Which corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach optimizes customer engagement behavior? The role of customer-brand identification, brand love, and social communication

Abstract

While the CSR literature proliferates, understanding the effects of chiefly proactive (vs. chiefly reactive) CSR activities on customers' brand identification and brand love lags, leaving managers in the dark. To illuminate these issues, three studies were conducted. First, study 1 deployed an experimental design to test the effect of chiefly proactive/reactive social CSR activities on customer-brand relationships, as measured by brand identification and -love, and their respective impact on customer engagement. To ensure the validity and generalizability of the results, a second study was conducted, which replicated the previous study's design, albeit focusing on environmental CSR activities. Using survey data, study 3 tested the moderating role of social CSR communication on the association of chiefly proactive/reactive CSR activities on customer-brand identification and brand love. The findings suggest chiefly proactive (vs. -reactive) CSR's particular effectiveness in driving customer-brand identification, -love, and engagement. The study uncovered social CSR communication's key role in building customer-brand relationships, particularly for chiefly proactive CSR activities. Moreover, it shows that the effectiveness of CSR activities improves when social CSR communication is used to communicate the firm's CSR efforts on social media. This study offers theoretical insights and practical suggestions.