IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v150y2018i1d10.1007_s10551-016-3164-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Link Between (Not) Practicing CSR and Corporate Reputation: Psychological Foundations and Managerial Implications

Author

Listed:
  • Nick Lin-Hi

    (University of Vechta)

  • Igor Blumberg

    (University of Vechta)

Abstract

It is often assumed that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a very promising way for corporations to improve their reputations, and a positive link between practicing CSR and corporate reputation is supported by empirical evidence. However, little is known about the mechanisms that underlie this relationship. In addition, the effects of not practicing CSR on corporate reputation have received little attention thus far. This paper contributes to the literature by analyzing the cause-and-effect relationships between (not) practicing CSR and corporate reputation. To this end, the paper draws on a psychological framework, in particular, on insights from expectancy violations theory and attribution theory. Building on the ideal-type distinction between CSR in terms of voluntary engagement for society (“doing good”) and the prevention of irresponsible behavior (“avoiding bad”), the paper develops four propositions that unveil some fundamental cause-and-effect relationships between (not) practicing CSR, irresponsible behavior, and corporate reputation. In doing so, it also addresses the question under which conditions CSR leads to a buffering or backfiring effect on corporate reputation in the event of irresponsible behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Nick Lin-Hi & Igor Blumberg, 2018. "The Link Between (Not) Practicing CSR and Corporate Reputation: Psychological Foundations and Managerial Implications," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 185-198, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:150:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3164-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3164-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-016-3164-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-016-3164-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Won-Moo Hur & Hanna Kim & Jeong Woo, 2014. "How CSR Leads to Corporate Brand Equity: Mediating Mechanisms of Corporate Brand Credibility and Reputation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(1), pages 75-86, November.
    2. Vanessa M Strike & Jijun Gao & Pratima Bansal, 2006. "Being good while being bad: social responsibility and the international diversification of US firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 850-862, November.
    3. Eileen Fischer & Rebecca Reuber, 2007. "The Good, the Bad, and the Unfamiliar: The Challenges of Reputation Formation Facing New Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(1), pages 53-75, January.
    4. Manuel Branco & Lúcia Rodrigues, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Resource-Based Perspectives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(2), pages 111-132, December.
    5. Folkes, Valerie S, 1984. "Consumer Reactions to Product Failure: An Attributional Approach," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 10(4), pages 398-409, March.
    6. Carroll, Archie B., 1991. "The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 39-48.
    7. Joëlle Vanhamme & Valérie Swaen & Guido Berens & Catherine Janssen, 2015. "Playing with fire: aggravating and buffering effects of ex ante CSR communication campaigns for companies facing allegations of social irresponsibility," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 565-578, December.
    8. C. Bhattacharya & Daniel Korschun & Sankar Sen, 2009. "Strengthening Stakeholder–Company Relationships Through Mutually Beneficial Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 257-272, April.
    9. Haesun Park-Poaps & Kathleen Rees, 2010. "Stakeholder Forces of Socially Responsible Supply Chain Management Orientation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(2), pages 305-322, March.
    10. H. L. Zou & R. C. Zeng & S. X. Zeng & Jonathan J. Shi, 2015. "How Do Environmental Violation Events Harm Corporate Reputation?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(8), pages 836-854, December.
    11. Stephen J. Brammer & Stephen Pavelin, 2006. "Corporate Reputation and Social Performance: The Importance of Fit," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 435-455, May.
    12. Janssen, Catherine & Sen, Sankar & Bhattacharya, CB, 2015. "Corporate crises in the age of corporate social responsibility," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 183-192.
    13. Falck, Oliver & Heblich, Stephan, 2007. "Corporate social responsibility: Doing well by doing good," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 247-254.
    14. Ping-Sheng Koh & Cuili Qian & Heli Wang, 2014. "Firm litigation risk and the insurance value of corporate social performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(10), pages 1464-1482, October.
    15. Spiess, Sven-Oliver & Mueller, Karsten & Lin-Hi, Nick, 2013. "Psychological Foundations of Corporate Social Responsibility: The Importance of “Avoiding Bad”," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(4), pages 383-386, December.
    16. Andrea Stanaland & May Lwin & Patrick Murphy, 2011. "Consumer Perceptions of the Antecedents and Consequences of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 47-55, August.
    17. Brunk, Katja H. & Blümelhuber, Christian, 2011. "One strike and you're out: Qualitative insights into the formation of consumers' ethical company or brand perceptions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 134-141, February.
    18. Mooweon Rhee & Pamela R. Haunschild, 2006. "The Liability of Good Reputation: A Study of Product Recalls in the U.S. Automobile Industry," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 101-117, February.
    19. Catherine Janssen & Sankar Sen & Cb Bhattacharya, 2015. "Corporate crises in the age of corporate social responsibility," Post-Print hal-01563031, HAL.
    20. Alexander, Cindy R, 1999. "On the Nature of the Reputational Penalty for Corporate Crime: Evidence," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(1), pages 489-526, April.
    21. A. Reuber & Eileen Fischer, 2010. "Organizations Behaving Badly: When Are Discreditable Actions Likely to Damage Organizational Reputation?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 39-50, April.
    22. Karpoff, Jonathan M & Lott, John R, Jr, 1993. "The Reputational Penalty Firms Bear from Committing Criminal Fraud," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(2), pages 757-802, October.
    23. Jeremy Galbreath & Paul Shum, 2012. "Do customer satisfaction and reputation mediate the CSR–FP link? Evidence from Australia," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 37(2), pages 211-229, August.
    24. Chi-Shiun Lai & Chih-Jen Chiu & Chin-Fang Yang & Da-Chang Pai, 2010. "The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Brand Performance: The Mediating Effect of Industrial Brand Equity and Corporate Reputation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(3), pages 457-469, September.
    25. Yuri Mishina & Emily S. Block & Michael J. Mannor, 2012. "The path dependence of organizational reputation: how social judgment influences assessments of capability and character," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 459-477, May.
    26. Jie Wu, 2014. "The Antecedents of Corporate Social and Environmental Irresponsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(5), pages 286-300, September.
    27. Hillenbrand, Carola & Money, Kevin, 2009. "Segmenting stakeholders in terms of Corporate Responsibility: Implications for Reputation Management," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 99-105.
    28. Marjo Siltaoja, 2006. "Value Priorities as Combining Core Factors Between CSR and Reputation – A Qualitative Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 68(1), pages 91-111, September.
    29. Ker-Tah Hsu, 2012. "The Advertising Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Corporate Reputation and Brand Equity: Evidence from the Life Insurance Industry in Taiwan," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(2), pages 189-201, August.
    30. Adaeze Okoye, 2009. "Theorising Corporate Social Responsibility as an Essentially Contested Concept: Is a Definition Necessary?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 89(4), pages 613-627, November.
    31. Lin-Hi, Nick & Müller, Karsten, 2013. "The CSR bottom line: Preventing corporate social irresponsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1928-1936.
    32. Fragale, Alison R. & Rosen, Benson & Xu, Carol & Merideth, Iryna, 2009. "The higher they are, the harder they fall: The effects of wrongdoer status on observer punishment recommendations and intentionality attributions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 53-65, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Izaskun Agirre Aramburu & Irune Gómez Pescador, 2019. "The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Customer Loyalty: The Mediating Effect of Reputation in Cooperative Banks Versus Commercial Banks in the Basque Country," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(3), pages 701-719, February.
    2. Swaen, Valérie & Demoulin, Nathalie & Pauwels-Delassus, Véronique, 2021. "Impact of customers’ perceptions regarding corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility in the grocery retailing industry: The role of corporate reputation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 709-721.
    3. Annika Veh & Markus Göbel & Rick Vogel, 2019. "Corporate reputation in management research: a review of the literature and assessment of the concept," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(2), pages 315-353, December.
    4. Lisa Baudot & Joseph A. Johnson & Anna Roberts & Robin W. Roberts, 2020. "Is Corporate Tax Aggressiveness a Reputation Threat? Corporate Accountability, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Corporate Tax Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 197-215, May.
    5. James Agarwal & Oleksiy Osiyevskyy & Percy Feldman, 2015. "Corporate Reputation Measurement: Alternative Factor Structures, Nomological Validity, and Organizational Outcomes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 485-506, August.
    6. Wenbin Sun & Rahul Govind, 2022. "A New Understanding of Marketing and “Doing Good”: Marketing’s Power in the TMT and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(1), pages 89-109, February.
    7. Javier Aguilera‐Caracuel & Jaime Guerrero‐Villegas, 2018. "How Corporate Social Responsibility Helps MNEs to Improve their Reputation. The Moderating Effects of Geographical Diversification and Operating in Developing Regions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 355-372, July.
    8. Francisco Javier Forcadell & Elisa Aracil, 2017. "European Banks' Reputation for Corporate Social Responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(1), pages 1-14, January.
    9. David Noack & Douglas R. Miller & Dustin Smith, 2019. "Let Me Make It Up to You: Understanding the Mitigative Ability of Corporate Social Responsibility Following Product Recalls," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 431-446, June.
    10. Valor, Carmen & Antonetti, Paolo & Zasuwa, Grzegorz, 2022. "Corporate social irresponsibility and consumer punishment: A systematic review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1218-1233.
    11. Michael C. Peasley & Parker J. Woodroof & Joshua T. Coleman, 2021. "Processing Contradictory CSR Information: The Influence of Primacy and Recency Effects on the Consumer-Firm Relationship," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(2), pages 275-289, August.
    12. Hsiu-Hua Chang, 2017. "Consumer Socially Sustainable Consumption: The Perspective toward Corporate Social Responsibility, Perceived Value, and Brand Loyalty," Journal of Economics and Management, College of Business, Feng Chia University, Taiwan, vol. 13(2), pages 167-191, August.
    13. Mª Eugenia López‐Pérez & Iguácel Melero & F Javier Sese, 2017. "Management for Sustainable Development and Its Impact on Firm Value in the SME Context: Does Size Matter?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(7), pages 985-999, November.
    14. Francesco Gangi & Lucia Michela Daniele & Nicola Varrone, 2020. "How do corporate environmental policy and corporate reputation affect risk‐adjusted financial performance?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 1975-1991, July.
    15. Kim, Junghyun & Park, Taehoon, 2020. "How corporate social responsibility (CSR) saves a company: The role of gratitude in buffering vindictive consumer behavior from product failures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 461-472.
    16. Su, Lujun & Pan, Yue & Chen, Xiaohong, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility: Findings from the Chinese hospitality industry," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 240-247.
    17. Boehe, Dirk Michael & Cruz, Luciano Barin & Ogasavara, Mário Henrique, 2010. "How can Firms from Emerging Economies Enhance their CSR-Supported Export Strategies?," Insper Working Papers wpe_209, Insper Working Paper, Insper Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa.
    18. Anupam Singh & Priyanka Verma, 2017. "How CSR Affects Brand Equity of Indian Firms?," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 18(3_suppl), pages 52-69, June.
    19. Muhsina Jannat & Md. Mahmudul Haque & Mohammad Ashraful Ferdous Chowdhury, 2024. "Does Trust Mediate in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Brand Equity Nexus? Empirical Evidence from the Banking Sector," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 13(3), pages 340-355, May.
    20. Clara Pérez‐Cornejo & Esther de Quevedo‐Puente & Juan Bautista Delgado‐García, 2020. "Reporting as a booster of the corporate social performance effect on corporate reputation," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1252-1263, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:150:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3164-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.