Facts Over Stories for Involved Publics: Framing Effects in CSR Messaging and the Roles of Issue Involvement,Message Elaboration,Affect,and Skepticism

Abstract

This project investigated how issue involvement and positive affect are related to attitude and behavioral intention in the context of episodically and thematically framed corporate social responsibility (CSR) messages. We examined mediation effects of message elaboration on issue involvement and affect as well as moderation effects of dispositional skepticism on the relationships between affect, and attitude and behavioral intention. Results from two message-embedded surveys show that for the two types of messages used, issue involvement was positively correlated with positive affect and, consequently, with attitude and behavioral intention. However, for episodically framed messages, route-of-information processing mediated the relationship between issue involvement and affect. Dispositional skepticism moderated the relationship between positive affect and attitude toward the organization for these messages but did not affect behavioral intention. Overall, the findings suggest that prioritizing fact-based messaging over story-based messaging for involved publics could improve communication of the impact of CSR programs.

Keywords

CSR communication episodic frames thematic frames issue involvement affect information processing ELM dispositional skepticism

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aarøe

(2011). Investigating frame strength: The case of episodic and thematic frames. Political Communication, 28, 207-226.

Ajzen

(1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In Kuhland

Beckman

(Eds.), Action-control: From cognitions to behavior (pp. 11-39). Heidelberg, Germany: Springer.

Albrecht

S. L.

Carpenter

K. E.

(1976). Attitudes as predictors of behavior versus behavior intentions: A convergence of research traditions. Sociometry, 39, 1-10.

Arenas

(2009). How teachers’ attitudes affect their approaches to teaching international students. Higher Education Research & Development, 28, 615-628.

Bhattacharya

C. B.

Korschun

Sen

(2009). Strengthening stakeholder-company relationships through mutually beneficial corporate social responsibility initiatives. Journal of Business Ethics, 85, 257-272. doi:10.1007/s10551-008-9730-3

Borah

(2011). Conceptual issues in framing: A systematic examination of a decade’s literature. Journal of Communication, 61, 246-263. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01539.x

Boren

J. P.

(2013). Co-rumination partially mediates the relationship between social support and emotional exhaustion among graduate students. Communication Quarterly, 61, 253-267.

Brewer

P. R.

(2001). Value words and lizard brains: Do citizens deliberate about appeals to their core values? Political Psychology, 22, 45-64.

Chaabane

A. M.

Parguel

(2016). The double-edge effect of retailers’ cause-related marketing: When skepticism cools the warm-glow effect. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 44, 607-626. doi:10.1108/IJRDM-08-2015-0126

10.

Chaiken

(1980). Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source versus message cues in persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 752-756.

11.

Chaiken

Liberman

Eagly

A. H.

(1989). Heuristic and systematic information processing within and beyond the persuasion context. In Uleman

J. S.

Bargh

J. A.

(Eds.), Unintended thought (pp. 212-252). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

12.

Chang

C.-T.

Cheng

Z.-H.

(2015). Tugging on heartstrings: Shopping orientation, mindset, and consumer responses to cause-related marketing. Journal of Business Ethics, 127, 337-350.

13.

Childs

Schumacher

R. S.

(2018). Cold-season tornado risk communication: Case studies from November 2016-February 2017. Weather, Climate and Society. Retrieved from https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/WCAS-D-17-0073.1

14.

Chong

Druckman

J. N.

(2007). A theory of framing and opinion formation in competitive elite environments. Journal of Communication, 57, 99-118.

15.

Cordano

Frieze

I. H.

(2000). Pollution reduction preferences of US environmental managers: Applying Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 43, 627-641.

16.

de Vreese

C. H.

Peter

Semetko

H. A

. (2001). Framing politics at the launch of the euro: A cross-national comparative study of frames in the news. Political Communication, 18, 107-122.

17.

de Vries

Terwel

B. W.

Ellemers

Daamen

D. D. L

. (2013).). Sustainability or profitability? How communicated motives for environmental policy affect public perceptions of corporate greenwashing. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 22, 142-154.

18.

Dhanesh

G. S.

(2012). The view from within: Internal publics and CSR. Journal of Communication Management, 16(1), 39-58.

19.

Dhanesh

G. S.

(2014). CSR as organization-employee relationship management strategy: A case study of socially responsible information technology companies in India. Management Communication Quarterly, 28, 130-149.

20.

Dillard

J. P.

Nabi

R. L.

(2006). The persuasive influence of emotion in cancer prevention and detection messages. Journal of Communication, 56, 123-139.

21.

Dillard

J. P.

Peck

(2000). Affect and persuasion: Emotional responses to public service announcements. Communication Research, 27, 461-495.

22.

Dixon

G. N.

(2016). Negative affect as a mechanism of exemplification effects: An experiment on two-sided risk argument recall and risk perception. Communication Research, 43, 761-784.

23.

Bhattacharya

C. B.

Sen

(2010). Maximizing business returns to corporate social responsibility (CSR): The role of CSR communication. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12, 8-19.

24.

Vieira

E. T.

(2012). Striving for legitimacy through corporate social responsibility: Insights from oil companies. Journal of Business Ethics, 110, 413-427.

25.

Dutner

Mines

Anderson

(2012). Irrigation trends among American Association of endodontists members: A web-based survey. Journal of Endodontics, 38(1), 37-40.

26.

Egro

F. M.

Saliu

O. T.

Nahai

Nguyen

V. T.

(2017). Aesthetic surgery fellowship selection criteria: A national fellowship director survey. Aesthetic Surgery Journal, 37, 961-966.

27.

Elving

W. J. L.

(2013). Skepticism and corporate social responsibility communications: The influence of fit and reputation. Journal of Marketing Communications, 19, 277-292.

28.

Fishbein

Ajzen

(1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

29.

Forehand

M. R.

Grier

(2003). When is honesty the best policy? The effect of stated company intent on consumer skepticism. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13, 349-356.

30.

Friedrich

McGuire

(2010). Individual differences in reasoning style as a moderator of the identifiable victim effect. Social Influence, 5, 182-201.

31.

Friestad

Wright

(1994). The persuasion knowledge model: How people cope with persuasion attempts. Journal of Consumer Research, 21(1), 1-31.

32.

Garcia

M. M.

Greenwood

(2015). Visualizing CSR: A visual framing analysis of US multinational companies. Journal of Marketing Communications, 21, 167-184.

33.

Godin

Kok

(1996). The theory of planned behavior: A review of its applications to health-related behaviors. American Journal of Health Promotion, 11(2), 87-98.

34.

Gross

(2008). Framing persuasive appeals: Episodic and thematic framing, emotional response, and policy opinion. Political Psychology, 29, 169-192.

35.

Gross

K. A.

D’Ambrosio

L. A.

(2004). Framing emotional response. Political Psychology, 25, 1-29.

36.

Grunig

J. E.

(1997). A situational theory of publics: Conceptual history, recent challenges and new research. In Moss

MacManus

Vercic

(Eds.), Public relations research: An international perspective (pp. 3-46). London, England: ITB Press.

37.

Hausenblas

H. A.

Carron

A. V.

Mack

D. E.

(1997). Application of the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior to exercise behavior: A meta-analysis. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 19(1), 36-51.

38.

Hayes

A. F.

(2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

39.

Henley

Grant

Elgot

McVeigh

O’Carroll

(2015). Britons rally to help people fleeing war and terror in Middle East. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/03/britons-rally-to-help-people-fleeing-war-and-terror-in-middle-east

40.

Hunt

Atkin

Krishnan

(2012). The influence of computer-mediated communication apprehension on motives for Facebook use. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 56, 187-202.

41.

Iyengar

(1990). Framing responsibility for political issues: The case of poverty. Political Behavior, 12, 19-40.

42.

Iyengar

(1991). Is anyone responsible? How television frames political issues. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

43.

Joireman

Liu

R. L.

Kareklas

(2018).). Images paired with concrete claims improve skeptical consumers’ responses to advertising promoting a firm’s good deeds. Journal of Marketing Communications, 24(1), 83-102.

44.

Kahneman

(2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

45.

Kahneman

Tversky

(1984). Choices, values, and frames. American Psychologist, 39, 341-350.

46.

Kim

Jin

(2016). Understanding emotionally involved publics. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 21, 465-482.

47.

Kim

J.-N.

Grunig

J. E.

(2011). Problem solving and communicative action: A situational theory of problem solving. Journal of Communication, 61, 120-149.

48.

Kim

K. J.

Sundar

S. S.

(2016). Mobile persuasion: Can screen size and presentation mode make a difference to trust? Human Communication Research, 42(1), 45-70.

49.

Kogut

Ritov

(2005). The singularity effect of identified victims in separate and joint evaluations. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 97, 106-116.

50.

Kuhne

Weber

Sommer

(2015). Beyond cognitive framing processes: Anger mediates the effects of responsibility framing on the preference for punitive measures. Journal of Communication, 65, 259-279.

51.

Lerner

J. S.

Keltner

(2000). Beyond valence: Toward a model of emotion-specific influences on judgment and choice. Cognition and Emotion, 14, 473-493.

52.

Lindsey

L. L. M.

(2005). Anticipated guilt as behavioral motivation: An examination of appeals to help unknown others through bone marrow donation. Human Communication Research, 31, 453-481.

53.

Lunenberg

Gosselt

J. F.

De Jong

D. T.

(2016). Framing CSR fit: How corporate social responsibility activities are covered by news media. Public Relations Review, 42, 943-951.

54.

Lutz

R. J.

(1985). Affective and cognitive antecedents of attitude toward the ad: A conceptual model. In Alwitt

L. F.

Mitchell

A. A.

(Eds.), Psychological processes and advertising effects (pp. 45-63). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

55.

MacKenzie

S. B.

Lutz

R. J.

(1989). An empirical examination of the structural antecedents of attitude toward the ad in an advertising pretesting context. Journal of Marketing, 53, 48-65.

56.

Manuel

Youn

Yoon

(2014). Functional matching effect in CRM: Moderating roles of perceived message quality and skepticism. Journal of Marketing Communications, 20, 397-418.

57.

Mardis

M. A.

(2009). Viewing Michigan’s digital future: Results of a survey of educators’ use of digital video in the USA. Learning, Media & Technology, 34, 243-257.

58.

Markowitz

E. M.

Slovic

Vastfjall

Hodges

S. D.

(2013). Compassion fade and the challenge of environmental conservation. Judgment and Decision Making, 8, 397-406.

59.

Mohr

L. A.

Eroglu

Ellen

P. S.

(1998). The development and testing of a measure of skepticism toward environmental claims in marketers’ communications. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, 32, 30-55.

60.

Niederdeppe

Gollust

S. E.

Barry

C. L.

(2014). Inoculation in competitive framing examining message effects on policy preferences. Public Opinion Quarterly, 78, 634-655.

61.

Nisbet

E. C.

Hart

P. S.

Myers

Ellithorpe

(2013). Attitude change in competitive framing environments? Open-/closed-mindedness, framing effects, and climate change. Journal of Communication, 63, 766-785. doi:10.1111/jcom.12040

62.

Obermiller

Spangenberg

E. R.

(1998). Development of a scale to measure consumer skepticism toward advertising. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 7, 159-186.

63.

Obermiller

Spangenberg

E. R.

(2000). On the origin and distinctness of skepticism toward advertising. Marketing Letters, 11, 311-322.

64.

Obermiller

Spangenberg

E. R.

MacLachlan

D. L.

(2005). Ad skepticism: The consequences of disbelief. Journal of Advertising, 34(3), 7-17.

65.

Ohanian

(1990). Construction and validation of a scale to measure celebrity endorsers’ perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. Journal of Advertising, 19(3), 39-52.

66.

Peters

Lipkus

Diefenbach

M. A.

(2006). The functions of affect in health communications and in the construction of health preferences. Journal of Communication, 56, 140-162.

67.

Peters

Vastfjall

Garling

Slovic

(2006). Affect and decision making: A “hot” topic. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 19, 79-85.

68.

Petty

R. E.

Cacioppo

J. T.

(1986). The elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 123-205.

69.

Pomering

Johnson

L. W.

(2009). Advertising corporate social responsibility initiatives to communicate corporate image: Inhibiting skepticism to enhance persuasion. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 14, 420-439.

70.

Rekom

J. V.

F. M.

Calter

D. M.

(2014). Communicating a company’s positive impact on society: Can plausible explanations secure authenticity? Journal of Business Research, 67, 1831-1838.

71.

Rhodes

(2017). Fear-appeal messages: Message processing and affective attitudes. Communication Research, 44, 952-975.

72.

Riffe

Lacy

Fico

(2014). Analyzing media messages: Using quantitative content analysis in research. New York, NY: Routledge.

73.

Rim

Kim

(2016). Dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) skepticism and their impacts on public evaluations toward CSR. Journal of Public Relations Research, 28, 248-267.

74.

Romani

Grappi

Bagozzi

R. P.

(2016). Corporate socially responsible initiatives and their effects on consumption of green products. Journal of Business Ethics, 135, 253-264. doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2485-0

75.

Servaes

Tamayo

(2013). The impact of corporate social responsibility on firm value: The role of customer awareness. Management Science, 59, 1045-1061.

76.

Shen

Dillard

J. P.

(2007). The influence of BIS/BAS and message framing on the processing of persuasive health messages. Communication Research, 34, 433-467.

77.

Skarmeas

Leonidou

C. N.

(2013). When consumers doubt, watch out! The role of CSR skepticism. Journal of Business Research, 66, 1831-1838.

78.

Slater

M. D.

Rouner

(2002). Entertainment-education and elaboration likelihood: Understanding the processing of narrative persuasion. Communication Theory, 12, 173-191.

79.

Slovic

Finucane

M. L.

Peters

MacGregor

D. G.

(2007). The affect heuristic. European Journal of Operational Research, 177, 1333-1352.

80.

Slovic

Peters

(2006). Risk perception and affect. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, 322-325.

81.

Slovic

Västfjäll

(2010). Affect, moral intuition, and risk. Psychological Inquiry: An International Journal for the Advancement of Psychological Theory, 21, 387-398.

82.

Smith

(2014). Fortune 500 companies spend more than $15bn on corporate responsibility. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/95239a6e-4fe0-11e4-a0a4-00144feab7de

83.

Soh

Reid

L. N.

King

K. W.

(2009). Measuring trust in advertising. Journal of Advertising, 38, 83-104.

84.

Thomson

E. R.

(2007). Development and validation of an internationally reliable short-form of the positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS). Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 38, 227-242.

85.

Valkenburg

P. M.

Semetko

H. A.

de Vreese

C. H.

(1999). The effects of news frames on readers’ thoughts and recall. Communication Research, 26, 550-569.

86.

Vastfjall

Slovic

Mayorga

Peters

(2014). Compassion fade: Affect and charity are greatest for a single child in need. PLoS ONE, 9(6), e100115.

87.

Wang

Murphy

(2010). In the office vs. outside the office: Supervisor-subordinate guanxi maintenance among Chinese and Western managers in China. Chinese Journal of Communication, 3, 147-166.

88.

Watson

Clark

L. A.

(1994). The PANAS-X: Manual for the positive and negative affect schedule-expanded form. Ames: The University of Iowa. Retrieved from http://ir.uiowa.edu/psychology_pubs/11/

89.

Yan

Dillard

J. P.

Shen

(2010). The effects of mood, message framing, and behavioral advocacy on persuasion. Journal of Communication, 60, 344-363.

90.

Zhang

Hanks

(2017). Consumer skepticism towards CSR messages: The joint effects of processing fluency, individuals’ need for cognition and mood. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29, 2070-2084.

91.

Zillman

Brosius

H.-B.

(2000). Exemplification in communication: The influence of case reports on the perception of issues. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.