When Does Being Good Imply Doing Good?: Exploring Context Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility

This research explores the double-edged nature of CSR (corporate social responsibility) reputation. Using the inclusion/exclusion model of context effects, we suggest that when CSR reputation is used to interpret company action, assimilation effect results and an ambiguous action to deal with crisis will be judged positively for a company with a positive CSR reputation. However, when CSR reputation is used to form the standard the focal company is held up to, contrast effect results and an ambiguous action will be judged negatively for a company with a positive CSR reputation. The presence or absence of information on competitor actions influences which context effect, assimilation or contrast, will occur. Two experiments provide support for our hypotheses.

Citation:

Shuili Du and Sucharita Chandran (2011) ,"When Does Being Good Imply Doing Good?: Exploring Context Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility", in AP - Asia-Pacific Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Zhihong Yi, Jing Jian Xiao, and June Cotte and Linda Price, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 280-281.