Ally See or Ally Do: Rewarding Corporate Social Responsibility Through Purchasing

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility is an organization’s obligation to be aware of its impact on different aspects of society (e.g., social, environmental, economic). Many companies utilize hashtags, trends, and popular social movements to signal allyship, yet this may be a marketing ploy. Do consumers acknowledge the difference between performative activism and substantial activism? In this study, 198 participants (M = 38.8 years old, SD = 11.5 years) rated companies’ perceived support of social issues and their willingness to shop based on different levels of performative and substantive activism. Results showed that consumers were most willing to shop at companies exhibiting substantial activism over and above performative activism (d = 0.39) due to perceiving them as supportive of the issue (d = 0.98), finding evidence for full mediation (indirect CI [.24, .63]). These results were independent of the type of topic and personal beliefs of the participants. This research helps understand how individuals make purchasing decisions and how corporate social responsibility has become more crucial for organizations to elevate their relationships with customers.