Global Journal of Business Management

Global Journal of Business Management ISSN 6731-4538 Vol. 12 (4), pp. 001-008, April, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

The effect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives on consumers’ identification with companies

Yuan-Shuh Lii

Department of Marketing, College of Business, Feng Chia University, 100 Wenhwa Road, Seatwen, Taichung, R.O.C. 407, Taiwan. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: 886 4 24517250 ext. 4273. Fax: 886 4 24510409.

Accepted 23 July, 2017

Abstract

This study focuses on the relative influences of three types of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, sponsorship, cause-related marketing, and philanthropy, on consumers’ identification with consumer-company (C-C identification). Two hundred and forty-six subjects participated in a between-subjects factorial design experiment. The test results revealed that philanthropy had a stronger effect on C-C identification than did sponsorship or cause-related marketing. In addition, C-C identification was found to have a significant and positive influence on consumers’ use of citizenship behaviors (in-role and extra-role). This finding provides further support for the argument that corporations must be concerned with the employment of CSR initiatives because different types of CSR initiatives trigger different perceptions of the corporation and different behavioral intentions.

Key words: Consumer-company identification, corporate social responsibility, in-role behavior, extra-role behavior.