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Corporate message strategies for global CSR campaigns: The mediating role of perceived altruism

Hyejoon Rim (Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)
Doori Song (Department of Marketing, Williamson College of Business Administration, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio, USA)

Corporate Communications: An International Journal

ISSN: 1356-3289

Article publication date: 7 August 2017

1450

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine multinational corporations’ (MNCs) response strategy in social media to effectively communicate their international CSR practices.

Design/methodology/approach

An experiment was conducted by adopting a case of an MNC’s globalized CSR campaign in United Arab Emirates. The interaction effects of corporate communication strategy and company’s response sidedness were examined as well as a mediating role of the perceived altruism.

Findings

The current study suggests how two-sided response strategy can be applied and benefits MNCs’ international CSR campaigns. The findings demonstrate that a company’s two-sided response helps to increase people’s attitude toward the company and word-of-mouth intention through enhanced perceived altruism when the company has no prior CSR experience in a host country.

Practical implications

The current study provides insights on how to respond to negative publicity in social media. MNCs are suggested to use different response strategies based on their prior CSR experience in a host country.

Originality/value

The success of CSR depends on how consumers take the message and perceive a company’s motive of CSR. The current study examines how to best respond to the consumers’ criticism by utilizing message sidedness strategies depending on the company’s presence of CSR.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Both authors contributed equally to this manuscript. The authors are listed in alphabetic order.

Citation

Rim, H. and Song, D. (2017), "Corporate message strategies for global CSR campaigns: The mediating role of perceived altruism", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 383-400. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-01-2017-0007

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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