Saying the Right Things to the Right Audience: The Influence of Message Strategy and Consumer Demographics on Reactions to Corporate Social Advocacy (CSA) Communications

Abstract

Despite a growing number of studies in corporate social advocacy (CSA), little is known about the role of demographic and message factors in shaping consumer reactions toward corporate initiatives. Through a 2 (gender: male vs. female) × 3 (age group: 18–34, 35–54, 55+) × 2 (message strategy: informational vs. narrative) online, between-subjects experiment (N = 528), we demonstrated that individual factors and message format can influence CSA outcomes. Findings suggested that, after reading a CSA message, males and younger consumers reported higher advocating, megaphoning, purchasing, and brand preference intentions than females and older consumers. Subsequent analyses also revealed that transportation and identification mediated the relationship between message strategy and the outcome variables. Further, the mediation found that male participants and older consumers showed distinct patterns in how transportation and identification influenced their reactions. The implications of these results provide strategic insights to corporate management to design effective CSA messages.