Academic Research

Corporate Reputation Review (2008) 11, 155–168. doi:10.1057/crr.2008.15

Dimensions of Corporate Social Responsibility and Advertising Practice

Alex Wang1

1Department of Communication Sciences, University of Connecticut-Stamford, Stamford, CT, USA

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Abstract

This study examined the effects of positive and negative news about a corporation's adverting practice on consumers' assessments of the corporation's ethical, discretionary and relational practices, three dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. The results suggested while the effect of positive news might be minimal, the persuasiveness of negative news should not be overlooked. However, the negative news effect is content specific, depending on assessments toward different dimensions of CSR practices. Consumers were able to separate the negative news effect and attribute specific negativity to their assessments of different CSR practices.

Keywords:

advertising, corporate social responsibility, discretionary CSR practices, ethical CSR practices, news, relational CSR practices

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