical terms such as 'crooked,' 'corrupt,' or 'trustworthy,' and 'responsible.' Furthermore, there is some research evidence which suggests consumers will punish firms that are perceived as insincere in their social involvement (Becker-Olsen et al, 2006;Brown and Dacin, 1997;Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001). Therefore, it is generally advisable for a firm to pay attention to the trustworthiness and credibility of their communication about their CSR initiatives.…”