@article{2020:mehrafshan:from_corpo,
title = {From Corporate Social Responsibility to Market Demand: The Role of Brand Management},
year = {2020},
note = {Brand managers increasingly appeal to altruistic consumer motives by
emphasizing corporate social responsibility (CSR) in marketing
communication. However, little empirical evidence describes how CSR
converts into market demand. This study investigates the dimensions of
CSR that conspire with dimensions of brand equity to drive brand
performance, by combining firm-level data on CSR, customer-based brand
equity, market demand, and covariates covering 256 companies over a
15-year period. The findings show that internal CSR concerns relate
negatively to brand associations as well as brand performance.
Moreover, the demand effect of CSR can be fully explained by brand
equity, underscoring the relevance of branding for CSR management. In
particular, brand esteem and familiarity mediate the link between
ethicality and market outcomes. Specifically, coping with CSR concerns
appears to be important. In our data, perceived brand differentiation
is unaffected by low responsibility, but ethical concerns undermine
customers’ quality expectations and brand identification, suggesting
managing CSR crisis has better prospects when the associated brand
equity dimensions are addressed.},
journal = {Marketing ZFP},
pages = {35--54},
author = {Mehrafshan, Nima and Permann, Alexander and Heitmann, Mark and Materne, Maxine},
volume = {42},
number = {2}
}