ABSTRACT

This research examines the spillover effect of information about a brand’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity on competing brands’ evaluations. Two experimental studies show that receiving information about a brand’s CSR activity (vs. receiving descriptive information about a brand) has a negative effect on a competing brand’s evaluations among consumers with high product category knowledge. Decreased trustworthiness perceptions of other brands in the same product category drive this effect. However, the negative spillover of a brand’s CSR information to a competing brand disappears among consumers with low product category knowledge, or if a competing brand has low brand typicality. Together, this research allows a more nuanced understanding of the spillover effect of CSR information and offers managerial implications for the strategic use of CSR activities in brands’ marketing communications.

摘要

这项研究调查了有关品牌的企业社会责任（CSR）活动的信息对竞争品牌的评估的溢出效应。两项实验研究表明，获得有关品牌CSR活动的信息（相对于获得有关品牌的描述性信息）对具有较高产品类别知识的消费者对竞争品牌的评估产生负面影响。同一产品类别中其他品牌的可信赖度下降导致这种影响。但是，如果品牌CSR信息对竞争品牌的负面溢出在产品类别知识较低的消费者中或者竞争品牌的品牌典型度较低的消费者中消失了。一起，