The attribution effects of CSR motivations on brand advocacy: psychological distance matters

• Published in: The Service industries journal Vol. 42; no. 7-8; pp. 583 - 605
• Main Authors: Aljarah, Ahmad, Dalal, Bassam, Ibrahim, Blend, Lahuerta-Otero, Eva
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Routledge 11.06.2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Advocacy; brand advocacy; Corporate social responsibility; Goodwill; hospitality; psychological distance; Social responsibility; 企业社会责任; 品牌拥护; 心理距离; 热情好客; United States > US
• ISSN: 0264-2069; 1743-9507
• DOI: 10.1080/02642069.2022.2041603

Companies are becoming increasingly involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR) to enhance their self- rather than public interests, and this has made CSR ambiguous when considering organizational goodwill. This study therefore investigated the relative effects of CSR motivations on brand advocacy while considering psychological distance as a moderating variable. Two between-subject experiments were conducted using coffee shop customers in the United States as participants. The findings revealed that customers demonstrate more brand advocacy toward a company when they believe the company has conducted a CSR activity with a public-serving motivation than when they believe the company has conducted a CSR activity with a firm-serving motivation. Furthermore, customers demonstrate greater brand advocacy with respect to public-serving motivations when a firm's spatial or temporal CSR initiative distances are low (when there are local or present benefits, respectively). However, customers demonstrate greater brand advocacy with respect to firm-serving motivations when a company conducts a CSR initiative with a low social distance (when there are in-group benefits).