TY - JOUR
T1 - Customers need to relate
T2 - The conditional warm glow effect of CSR on negative customer experiences
AU - Alhouti, Sarah
AU - Wright, Scott A.
AU - Baker, Thomas L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - In this article, we develop and empirically test a theoretical framework explaining when and how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) might influence evaluative judgments following a service failure. Across three studies, we find that company CSR enhances evaluations, but this effect is bounded by the fundamental need for relatedness, which reflects the extent to which individuals feel connected to others. That is, CSR enhances evaluations when this need is heightened versus not heightened, and when experiences involve human interaction versus a Self-Service Technology (SST). The findings are replicated using different sampling sources, real and hypothetical customer experiences, various relatedness cues, multiple product categories, and different evaluative judgments. The findings demonstrate that CSR helps to offset negative evaluations following a service failure but only under certain conditions. The managerial and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.
AB - In this article, we develop and empirically test a theoretical framework explaining when and how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) might influence evaluative judgments following a service failure. Across three studies, we find that company CSR enhances evaluations, but this effect is bounded by the fundamental need for relatedness, which reflects the extent to which individuals feel connected to others. That is, CSR enhances evaluations when this need is heightened versus not heightened, and when experiences involve human interaction versus a Self-Service Technology (SST). The findings are replicated using different sampling sources, real and hypothetical customer experiences, various relatedness cues, multiple product categories, and different evaluative judgments. The findings demonstrate that CSR helps to offset negative evaluations following a service failure but only under certain conditions. The managerial and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106769975&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85106769975&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.11.047
DO - 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.11.047
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85106769975
SN - 0148-2963
VL - 124
SP - 240
EP - 253
JO - Journal of Business Research
JF - Journal of Business Research
ER -