The impact of consumers’ choice and perceptions of interactivity on social responsibility campaigns through social media

Social responsibility campaigns through social media allow individuals to build and maintain interactive connections with others while recognizing their mutual interests in social causes. In this study, the authors focus on the social media context and clarify (1) how choice of cause allows consumers to perceive that they are interacting with campaigns and (2) how consumer involvement enhances or limits the effects of choice. A field experiment is used to investigate relationships between consumers’ choice, perceived interactivity, attitude, and purchase intention, and to consider involvement’s moderating effects on those relationships. This study indicates that consumer choice versus company choice in a social responsibility campaign positively affects perceived interactivity, but only for groups who are highly involved in the cause. In addition, involvement moderates the relationships between the consumers’ choice and perceived interactivity.