Three Essays on the Positive and Negative Consequences of Corporate Social Responsibility and Irresponsibility

Doctoral thesis of Samuel Staeble

Why cheap, low-quality giveaways are bad for brands:Quality of freebies drives consumer attitudes, but personalization can help

Companies employ giveaways primarily to create awareness and strengthen their brands. Little academic research has examined the effectiveness of giveaways, however. This article reports the results of two studies on giveaways' effectiveness. The first, a laboratory experiment with 678 respondents, found that giveaways of low quality may have a negative impact on consumers' attitude toward the sponsor brand. In combination with certain types of giveaways, the negative effect is even stronger. Fortunately, results of a second study offer a ray of hope: An experiment with 104 respondents showed that companies can benefit from giveaways as long as they are personalized

Why cheap, low-quality giveaways are bad for brands: Quality of freebies drives consumer attitudes, but personalization can help

Companies employ giveaways primarily to create awareness and strengthen their brands. Little academic research has examined the effectiveness of giveaways, however. This article reports the results of two studies on giveaways' effectiveness. The first, a laboratory experiment with 678 respondents, found that giveaways of low quality may have a negative impact on consumers' attitude toward the sponsor brand. In combination with certain types of giveaways, the negative effect is even stronger. Fortunately, results of a second study offer a ray of hope: An experiment with 104 respondents showed that companies can benefit from giveaways as long as they are personalized

Breaking the news:how does CEO media coverage influence consumer and investor evaluations?

This study investigates how CEO-related events covered in news media affect consumer evaluations. The conceptual model proposes six CEO-related news categories and details their impact on consumer evaluations as well as the degree to which these responses determine firms’ stock prices. The authors analyze a rich sample of 725 CEO-related events of 125 firms covered in leading US news outlets from 2009 to 2019. Using an econometric approach and an event study, they find that stories about CEO scandals detrimentally affect consumer evaluations, which translates to an immediate loss of more than US$500 million on stock markets, whereas stories about CEO altruism and CEO political ideologies have a positive impact on consumer evaluations. The authors provide insights into short and long-term effects and formulate actionable implications

When does corporate social irresponsibility become news? Evidence from more than 1,000 brand transgressions across five countries

Companies are increasingly held accountable for their corporate social irresponsibility (CSI). However, the extent to which a CSI event causes damage to the firm largely depends on the coverage of this event in high-reach news media. Using the theory of news value developed in communications research, the authors explain the amount of media coverage by introducing a set of variables related to the event, the involved brand, and media outlet. The authors analyze a sample of 1,054 CSI events that were reported in 77 leading media outlets in five countries in the period 2008–2014. Estimation results reveal a significant number of drivers: for example, the number of media covering the story may be 39% higher for salient and strong brands. 80% more media report the event if a foreign brand is involved in a domestic CSI event. When a brand advertises heavily or exclusively in a news medium, this reduces the likelihood of the news medium to cover negative stories about the brand. The average financial loss at the U.S. stock market due to a CSI event amounts to US$ 321 million. However, the market only reacts to the event if 4 or more U.S. high-reach media outlets report on the event

The street music business: Consumer responses to buskers performing on the street and on online video platforms

The street music business dates back hundreds of years and exists in many cities of the world. Although anecdotal evidence suggests that the number of listeners who donate varies widely, academic research has not examined why listeners donate to buskers. An intensive field study covering 80,471 consumers assessed the relevance and magnitude of theoretically derived drivers. A second study investigated the degree to which offline success factors predict consumer responses to buskers performing on online video platforms. Estimation results reveal several drivers, many of which differ from musicians’ commonly held beliefs. This study contributes not only to the marketing of buskers but also to marketing of other businesses that engage in fundraising in public spaces