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The effect of authenticity and social distance on CSR activity

Author

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  • Myungsuh Lim
  • Yoon Yang

Abstract

Purpose - This study aims to make a distinction between two types of authenticity (indexical vs iconic), the influence of both of which on the consumer’s inference of companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) motivation is determined. Meanwhile, the consumer inference of CSR activities can be affected by the situational context within which the CSR activities are contained. Therefore, the effect of the interaction between the authenticity type and the given social distance (based on the construal level theory) was also examined. Design/methodology/approach - The study conducted a 2 × 2 between-subjects design experiment to examine the effects of authenticity type (indexical/iconic) and social distance (close/distant) on the perceived motive of the CSR information in a scenario. Findings - The findings showed significant main effect of authenticity type but no significant main effect of social distance on persuasion knowledge. Participants in the indexical authenticity condition perceived a higher degree of persuasion knowledge than the participants in the iconic authenticity condition. Social distance moderated the effect of authenticity type such that for indexical authenticity, there was a significant difference on persuasion knowledge when the social distance was large. However, for iconic authenticity, the perception of persuasion knowledge was not significantly different between a large distance and a close distance. Originality/value - The study identified the type of authenticity that is mainly perceived as a result of CSR activities and also determined its relation to the social distance dimension to infer a firm’s CSR motives.

Suggested Citation

  • Myungsuh Lim & Yoon Yang, 2016. "The effect of authenticity and social distance on CSR activity," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(3), pages 397-414, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:eme:srjpps:v:12:y:2016:i:3:p:397-414
    DOI: 10.1108/SRJ-10-2014-0135
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alfonso Siano & Ralph Tench, 2022. "Editorial," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2022(3), pages 267-270, September.
    2. Duygu Turker & Ozge Can & Gizem Aras‐Beger, 2023. "How authenticity of corporate social responsibility affects organizational attractiveness: Stakeholder perceptions of organizational ideology," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 1680-1697, July.
    3. June-Hyuk Kwon & Sally Kim & Yong-Ki Lee & Kisang Ryu, 2021. "Characteristics of Social Media Content and Their Effects on Restaurant Patrons," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.
    4. Yongfeng Zhang & Peng Wang & Jongwook Kwon, 2021. "CSR in China: Does Being Close to the Central or Local Government Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-12, August.

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