CSR in times of crisis: why CSR activities can be both a blessing and burden during an organizational crisis

IF 3.1 Q1 COMMUNICATION
Thomas Koch, Benno Viererbl, Johannes Beckert, Juliane Keilmann
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose

When a crisis occurs, do corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities protect organizational reputation by buffering negative effects or do CSR activities intensify negative effects, potentially leading to a worse reputation compared to if the organization had no prior CSR engagement? The authors hypothesize that if a crisis emerges in a domain aligned with an organization’s CSR initiatives (crisis-congruent CSR) backfire effects would arise, adversely affecting the organization’s reputation. Conversely, in cases of incongruence, where the crisis emerges in a domain not aligned with an organization’s previous CSR involvement, a buffering effect would manifest, protecting the organization’s reputation.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted an experiment with a 3 (crisis-congruent, crisis-incongruent, and no CSR activities) × 2 (repeated measures) mixed factorial design. In the first scenario, no information was provided concerning a company’s social commitment. Alternatively, participants were exposed to an article illustrating the company’s dedication either to healthcare (crisis-incongruent commitment) or to combating sexism (crisis-congruent commitment). Afterward, participants were presented with a newspaper article addressing allegations of sexism against the company’s CEO.

Findings

The findings demonstrate that prior CSR activities have the potential both to serve as a buffer and to cause backfire effects in times of crisis. Domain congruence is the decisive moderator of these effects: Crisis-incongruent CSR activities acted as a buffer, crisis-congruent CSR activities “backfired” and led to more negative perceptions of the company’s reputation.

Originality/value

The study directly contributes to the understanding of CSR effects in crisis communication, while also addressing the often paradoxical and contradictory findings of prior studies.

危机时期的企业社会责任:为什么企业社会责任活动在组织危机期间既是福音也是负担?
目的当危机发生时,是企业社会责任(CSR)活动通过缓冲负面影响来保护组织声誉,还是企业社会责任活动加剧了负面影响,从而可能导致组织声誉比之前没有参与企业社会责任活动时更差?作者假设,如果危机出现在与组织的企业社会责任倡议相一致的领域(危机一致的企业社会责任),就会产生逆火效应,对组织的声誉产生不利影响。相反,在不一致的情况下,即危机发生的领域与组织之前参与的企业社会责任活动不一致时,缓冲效应就会显现,从而保护组织的声誉。作者采用 3(危机一致、危机不一致和无企业社会责任活动)×2(重复测量)混合因子设计进行了一项实验。在第一种情况下,不提供任何有关公司社会承诺的信息。或者,让参与者阅读一篇文章,说明该公司在医疗保健(危机一致性承诺)或打击性别歧视(危机一致性承诺)方面的贡献。随后,参与者会看到一篇针对公司首席执行官性别歧视指控的报刊文章。研究结果研究结果表明,先前的企业社会责任活动既有可能起到缓冲作用,也有可能在危机时期产生反作用。领域一致性是这些效应的决定性调节因素:与危机相一致的企业社会责任活动起到了缓冲作用,而与危机相一致的企业社会责任活动则 "适得其反",导致人们对公司声誉的负面看法增多。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
5.40
自引率
6.50%
发文量
29
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