Does Corporate Social Responsibility Enhance Political Marketing?

ABSTRACT This study shows how political party social responsibility influences voting intentions. The mediating effect of voter satisfaction, and political party preference was also studied. The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the applicability of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in political marketing. The study provided a conceptualization of political party social responsibility and also evidence of political party involvement in social responsibility using online reports. A content analysis of online reports found a narrow focus on CSR pertaining mainly to initiatives such as philanthropy and cause-promotions. We developed a scenario of a hypothetical political party and surveyed 173 voters to examine how voters will respond to perceived CSR initiative by a political party/candidate. The findings indicate that political party social responsibility has a significant relationshp with voter satisfaction and voter preference. Political party social responsibility was found to have an indirect relationship with voter intentions through voter satisfaction and voter preference. This study contributes to knowledge of how political marketing could be improved using social responsibility. This paper seeks to start an academic debate on how political party social responsibility could be used to create value for political parties, political candidates, and voters.