Corporate Social Responsibility Claims Research Articles

Impact of corporate social responsibility claims on consumer food choice

PurposeThe study seeks to assess the impact of two different corporate social responsibility (CSR) claims, relating to social and environmental dimensions, on consumers' wine choice across international markets. It analyses how point of purchase CSR claims compete with other food claims and their awareness, penetration and consumers' trust are examined.Design/methodology/approachA discrete choice experiment with a visual shelf simulation was used to elicit consumer preferences and to estimate marginal willingness to pay for CSR and other food claims across the UK, France, Germany, the US East Coast, the US Midwest, and Anglophone and Francophone Canada.FindingsCSR claims relating to social and environmental responsibility have a similar awareness, penetration and consumer trust, but differ in their impact on consumer choice, where environmental corporate responsibility claims benefit from a higher marginal willingness to pay. Consumer valuation of CSR claims significantly differs across international markets, but is consistently lower than for organic claims.Originality/valueThis is the first cross‐national study that analyses the impact of CSR claims on consumer food choice relative to other food claims using large representative consumer samples. The strength of the paper also pertains to the utilisation of innovative choice experiments covering a large range of choice relevant product attributes.

Corporate social responsibility: The disclosure–performance gap

As increased stakeholder pressure requires companies to be transparent about their CSR practices, it is essential to know how reliable corporate disclosure mechanisms are, testing the gap between corporate social responsibility claims and actual practice. This study benchmarks corporate social responsibility policies and practices of ten international hotel groups of particular importance to the European leisure market. We found that corporate systems are not necessarily reflective of actual operations, environmental performance is eco-savings driven, labour policies aim to comply with local legislation, socio-economic policies are inward looking with little acceptance of impacts on the destination, and customer engagement is limited. Generally larger hotel groups have more comprehensive policies but also greater gaps in implementation, while the smaller hotel groups focus only on environmental management and deliver what they promised. As the first survey of its kind in tourism, both the methodology and the findings have implications for further research.

Does CSR Branding Increase Organisational Identification? An Interdisciplinary Approach

Although the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has received much attention over several decades, a lack of adequate measures of the construct is apparent and its impact on corporate performance remains unclear (Waddock and Graves 1997; Margolis and Walsh 2003; de Bakker, Groenewegen, and den Hond 2005; Orlitzky, Schmidt, and Rynes 2003). While prior empirical research pays attention to the relationship of CSR and firm financial performance (e.g., Hull and Rothenberg 2008; McWilliams and Siegel 2000), this paper takes a different approach by investigating non-financial performance - specifically the degree to which managers identify with their organisations (organisational identification) (Ashforth and Mael 1989). Arguably one reason for the conflicting results obtained in prior empirical research is the lack of clarity surrounding the definition of CSR (Clarkson 1995). This study focuses on a particular aspect of CSR, namely CSR branding, defined as the extent to which organisations authentically embed CSR practices in their operations and incorporate CSR claims as a key component of their corporate brands. Organisational identity is central to the understanding of the CSR branding construct (Albert and Whetten 1985). This paper describes the development of a new CSR branding scale which is subsequently used to investigate the relationship between this aspect of CSR and organisational identification. The conceptualisation of CSR branding put forward in this study is based on an interdisciplinary approach drawing on theories from the fields of management, marketing, and social psychology.

How Sustainability Ratings Might Deter ‘Greenwashing’: A Closer Look at Ethical Corporate Communication

Of the many ethical corporate marketing practices, many firms use corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication to enhance their corporate image. Yet, consumers, overwhelmed by these more or less well-founded CSR claims, often have trouble identifying truly responsible firms. This confusion encourages ‘greenwashing’ and may make CSR initiatives less effective. On the basis of attribution theory, this study investigates the role of independent sustainability ratings on consumers’ responses to companies’ CSR communication. Experimental results indicate the negative effect of a poor sustainability rating for corporate brand evaluations in the case of CSR communication, because consumers infer less intrinsic motives by the brand. Sustainability ratings thus could act to deter ‘greenwashing’ and encourage virtuous firms to persevere in their CSR practices.

“Too Good to be True!”. The Effectiveness of CSR History in Countering Negative Publicity

Corporate crises call for effective communication to shelter or restore a company’s reputation. The use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) claims may provide an effective tool to counter the negative impact of a crisis, but knowledge about its effectiveness is scarce and lacking in studies that consider CSR communication during crises. To help fill this gap, this study investigates whether the length of company’s involvement in CSR matters when it uses CSR claims in its crisis communication as a means to counter negative publicity. The use of CSR claims in crisis communication is more effective for companies with a long CSR history than for those with a short CSR history, and consumer skepticism about claims lies at the heart of this phenomenon.

Questioning csr in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: the case of Aracruz Celulose sa

This article is a preliminary attempt to understand the corporate social responsibility claims and impacts of Aracruz Celulose sa, Brazil's largest pulp and paper manufacturer. Aracruz locates its operations in the vulnerable biodiversity hotspot of the Atlantic Forest, having acquired 800 000 hectares of land in five states of Brazil for the planting of eucalyptus. It owns some of the largest pulp and paper mills in the country. Both its record of land acquisition and its impact on the environment have resulted in considerable social conflict with the indigenous inhabitants, former slave communities and other small farmers in the state of Espírito Santo, and with supportive activist ngos. The company's application of formal corporate social responsibility practices often flies in the face of its social and environmental impacts. This raises questions about the nature of corporate social responsibility and its claims in developing countries like Brazil and elsewhere.