With the prevalence of social media usage among consumers, brands have increasingly utilized paid social media influencer (SMI) endorsements in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication. However, how such practice generates positive consumer responses is not well understood. Drawing from signaling theory, social learning theory, and social identity theory, a structural equation model analysis was conducted to test our hypotheses and proposed model based on the survey data from 592 U.S. consumers. The research results suggest that a brand’s CSR initiatives, when endorsed by SMIs who are perceived as social media leaders in opinion and taste, directly enhance consumers’ CSR communication engagement about the initiatives and do so indirectly via the consumers’ reduced CSR skepticism. Reduced CSR skepticism and enhanced CSR communication engagement ultimately lead to the consumers’ brand loyalty, brand preference, and price premium. The study has implications for CSR advertising/social-mediated communication, SMI leadership, and SMI endorsement effects.

随着消费者使用社交媒体的盛行，品牌越来越多地在其企业社会责任 (CSR) 沟通中使用付费社交媒体影响者 (SMI) 代言。然而，这种做法如何产生积极的消费者反应尚不清楚。借鉴信号理论、社会学习理论和社会认同理论，基于来自 592 名美国消费者的调查数据，进行了结构方程模型分析以检验我们的假设和提出的模型。研究结果表明，当一个品牌的 CSR 举措得到在意见和品味上被视为社交媒体领导者的 SMI 的认可时，会直接增强消费者对这些举措的 CSR 沟通参与度，并通过消费者减少对 CSR 的怀疑来间接实现这一点。减少 CSR 怀疑和增强 CSR 沟通参与最终会导致消费者的品牌忠诚度、品牌偏好和价格溢价。该研究对企业社会责任广告/社会中介传播、SMI 领导力和 SMI 认可效应具有影响。