Building sustainability into services marketing: expanding decision-making from a mix to a matrix

In line with the AMA\u27s revised (2007) definition of marketing, which aligns with the societal marketing orientation by requiring that Marketing create value not just for individual consumers and organisations but also for society at large, this paper proposes a Sustainability Services Marketing (SSM) framework. At present, services marketing managers have little guidance on how to pursue sustainability and achieve sustainable development goals. The SSM addresses this gap in a systematic, holistic and transparent way by ensuring sustainability cascades through the strategic marketing planning process. The traditional services marketing mix is expanded to include partnership, and the eight elements are cross-referenced against the three pillars of the triple bottom line - Planet, People and Profit - to produce the Sustainability Services Marketing Matrix (SSMM). The model is described and illustrated with brief case examples, and implications for theory and practice, and potential directions for further research are discussed

Message variables for effective advertising of corporate social responsibility initiatives: results of an experimental design

Stakeholders increasingly expect firms to consider their social and environmental impacts as well as their economic impacts, and address their corporate social responsibility (CSR). One stakeholder group, consumers, report they want to be informed of how firms do this, and use this information when purchasing. This paper reports on an investigation of two message variables believed necessary for effective advertising about CSR initiatives, social topic information and social impact specificity. We manipulated each of these variables at three levels for an unfamiliar retail bank brand engaging with the social issue of the arms trade. While social topic information was found to be non-significant in influencing the dependent variable, overall scepticism toward CSR claims, social impact specificity was found to have a significant link to message inhibition of scepticism cognitions. The findings are insightful for marketing communications managers tasked with effectively informing a key stakeholder audience, consumers, of a firm’s pro-social achievements

How claim specificity can improve claim credibility in Green Advertising: Measures that can boost outcomes from environmental product claims

This study establishes claim specificity as a conceptually distinct message characteristic and a robust antecedent of claim credibility. The relationship between the specificity and the credibility of green claims is examined by way of a 2 × 2 online experiment, with a broad sample of consumers. The results show that being specific increased the perceived credibility of green claims across a range of products, regardless of their perceived environmental relevance. Theoretical, practical, and research implications are discussed

Effectiveness of CSR Advertising: The Role of Reputation, Consumer Attributions, and Emotions

ABSTRACT: Despite companies' wishes to publicise their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, communication remains a challenge. This research study tries to contribute to the literature, analysing the antecedents and consequences of attitude towards a CSR advertisement in the financial sector. Specifically, we designed a causal model, which included the prior ethical reputation, the range of possible attributions, and the mix of emotions provoked by the advertisement. We surveyed 225 adults in Spain who evaluated a fictitious advertisement for companies of different ethical reputations, conveying a philanthropic cause. As a result, it was observed that the advertisement generated a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic attributions and a mix of positive and negative emotions, and the prior ethical reputation of the company was a key antecedent of the effectiveness of the communication. Furthermore, a good attitude towards the advertisement has rewards, in terms of improvement of attitudes towards the brand and behavioural intention

Think socially but act publicly: Refocusing CSR as corporate public responsibility

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Current literature has identified many different definitions for the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). As a result, many organizations fail to implement and measure CSR strategically. This study reviews the different theories and concepts within CSR and suggests that the current scope of CSR activities is too large that organizations are unable to find a tangible link between CSR and their bottom line. Using two case examples, this study proposes refocusing the concept of CSR as corporate public responsibility (CPR) based on which organizations utilize the concept of publics to prioritize the groups to which they must fulfill their responsibilities before attending to society as a whole. Because organizations are constrained by limited resources, the concept of CPR allows them to invest their resources more strategically. The concept also addresses the limitations of existing theories. The practical implications of this concept will be discussed in detail

Sustainability as corporate culture of a brand for superior performance

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in the Journal of World Business. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2012 Elsevier B.V.Sustainability research highlights new challenges and opportunities for businesses. This paper reviews the literature to understand the ability of sustainable green initiatives when practiced as a corporate culture to individually create new opportunities for operations, management and marketing. According to current research, business opportunities exclusively available to different functions of a firm can drive its performance. The role of marketing in the achievement of superior performance by virtue of sustainability practices is also explained by the existing literature. Branding literature, however, fails to explain the influence of a brand on sustainability-driven opportunities available to a firm for superior performance. The objective of this study is to explore if a brand can strengthen the ability of sustainability-based green initiatives of managers to drive opportunities available to a firm for superior performance. A conceptual framework grounded in the triple bottom line theory is presented based on the assumption that brand as a stimulating factor can accelerate the conversion of opportunities available to a business into superior performance. Academic and managerial perspectives have been used to draw upon the implications of the model. Both practitioners and academic researchers will benefit from future research on this topic

The financial effects of uniform and mixed corporate social performance

Firms typically present a mixed picture of corporate social performance (CSP), with positive and negative indicators exhibited by the same firm. Thus, stakeholders’ judgements of corporate social responsibility (CSR) typically evaluate positives in the context of negatives, and vice versa. Building on social judgement theory, we present two alternative accounts of how stakeholders respond to such complexity, which provide differing implications for the financial effects of CSP: reciprocal dampening and rewarding uniformity. Echoing notable findings on strategic consistency, our US panel study finds that firms that exhibit uniformly positive or uniformly negative indicators in particular dimensions of CSP outperform firms that exhibit a mixed picture of positives and negatives, which supports the notion that stakeholders’ judgements of CSR reward uniformity

Exploring the impact of social axioms on firm reputation: a stakeholder perspective

This study proposes a model of how deeply held beliefs, known as ‘social axioms, moderate the interaction between reputation, its causes and consequences with stakeholders. It contributes to the stakeholder relational field of reputation theory by explaining why the same organizational stimuli lead to different individual stakeholder responses. The study provides a shift in reputation research from organizational-level stimuli as the root causes of stakeholder responses to exploring the interaction between individual beliefs and organizational stimuli in determining reputational consequences. Building on a conceptual model that incorporates product/service quality and social responsibility as key reputational dimensions, the authors test empirically for moderating influences, in the form of social axioms, between reputation-related antecedents and consequences, using component-based structural equation modelling (n = 204). In several model paths, significant differences are found between responses of individuals identified as either high or low on social cynicism, fate control and religiosity. The results suggest that stakeholder responses to reputation-related stimuli can be systematically predicted as a function of the interactions between the deeply held beliefs of individuals and these stimuli. The authors offer recommendations on how strategic reputation management can be approached within and across stakeholder groups at a time when firms grapple with effective management of diverse stakeholder expectations

The impact of corporate volunteering on CSR image: a consumer perspective

Received: 29 June 2013 / Accepted: 15 January 2014Abstract Corporate volunteering (CV) is known to be an effective employee engagement initiative. However, despite the prominence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in academia and practice, research is yet to investigate whether and how CV may influence consumer perceptions of CSR image and subsequent consumer behaviour. Data collected using an online survey in Australia show perceived familiarity with a company’s CV programme to positively impact CSR image and firm image, partially mediated by others-centred attributions. CSR image, in turn, strengthens affective and cognitive loyalty as well as word-of-mouth. Further analysis reveals the moderating effect of perceived leveraging of the corporate volunteering programme, customer status and the value individuals place on CSR. The paper concludes with theoretical and managerial implications, as well as an agenda for future research.Carolin Plewa, Jodie Conduit, Pascale G. Quester, Claire Johnso

Denying bogus skepticism in climate change and tourism research

This final response to the two climate change denial papers by Shani and Arad further highlights the inaccuracies, misinformation and errors in their commentaries. The obfuscation of scientific research and the consensus on anthropogenic climate change may have significant long-term negative consequences for better understanding the implications of climate change and climate policy for tourism and create confusion and delay in developing and implementing tourism sector responses