Sustaining Business Beyond Corporate Hypocrisy: Social Distance and Corporate Social Initiatives

Abstract

The involvement of firms in charitable initiatives has been put into practice utilizing direct corporate donations, corporate volunteering, and cause-related marketing. Despite the popularity of such marketing tools, consumers have become skeptical of such practices. The corporate sector and charity organizations struggle to channel more resources toward charity causes. In light of this, the study investigates how value-driven individual differences – self-construal – moderate the relationship between social distance and donation behavior. The results of two experiments reveal that, when individuals evaluate donation options jointly, social distance evokes a mental process through which individuals tend to go for time donations, if the event is organized by someone similar, whereas individuals tend to choose the money donation option if the event is organized by someone dissimilar. The interaction effect is well pronounced, concerning money donations compared to time donations. Moreover, the lower social distance attenuates skepticism towards Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.