Actions for Corporate Social Advocacy, Corporate Misconduct, and Perceived Corporate Hypocrisy

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Corporate Social Advocacy, Corporate Misconduct, and Perceived Corporate Hypocrisy

Author
Kim, Nahyun
Published
[University Park, Pennsylvania] : Pennsylvania State University, 2022.
Physical Description
1 electronic document
Additional Creators
Schmierbach, Mike, 1976-
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Restricted (PSU Only).
Summary
Companies' moral actions are often visible in their nonmarket behaviors that are designed to promote general social good (corporate social responsibility; CSR). However, an increasing number of companies have begun taking further steps in expressing their moral voices within society by publicly declaring their stances on controversial social issues. This practice is referred to as corporate social advocacy (CSA). Although authentic CSA may contribute to fostering public discussion on the issues driving desirable social change, people's initial responses to a company's CSA engagement can be an accusation of hypocrisy when the company's advocacy lacks proof of actual commitment. Further, when a company is involved in misconduct following its CSA engagement, it may invite stronger condemnation against the company for its moral failure. To test this proposition in the context of CSA, a 3 (CSA engagement: no CSA vs. CSA for a less controversial issue vs. CSA for a more controversial issue) x 2 (type of corporate misconduct: accident vs. transgression) x 2 (issue of corporate misconduct: less controversial issue vs. more controversial issue) between-subjects experiment was conducted. The results showed that incongruity between an individual's stance and a corporate stance can elevate perceptions of hypocrisy on certain issues, but people's inference regarding a company's moral motivation is largely dependent on people's rational attributions based on available contextual cues. Overall, people accuse a company of hypocrisy when the company knowingly commits a wrongdoing related to the same issue that the company previously addressed in its CSA practice. Overall, this study contributes to the previous literature on CSA and perceived corporate hypocrisy by empirically examining perceived corporate hypocrisy as a proxy to address people's initial response to CSA and identifying the boundary conditions under which people judge the company as being hypocritical. Also, findings of this study provide implications for public relations managers work for companies for sincere implementation of CSA.
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Dissertation Note
Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University 2022.
Technical Details
The full text of the dissertation is available as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file ; Adobe Acrobat Reader required to view the file.
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