Does CSR communication matter? Understanding the effectiveness of CSR motives, CSR message frame and CSR fit when communicating about corporate-NGO partnerships

While societal power dynamics are subject to constant change, this also applies to the relationship between two of the key institutional actors within society - companies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). With the increasing importance of CSR, corporations and NGOs have started to work together to achieve societal goals. As a result, corporate-NGO partnerships are gaining increasing importance as part of a company’s CSR effort. However, at the same time, it is becoming increasingly difficult for corporations to effectively communicate their CSR activities since consumers are skeptical about corporations’ involvement in CSR. Taking these two developments into account, this study aims to investigate the communication of corporate-NGO partnerships, by specifically focusing on which CSR communication tactics (CSR motive, CSR message frame, CSR fit) lead to more positive consumer outcomes. Since skepticism has been identified to play a key role in the outcomes of CSR communication tactics, this study also aims to shed light on the mediating role of situational CSR skepticism which can be understood as a direct reaction to corporate communication efforts. In addition, the mediating role of consumer trust as a potential antagonist of skepticism is examined. Grounded on attribution theory, the heuristic-systematic model, and the persuasion knowledge model, this study provides insights into underlying information processing mechanisms. Taken together, the following research questions are investigated: To what extend do CSR motives (firm-serving vs. public-serving), CSR message frame (expositive vs. narrative), and CSR fit (high vs. low) affect consumer attitudes and eWOM when communicating corporate-NGO partnerships? How do skepticism and consumer trust mediate the proposed relationships? To answer the research questions, a between-subjects factorial quasi experimental research design with eight experimental scenarios was deployed. Participant recruitment was conducted via Prolific, and the final sample encompassed 383 respondents. The results confirmed that consumer attitudes and eWOM can be influenced through expressed CSR motives. Expressed public-serving CSR motives resulted in more positive consumer attitudes and higher eWOM compared to firm-serving CSR motives. Situational CSR skepticism and consumer trust both mediated the affiliation between CSR motives and consumer outcomes. In addition, situational CSR skepticism and consumer trust seem to function as antagonists because expressed firm-serving motives increased situational CSR skepticism and decreased consumer trust. Since situational CSR skepticism is associated with persuasion knowledge, which is partly triggered by cognitive elaboration, expressed firmserving CSR motives seem to increase elaborative thoughts in the context of corporate-NGO partnerships. However, CSR message frame and CSR fit had no effect on consumer outcomes and, consequently, the relationship was also not mediated by either situational CSR skepticism or consumer trust. Overall, the results widen the scope of CSR communication research by focusing on corporate-NGO partnerships in particular. The findings call for further research on the effect NGOs’ involvement in a company’s CSR activity has on the outcomes of different CSR communication tactics, the underlying level of consumer’s cognitive elaboration when processing CSR messages, and the role of dispositional CSR skepticism.