Engaging consumers with corporate social responsibility campaigns: The roles of interactivity, psychological empowerment, and identification

Abstract

This study explores the mechanisms through which corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns that solicit consumer participation benefit companies more than do non-participatory campaigns. In Study 1, we demonstrated that consumers who were asked to actively participate in CSR campaigns were more likely to consider the company’s motives public-serving rather than self-serving, evaluated the company more favorably, and had higher purchase intentions regarding the company’s products, mediated by perceived consumer–company interactivity. In Study 2, we showed that psychological empowerment and consumer–company identification can explain the positive effects of perceived interactivity. Unlike non-participatory campaigns, participatory campaigns empower consumers and strengthen consumer–company identification through perceived consumer–company interactivity, which, in turn, positively affects perceived CSR motives, attitudes toward the company, and purchase intentions. Our studies highlight the value of consumer engagement with participatory CSR campaigns and explain why it works. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.