Effects of Reputation and Congruence on Publics’ Evaluations of Corporate Social Responsibility

This study investigated the effects of Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) programs moderated by the company reputation and congruence of CSR activity between the brand and the program. The reputation was manipulated by either good (snack company) or bad (tobacco company) and congruence was manipulated by high, low, or counter motivation. The experimental design was adopted with the sample of the general publics. Results suggest that highly reputed company received the more favorable CSR evaluations from the public than those of low reputed company. In addition, the highly reputed company’s fit between the brand and CSR was not important. However, for the low reputed company, low congruence was the most effective, followed by high congruence. Counter congruence CSR backfired because the public might perceive this activity to be self-denial, or a form of hypocrisy. It is concluded that highly reputed company enhances the company image by various CSR programs without fear of backfire.