Examining the Impact of Issue Salience, Issue Proximity, Situational Motivation, and Communicative Behaviors on Environmental CSR Outcomes

Nandini Bhalla

doi:10.3390/su14052763

Abstract

Climate change has become a life-threatening problem. Guided by the Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS), the main goal of this experimental study is to understand the relationship between issue salience, issue proximity, communicative behavior for environmental issues, situation motivation for climate change, and environmental CSR (ECSR) supportive outcomes. This study used a U.S. sample (N = 440) recruited from a Qualtrics online panel and conducted a 2 (issue salience: salient vs. non-salient) × 2 (issue proximity: local vs. global) experimental design to examine the role of issue salience and issue proximity on individuals’ environmentally friendly CSR outcomes. The structural equation model indicated that issue proximity has no significant impact, but issue salience impacted communicative behavior for environmental issues, which then predicted ECSR-supportive behavioral intentions. Importantly, most STOPS research has employed situational motivation as a mediator, but this study took a novel approach by assessing the impact of situational motivation as an independent variable on CAPS as well as environmental CSR outcomes. The results suggest that individuals with a higher motivation to solve the problem of climate change are not only likely to communicate about environmental issues (e.g., air pollution) with others but are also likely to support ECSR programs through positive word-of-mouth and higher purchase intentions. This study provides some noteworthy theoretical and practical contributions in the realm of ECSR communication by elucidating the impact of issue types and individuals’ communicative behaviors in supporting a company’s ECSR programs.

Highlights

By 2030, over 100 million people may fall back into extreme poverty due to climate change [1]
Rooted in Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS), this study examines the impact of salient vs. non-salient environmental issues locally vs. globally on individuals’ communicative action, which can further influence their environmental Corporate social responsibility (CSR) (ECSR)-related behavioral intentions
This study made some novel contributions in the realm of CSR and STOPS research, as the results indicated that a salient issue influenced the communicative behavior for environmental issues, which predicted ECSR-supportive behavioral intentions

Summary

Introduction

By 2030, over 100 million people may fall back into extreme poverty due to climate change [1]. Thousands of studies conducted by global climate scientists have documented rising temperatures at the earth’s surface, oceans, and atmosphere [2], which could lead to serious natural calamities and could result in the displacement of millions of people [3]. Climate change is increasingly becoming a life-threatening problem. Multinational corporations (MNCs) are coming forward to support the cause of climate change through their environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) initiatives. Friendly CSR programs by MNCs can develop favorable consumer attitudes and purchase intent [4]. There is a dearth of literature that has examined the impact of environmental issue type and proximity on consumers’ environmental CSR (ECSR)

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion