Abstract

Although the company-cause fit has been considered the key to a successful corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaign, little is known about which communication strategies are effective in increasing the fit. Relying on the categorization theory, this research examines whether a relational communication strategy is effective in increasing company-cause fit when the functional similarity between a company and a cause is low. The findings of this study show that a relational ad message increases company-cause fit when the functional similarity is moderate, but not when the functional similarity is high or low. Also, based on the elaboration likelihood model, this research examines whether consumers’ cause involvement moderates the effect of company-cause fit on attitude toward the CSR activity. The results show that the effect of company-cause fit on attitude toward the CSR activity is enhanced only for low involvement consumers. These findings imply that a relational ad message might be more effective for low involvement consumers than for high involvement ones in increasing positive attitude toward the CSR activity.

摘要

尽管公司原因契合度被认为是企业社会责任 (CSR) 活动成功的关键，但人们对哪些沟通策略能有效提高契合度知之甚少。本研究依靠分类理论，检验当公司与事业之间的功能相似性较低时，关系沟通策略是否能有效提高公司与事业的契合度。这项研究的结果表明，当功能相似性适中时，相关性广告信息会增加公司原因的契合度，但在功能相似性高或低时则不会。此外，基于精化可能性模型，本研究检验了消费者的事业参与是否会调节公司事业契合对企业社会责任活动态度的影响。结果表明，公司原因匹配对企业社会责任活动态度的影响只有低参与度的消费者才会增强。这些发现表明，在增加对企业社会责任活动的积极态度方面，相关性广告信息对于低参与度的消费者可能比高参与度的消费者更有效。