기업의 도덕성 위기 상황에서 공중의 CSR활동에 대한 인식이 기업명성과 브랜드태도에 미치는 영향

The purposes of this study are two folds. First, this study examines whether the public’s awareness of the CSR activity influences corporate reputation and brand attitude when a corporate is involved in the moral crisis situation. Second, this study also examines whether the types of CSR activities (e.g., acts of social donation, voluntary works, and cause-related marketing) have a differential effect on the reputation of a corporate and the attitude toward its brand. As an attempt to investigate the effects of the public’s awareness and the types of CSR activities, a controlled experiment was conducted. College students were shown video clips and newspaper articles about a corporate’s moral crisis and their pre- and post-attitudes towards the corporate were assessed through paper-and-pencil survey. The results of this study found that the public’s awareness about CSR activities helped to prevent the corporate’s reputation and attitudes from being damaged by the moral crisis. That is, those who were aware of the corporate’s CSR activities showed a lesser decrease in their prior attitudes towards the corporate. In addition, it was found that the types of CSR activities also influenced significant effects on the corporate reputation and brand attitude. In particular, those who were shown the CSR activity about voluntary works maintained their initial reputation on the corporate even after the moral crisis. On the other hand, those who were shown the CSR activities about acts of social donation and voluntary works reported little decrease in their prior attitudes towards the brand. The results of this study confirm that everyday CSR activities help to maintain the image and reputation of a corporate even in a moral crisis situation. Among the types of CSR activities, in particular, voluntary works can be an effective way to protect a corporate from defamation.