Merchandising/Marketing/Retailing: Branding

“That Brand is So Humane”: The Influence of Perceived Human Values on Attitudes toward CSR PR Messages and Company

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Abstract

We investigated (i) how various human values (benevolence, conformity, achievement, and stimulation) expressed in corporate social responsibility (CSR) public relation (PR) messages differentially relate to consumers' attitude toward the company by influencing their attitude toward the PR message and (ii) how the consistency of these PR values to consumers' existing values affect these relationships. Conducting an online survey, we found that different value dimensions perceived from CSR PR messages influence consumers' attitudes toward the company and the PR message differently. We found that benevolence, among all human values, is most important to communicate through CSR PR to drive positive consumer responses toward both the PR and the company. The significant perceived PR conformity x consumer conformity interaction that positively predicted company attitude suggests that conformity value perceived from the PR message is likely to lead to a more positive company attitude among consumers who place higher value in conformity.

Keywords: self-congruence theory, attitude toward company, attitude toward message, consumer values, public relations message, Corporate social responsibility

How to Cite:

Chakraborty, S. & Kwon, W., (2020) ““That Brand is So Humane”: The Influence of Perceived Human Values on Attitudes toward CSR PR Messages and Company”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 77(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.11839