Consumer evaluations of CSR authenticity: Development and validation of a multidimensional CSR authenticity scale
Introduction
Organizations commonly expect to reap the benefits from their corporate social responsibility (CSR) endeavors. However, insincere initiatives may leave a negative or conflicting impression on stakeholders if consumers feel the organization is not really committed to the cause (Wagner, Lutz, & Weitz, 2009). Indeed, although increased attention has been given to CSR as the main vehicle by which organizations address stakeholders' social concerns, some research has shown negative consequences of CSR such as mistrust and skepticism surrounding the attempts of doing good (Wagner et al., 2009). Thus, although CSR endeavors are supposed to benefit society and support communities, they are increasingly viewed as a tactic for covering up companies' societal harms (Delmas & Burbano, 2011). For example, the National Football League (NFL) has long and explicitly presented itself as a devoted ambassador of promoting the breast cancer awareness campaign. Although this public gesture seems to be driven by philanthropy, further investigation reveals that only 8% of the revenue generated by the pink campaign goes to the American Cancer Society; the remaining 92% percent goes to the NFL (Gaines, 2013). Consequently, critics have suggested the NFL's tactics are over the top ‘pink washing’ at best and a deceitful charitable practice at worst (Sternberg, 2013). As such, it is not enough for an organization to behave in a socially responsible manner. Rather, its CSR endeavors need to be considered genuine if the organization expects to obtain desired outcomes.
Surprisingly, the CSR literature has paid little attention to authenticity and there is a dearth of empirical studies exploring why consumers view an organization's CSR actions as authentic or inauthentic. Indeed, although authenticity has been described as one of the vital concepts of modern marketing in consumer research (Brown, Kozinets, & Sherry Jr, 2003; Gilmore & Pine, 2007), there exists limited research to examine and explore its position in a broader light in marketing and consumer behavior (Alexander, 2009). In particular, there is a need to better understand the dimensions that influence consumer perceptions of authenticity with regard to an organization's CSR endeavors. While Alhouti, Johnson, and Holloway (2016) identify four antecedents that influence consumer perceptions of CSR authenticity, they use a unidimensional approach that may not be consistent with prior literature that argues that authenticity is a multidimensional construct (Morhart, Malär, Guèvremont, Girardin, & Grohmann, 2015; Napoli, Dickinson, Beverland, & Farrelly, 2014; Spiggle, Nguyen, & Caravella, 2012). Further, the Alhouti et al. (2016) scale was not developed using formal scale development techniques and it was tested through snowball sampling using a student sample at a single location which may limit its generalizability.
Consequently, the purpose of the current research is three-fold. First, we build on prior research by seeking to uncover the multiple dimensions of CSR authenticity. Second, we develop and validate a new multidimensional measure of CSR authenticity using both student and national consumer samples. Finally, we test the effects of CSR authenticity on a variety of consumer outcomes and identify the differential effects of distinct CSR authenticity dimensions on these outcomes.
We begin with a review of the existing authenticity literature, identifying six potential dimensions (community link, reliability, commitment, congruence, benevolence, transparency) for inclusion in our scale development. We then conduct focus group interviews to validate these dimensions, adding a seventh factor (broad impact) and one control variable (personal connection) to our measures (study 1). Next, we test (study 2), validate (study 3), and apply (study 4) our multidimensional CSR authenticity scale, ending with a discussion of implications and future research directions.
Section snippets
Conceptual background: CSR, authenticity, and CSR authenticity
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been defined as an organization's endeavors and standing in regard to its societal or stakeholder obligations to increase its positive impact and minimize its negative impact on society (Brown & Dacin, 1997). Due to various market forces such as severe competition, increased media scrutiny, and growing expectations among various stakeholders such as consumers and employees (Cone, 2013), CSR has become a focus of contemporary business practice (Mackey &
The scale development process
In order to develop a multidimensional measure of consumer-based CSR authenticity, we follow traditional scaling procedures as a guide (Brakus, Schmitt, & Zarantonello, 2009; Churchill Jr., 1979). The overall process involves the following steps: (1) an in-depth literature review to discover the dimensions that can be used to measure consumer perceptions of CSR authenticity; (2) focus group interviews for an initial validation of these dimensions (n = 23; study 1) in order to (3) generate
Phase 7: Study 4 – Effects of consumer-based CSR authenticity
Having developed and validated a consumer-based CSR authenticity scale, our next step was to show the usefulness of the scale for predicting meaningful consumer outcomes and for increasing our understanding of the drivers of CSR authenticity. Prior research proposes that authenticity cues influence brand beliefs, brand trust, and brand success (e.g., Brown et al., 2003; Napoli et al., 2014; Spiggle et al., 2012) and can positively impact employees (Beckman et al., 2009; McShane & Cunningham,
Discussion
Authenticity is important for the successful implementation of CSR programs (Beckman et al., 2009; Mazutis & Slawinski, 2014). However, authenticity perceptions are frequently influenced by context (Grayson & Martinec, 2004; Newman, 2016) and we lack a complete understanding of authenticity's dimensionality within a CSR context, especially from a consumer perspective. The goal of this research was to identify the dimensions of consumer-based CSR authenticity and then develop a scale which could
Limitations and future research
Our research served to identify dimensions of consumer-based CSR authenticity and then to develop, validate, and test a measure for assessing this construct. However, while we successfully tested and validated the scale, a number of areas remain for future research. First, our conceptualization was largely tested with programs drawn from the NFL. The NFL was selected due to the number and diversity of its CSR programs as well as its consistency in charitable contributions across teams. Thus,
Declarations of interest
None.
Acknowledgements
This research is based on the first author's dissertation under the guidance of the third (chair) and second (member) authors. The authors thank Melissa Bublitz and members of the dissertation committee – Matthew Katz and Lisa Keller – for their helpful comments. This research was partially funded by a Dissertation Research Grant from the University of Massachusetts Amherst to the first author.
Soyoung Joo is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the School of Business, Siena College. She earned her PhD from the Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests revolve around three main themes: corporate social responsibility (CSR), authenticity, and brand attachment, which she generally studies within the context of consumer behavior. More specifically, her research agenda is linked to consumer behavior that is associated with sport-related
References (71)
- et al.
Corporate social responsibility authenticity: Investigating its antecedents and outcomes
Journal of Business Research
(2016) - et al.
Consumer response to retailer use of cause-related marketing: Is more fit better?
Journal of Retailing
(2007) The ‘real thing’: Branding authenticity in the luxury wine trade
Journal of Business Research
(2006)- et al.
The use of expert judges in scale development: Implications for improving face validity of measures of unobservable constructs
Journal of Business Research
(2004) A review of scale development practices in the study of organizations
Journal of Management
(1995)- et al.
Brand authenticity: An integrative framework and measurement scale
Journal of Consumer Psychology
(2015) - et al.
Measuring consumer-based brand authenticity
Journal of Business Research
(2014) - et al.
Customer benefits and company consequences of customer salesperson relationship in retailing
Journal of Retailing
(1999) Rethinking authenticity in tourism experience
Annals of Tourism Research
(1999)Brand authentication: Creating and maintaining brand auras
European Journal of Marketing
(2009)
Corporate social responsibility: A process model of sensemaking
Academy of Management Review
The emergence of corporate social responsibility in Chile: The importance of authenticity and social networks
Journal of Business Ethics
The mountain man myth: A contemporary consuming fantasy
Journal of Consumer Research
Projecting authenticity through advertising
Journal of Advertising
The quest for authenticity in consumption: consumers' purposive choice of authentic cues to shape experienced outcomes
Journal of Consumer Research
Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development
Corporate social responsibility in sport
Journal of Sport Management
Brand experience: What is it? How is it measured? Does it affect loyalty?
Journal of Marketing
Teaching old brands new tricks: Retrobranding and the revival of brand meaning
Journal of Marketing
The company and the product: Corporate associations and consumer product responses
Journal of Marketing
A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs
Journal of Marketing Research
2013 cone communications/echo global CSR study
The drivers of greenwashing
California Management Review
Beyond the stalemate of economics versus ethics: Corporate social responsibility and the discourse of the organizational self
Journal of Business Ethics
Building corporate associations: Consumer attributions for corporate socially responsible programs
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
Philanthropy and professional sports teams
International Journal of Sport Management
An examination of team identification: Which motives are most salient to its existence?
International Sports Journal
Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error
Journal of Marketing Research
Picasso paintings, moon rocks, and hand-written Beatles lyrics: Adults' evaluations of authentic objects
Journal of Cognition and Culture
Only 5% of Americans call the NBA their favorite sport
Leveraging corporate equity
Corporate Reputation Review
Authenticity: What consumers really want
The relationship between corporate philanthropy and shareholder wealth: A risk management perspective
Academy of Management Review
Cause-related marketing (CRM): The influence of donation proximity and message-framing cues on the less-involved consumer
Journal of Advertising
Consumer perceptions of iconicity and indexicality and their influence on assessments of authentic market offerings
Journal of Consumer Research
Cited by (100)
How do crazy rich Asians perceive sustainable luxury? Investigating the determinants of consumers’ willingness to pay a premium price
2023, Journal of Retailing and Consumer ServicesConsumer perceptions of price increase by CSR: Focusing on construal level and consumer attribution
2023, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental EconomicsFraming as a strategy for defending the perceived authenticity of voluntary environmental disclosure in the digital era
2024, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental ManagementAnalysis of online CSR message authenticity on consumer purchase intention in social media on Internet platform via PSO-1DCNN algorithm
2024, Neural Computing and Applications
Soyoung Joo is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the School of Business, Siena College. She earned her PhD from the Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests revolve around three main themes: corporate social responsibility (CSR), authenticity, and brand attachment, which she generally studies within the context of consumer behavior. More specifically, her research agenda is linked to consumer behavior that is associated with sport-related consumer identities, brand attachment formation, and sport-brand cause marketing campaigns. Her work has been published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science, European Sport Management Quarterly, and Sport, Business, and Management: An International Journal. She has also presented her research at major conferences such as the American Marketing Association Summer Marketing Educators' Conference, Academy of Marketing Science, International Vincentian Business Ethics Conference, and Sport Marketing Association Conference. Her research was nominated as a Sport Marketing Association Best Professional Paper Award finalist.
Elizabeth G. Miller is the Doctoral Coordinator and an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst. She earned her PhD from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses broadly on consumer decision-making and more specifically, on how emotion influences the way consumers interpret and respond to information. She has studied these issues in a variety of contexts, including sports, services, and health, publishing in many of the field's top marketing journals, including the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Service Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. Her research has also been cited in public press outlets, such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, and presented at numerous conferences.
Janet S. Fink is a Professor and Chair of the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research interests include the marketing of women's sport and female athletes, sport consumer behavior, and diversity issues in sport. She has published in top sport management journals as well as outlets outside of sport and her research has been cited in popular press outlets such as Elle Magazine, the Washington Post, ESPNW, Huffington Post Live, and the Sports Business Journal. Dr. Fink is the Senior Associate Editor of the Journal of Sport Management. She is a NASSM Research Fellow, recipient of the Dr. Earle F. Zeigler Award, and former President of NASSM.
- 1
Present Address: School of Business, Siena College, Marketing Department, 515 Loudon Rd., Loudonville, NY, USA 12211.