The effect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives on consumers’ identification with companies

Abstract

This study focuses on the relative influences of three types of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
initiatives, sponsorship, cause-related marketing, and philanthropy, on consumers’ identification with
consumer-company (C-C identification). Two hundred and forty-six subjects participated in a betweensubjects factorial design experiment. The test results revealed that philanthropy had a stronger effect on C-C
identification than did sponsorship or cause-related marketing. In addition, C-C identification was found to
have a significant and positive influence on consumers’ use of citizenship behaviors (in-role and extra-role).
This finding provides further support for the argument that corporations must be concerned with the
employment of CSR initiatives because different types of CSR initiatives trigger different perceptions of the
corporation and different behavioral intentions.