Should Brands Talk about Environmental Sustainability Aspects That “Really Hurt”? Exploring the Consequences of Disclosing Highly Relevant Negative CSR Information

When communicating their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities many companies predominantly release positive information. However, relying solely on positive information holds potential risks. Brands are consequently confronted with the dilemma of whether to exclusively disclose positive...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSustainability Vol. 15; no. 22; p. 15909
Main Authors Müller, Jonas, Schade, Michael, Burmann, Christoph
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2023
Subjects
Attribution theory
Automobile industry
Automobiles
Communication
Consumers
Corporate social responsibility
Credibility
Disclosure
Investigations
Marketing research
Mediation
Social responsibility
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Germany
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Summary:When communicating their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities many companies predominantly release positive information. However, relying solely on positive information holds potential risks. Brands are consequently confronted with the dilemma of whether to exclusively disclose positive details about their environmental CSR activities (i.e., one-sided messages) or opt for voluntary disclosure of positive and negative information (i.e., two-sided messages). Existing literature distinguishes moderately and highly relevant types of negative information. However, prior research has predominantly overlooked the investigation of highly relevant negative CSR information. Therefore, our primary objective is to explore the impact of two-sided messages encompassing highly relevant negative CSR information in comparison to one-sided messages. We conducted four online experiments in two countries with different brands (study 1 (Germany, Mercedes-Benz, n = 457); study 2 (Germany, Porsche, n = 431); study 3 (USA, Mercedes-Benz, n = 468) and study 4 (USA, Tesla, n = 465)). The results reveal that two-sided messages with the disclosure of highly relevant negative CSR information lead to negative effects in comparison to one-sided messages with only positive information. Consequently, brands should exercise caution in communicating highly relevant negative CSR aspects. Our findings offer notable theoretical insights and practical implications.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su152215909