Consumer Response to Corporate Social Initiatives: a Look At the Effects of Fit and Motivation

ABSTRACT - The use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to influence customers and differentiate products has become quite common. This research builds on the growing body of literature on CSR and investigates the role that fit and perceived motivation play in determining consumer response to social initiatives. We find that initiatives, which are perceived as low fit consistently decrease consumer responses, while self interested corporate motivation also leads to lower consumer response.

Citation:

Karen L. Becker-Olsen and B. Andrew Cudmore (2003) ,"Consumer Response to Corporate Social Initiatives: a Look At the Effects of Fit and Motivation", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 6, eds. Darach Turley and Stephen Brown, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 350.

European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 6, 2003      Page 350

CONSUMER RESPONSE TO CORPORATE SOCIAL INITIATIVES: A LOOK AT THE EFFECTS OF FIT AND MOTIVATION

Karen L. Becker-Olsen, New York University, USA

B. Andrew Cudmore, Florida Institute of Technology, USA

ABSTRACT -

The use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to influence customers and differentiate products has become quite common. This research builds on the growing body of literature on CSR and investigates the role that fit and perceived motivation play in determining consumer response to social initiatives. We find that initiatives, which are perceived as low fit consistently decrease consumer responses, while self interested corporate motivation also leads to lower consumer response.

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