Corporate volunteering is known to be an effective employee engagement initiative. However, despite the prominence of corporate social responsibility in academia and practice, research is yet to investigate whether and how CV may influence consumer perceptions of CSR image and subsequent consumer behaviour. Data collected using an online survey in Australia show perceived familiarity with a company’s CV programme to positively impact CSR image and firm image, partially mediated by others-centred attributions. CSR image, in turn, strengthens affective and cognitive loyalty (...) as well as word-of-mouth. Further analysis reveals the moderating effect of perceived leveraging of the corporate volunteering programme, customer status and the value individuals place on CSR. The paper concludes with theoretical and managerial implications, as well as an agenda for future research. (shrink)

Research into consumer responses to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives has expanded in the past four decades, yet the evidence thus far provided does not paint a cohesive picture. Results suggest both positive and negative consumer reactions to CSR, and unless such mixed findings can be reconciled, the outcome might be an amalgamation of disparate empirical results rather than a coherent body of knowledge. The current meta-analysis therefore tests whether the mixed findings might reflect consumers’ distinct, altruistic inferences across various (...) contingency factors. On the basis of 337 effect sizes, involving 584,990 unique respondents, in 162 studies published between 1996 and 2021, this study reveals that altruistic inferences are central to the current CSR paradigm, such that they mediate the effects of CSR initiatives on consumer responses across multiple contingencies. The mediation by altruistic inferences is stronger (weaker) in conditions favorable to dispositional (situational) motive attributions. Furthermore, consumers respond more favorably to cause marketing or philanthropy rather than business-related CSR initiatives, when the initiative is environmental (vs. social), the firm’s offering is utilitarian (vs. hedonic), the CSR initiative takes place in self-expressive (vs. survival) cultures and in earlier (vs. later) periods. These findings offer several ethical implications, and they inform both practical recommendations and an agenda for further research directions. (shrink)

Ethics has become increasingly prominent in business education and educational research. With a prolific research stream developing in the area of business ethics teaching, our understanding of related approaches and issues has deepened. While researchers focus on the holistic approach to teaching business ethics, specific knowledge about teaching methods in this area remains sparse. This paper discusses an innovative approach to the case method, called case development, and its preliminary assessment in a postgraduate marketing ethics course. Groups of students were (...) asked to research a chosen marketing ethics topic, develop a case study as part of their assessment and to subsequently analyse and present it to the class. Based on an initial assessment by means of a student survey, case development emerged as beneficial in terms of student learning and experience. Following a discussion of the approach and related results, the paper concludes withrecommendations and directions for future research. (shrink)

Ethics has become increasingly prominent in business education and educational research. With a prolific research stream developing in the area of business ethics teaching, our understanding of related approaches and issues has deepened. While researchers focus on the holistic approach to teaching business ethics, specific knowledge about teaching methods in this area remains sparse. This paper discusses an innovative approach to the case method, called case development, and its preliminary assessment in a postgraduate marketing ethics course. Groups of students were (...) asked to research a chosen marketing ethics topic, develop a case study as part of their assessment and to subsequently analyse and present it to the class. Based on an initial assessment by means of a student survey, case development emerged as beneficial in terms of student learning and experience. Following a discussion of the approach and related results, the paper concludes withrecommendations and directions for future research. (shrink)