Consumer's Mixed Responses to Corporate Social Responsibility: Moderating Roles of Consumer's Perceived Authenticity and Involvement

The purpose of this study is to examine whether consumers would differentiate their responses to corporate social responsibility (CSR) upon the level of perceived authenticity of it, and such differences would be further conditioned by the level of consumer involvement. To this end, using a sample of 225 Korean consumers, this study tests a three-way interaction effect between CSR, authenticity, and involvement on consumer attitudes, such as firm reputation and product loyalty. Results indicate that consumers tend to develop positive attitudes as they perceive CSR to be authentic but negative otherwise; and those moderating effects were more pronounced when consumers are highly involved with CSR. This study suggests that corporations should not focus on how much they contribute to society but rather how genuine their contributions should be. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.