1 * Dong Tae Kim 2 and Jae Il Kim 3 1 Keimyung University, Korea 2 Korea University of Technology Education, Korea 3 Seoul National University, Korea ABSTRACT This study aims to seek ways to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) a vehicle for the sustainable development of companies and society. It examines the effect of CSR beneciary positioning on purchase intention based on social exchange theory. It also investigates the moderating roles of product category, situation, and consumers self-monitoring level based on impression management theory. The results show that consumers will be more likely to buy products from those companies which employ a self-benet CSR positioning. In addition, the ndings also suggest that the effect of the CSR beneciary positioning on purchase intention depends on product type, situation, and self-monitoring level. Specically, when the impression management motivation is heightened, people will pay more attention to information about companies CSR efforts. Thus, CSR beneciary positioning will have less effect on purchase intention. However, the effect of CSR beneciary positioning persists when the motivation is not heightened. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Received 10 February 2012; revised 25 June 2012; accepted 6 July 2012 Keywords: beneciary positioning; corporate social responsibility (CSR); impression management motivation; self-benet; self-monitoring; sustainable development Introduction C ORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) HAS BEEN WIDELY HIGHLIGHTED. GOVERNMENTS HAVE ENCOURAGED COMPA- nies to pay more attention to CSR. World organizations, such as the World Business Council for Sustain- able Development (WBCSD), call for companies to shoulder wider social responsibilities. Moreover, consumers interests in CSR have increased, and therefore, companies are actively investing in CSR activities as a way to fulll their societal obligations and to enhance their prot and sustainability (Smith, 2003; Cone, 2008, 2010; Babiak and Trendalova, 2011; Lo, 2010). It is likely that companies CSR activities could be an efcient investment to make more consumers purchase from these companies, leading to increased prot and sustainability. However, reality is different fromour expectations. Although consumers praise socially responsible companies, they are reluctant to compensate those companies by purchasing products fromthem. In the USA, green laundry detergents *Correspondence to: Moon Seop Kim, Professor, Department of Business Administration, Keimyung University, 1095 Dalgubeoldaero, Dalseo-Gu, Daegu, Korea, 704701. Email: mskim1@kmu.ac.kr
This article is based on the rst authors doctoral dissertation
Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt. 21, 1427 (2014) Published online 26 September 2012 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/csr.1300 and household cleaners accounted for less than 2% of the sales in their categories (Bonini and Oppenheim, 2008). Usually, to applaud those companies is one matter while to purchase products fromthose companies is another. If con- sumers do not compensate companies for their pro-social practice, companies will lose their motivation to continue investing in CSR activities (Babiak and Trendalova, 2011). Eventually, this vicious cycle will lead to a decrease of public interests, including the consumers interests. Therefore, an effective CSR strategy is sought which triggers a virtuous circle. Specically, if companies make a substantial commitment to CSR for the good of the public, such a commitment is acknowledged by consumers in their purchasing decisions. This purchase, then, spurs companies CSR activities, contributing to the sustainable development of both the company and society. However, despite this requirement, previous research failed to go further than suggest some reasons why CSR efforts are not inuential on purchase decisions. Existing research hints that when there is a conict between con- sumers interests (e.g. to purchase high quality products) and socials interests (e.g. to purchase pro-social products), consumers hesitate to sacrice their own interests for social interests (De Cremer and Van Dijk, 2002). However, previous research has not suggested ways to prevent or solve such conicts. Also, although the low diagnosticity (i.e. low relevance) of CSR information in purchase decisions was pointed out as another reason (Keller, 2003; Grhan-Canli and Batra, 2004), not enough effort was put forth to nd ways to enhance the diagnosticity so that CSR information may be considered as relevant by consumers in their purchase decisions. Therefore, this study aims to suggest ways to exploit CSR efforts as fruitful strategic investments for the sustainable development of companies and society. For this purpose, our research introduced a beneciary (other vs self) positioning frame from donation literatures (Pessemier et al., 1977; Holmes et al., 2002; Fisher et al., 2008; White and Peloza, 2009) as well as impression management theory (Berkowitz and Daniels, 1964; Leary and Kowalski, 1990). Specically, the current study examines the effect of CSR beneciary positioning on purchase intention based on social exchange theory. Furthermore, this study investigates the moderating role of product category, pur- chase situation, and consumers dispositional self-monitoring level based on impression management theory. Literature Review and Hypothesis The effect of CSR on purchase intention CSR refers to social-obligation-related activities of a rm (Brown and Dacin, 1997), obligations of a rm to society (Smith, 2003), and activities of a rm to fulll social responsibility (Kotler and Lee, 2005). There are mixed results about the effect of CSR activities on purchase decisions, from a positive effect to a null or even negative effect. Specically, some research argues that consumers tend to give incentives [penalties] to socially responsible [irresponsible] companies and reveals that consumers are loyal to ethical companies (Matute-Vallejo et al., 2011). Consumers are willing to purchase products from those companies (Murry and Vogel, 1997) and pay higher prices to companies whose activities are more ethical than consumers expectations (Creyer and Ross, 1997; Trudel and Cotte, 2009). Also, consumers are unwilling to purchase or pay lower prices for products from companies who do not invest in CSR activities (Trudel and Cotte, 2009). On the other hand, other research shows the opposite results. CSR activities negatively affect purchase intention when consumers perceive that a company is investing in CSR activities at the expense of the companys core capability (Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001). CSR activities also decrease satisfaction level of consumers when a company, lacking in capabil- ity (e.g. innovativeness), participates in CSR activities. This is because CSR efforts are expected to help companies acquire an institutional legitimacy in society. However, CSR activities of these companies signal problems in priority and strategy of the companies, thus hurting the legitimacy of the company (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983). Previous studies have identied some variables which will affect the effect of CSR efforts on consumer buying. These variables include relatedness of CSR domain to the existing product category, consumers personal values, corporate reputation, product quality, type of benet valued in a product, perceived sincerity of CSR efforts, and response mode (Madrigal, 2000; Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001; Collins et al., 2007; Madrigal and Boush, 2008; Irwin and Naylor, 2009; Luchs et al., 2010). For example, CSR efforts have a positive effect on purchase decisions when the CSR domain of the company is related with the companys existing products or when the CSR domain is related with corporate capability (Madrigal, 15 Csr for Sustainable Development Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt. 21, 1427 (2014) DOI: 10.1002/csr 2000; Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001). Also, when consumers regard the CSR domain as attending to their personal values, they are motivated to reward a company for its CSR efforts by purchasing products from the company (Collins et al., 2007; Madrigal and Boush, 2008). CSR efforts increase consumers preference for such products as baby shampoos and facial soaps when gentleness-related attributes of the product are valued, whereas CSR efforts decrease consumers preference for such products as car shampoos and laundry detergents when strength-related attributes of the product are valued. This is because the ethicality of a company is positively [negatively] associated with the gentleness [strength] related attributes of products (Luchs et al., 2010). In addition, a response mode deter- mines the inuence of CSR efforts: people are more inuenced by CSR efforts when they constitute a consideration set by excluding alternatives rather than including alternatives (Irwin and Naylor, 2009). Other research found that a conict between the consumers interests and social interests along with the low diag- nosticity of CSR information in purchase decisions were two major reasons why CSR efforts have little effect on con- sumers purchases. First, this conict comes from two apparently contradictory goals. That is, consumers purchase behavior inherently focuses on selsh goals pursuing their own interests, while the purchase of pro-social products focuses on altruistic goals pursuing social or public interest. Consumers generally purchase products not for social interest but for themselves, their family, or friends, except when consumers are inherently altruistic or regard ethical consumption very highly (Collins et al., 2007). Therefore, when consumers come to consider ethical purchasing (i.e. purchasing products from companies who actively invest in CSR activities), they come into conict between their interests and socials interests. Furthermore, because consumers are reluctant to sacrice their private interests in fa- vor of social interests (De Cremer and Van Dijk, 2002), consumers positive CSR associations regarding the company do not always lead to actual purchase (Keller, 2003; Grhan-Canli and Batra, 2004; Berens et al., 2005). Secondly, some research, based on an accessibility-diagnosticity framework, suggests that CSR association is not diagnostic (i.e. relevant) information in purchase decisions and does not lead to purchasing, whereas a companys capability association is diagnostic information in purchase decisions and does lead to purchasing (Grhan-Canli and Batra, 2004). More specically, CSR is not considered for purchase decisions at hand except for some cases in which the CSR domain is related to the companys capability, and consumers are altruistic or primarily concerned with values represented in the CSR activities (Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001; Collins et al., 2007; Madrigal and Boush, 2008). Even though these two reasons (i.e. the conict and the low diagnosticity) are intermingled and cannot be clearly distinguished from one another, this research will explore solutions to resolve each reason separately. Specically, this study investigates the effect of CSR beneciary positioning as a way to solve this conict and then examines the role of impression management related factors (i.e. product type, purchase situation, and consumers dispositional self-monitoring level) as a means of enhancing the diagnosticity of CSR information. CSR beneciary positioning According to the social exchange theory, people invest in relationships based on the reward-cost ratio. People invest in relationships only when the rewards outweigh the costs from the relationship (Blau, 1964). Research on donation il- lustrated that people readily donate to charitable causes when the rewards or benet for the people override the cost, whereas people hesitate to donate when the cost outweighs the benet. Therefore, self-benet appeals which allow donors to obtain self-benet through their donation are more effective than other-benet appeals which allow others in need to obtain benet through their donation in increasing donation because the former appeals help people to justify to themselves that their donation serves their own self-interest (Holmes et al., 2002; White and Peloza, 2009). By the same logic, if the CSR beneciary is positioned as self vs other, it will become easier for consumers to justify their altruistic purchase decision (i.e. purchases of products from companies who are active in CSR initiatives) even though selsh goals are activated in the purchase situation. That is, the self-benet communication (i.e. you can obtain benet through this altruistic purchase) prevents or resolves conict between consumers self-interests and social interests, increasing the pro-social purchase intention, whereas the generic CSR communication, other-benet communication (i.e. others or society can obtain benet through this altruistic purchase), generates such a conict. H1: Purchase intention will be higher when the CSR beneciary is positioned as self versus other However, this effect of CSR beneciary positioning on purchase intention can disappear when impression management motivation is heightened and CSR information is considered as diagnostic in purchase decisions. 16 M. S. Kim et al. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt. 21, 1427 (2014) DOI: 10.1002/csr In the following section, heightened impression management motivation will be introduced as a variable which makes CSR information diagnostic for purchase decisions. Impression management Impression management refers to the process by which people manage their impression and adjust their behavior in order to make a good impression on others. Despite the egoistic human nature, people behave in a manner re- quired by others or by society in order to manage their impression, enabling people to maintain relationships with others and to cooperate with others for the public interest (Leary and Kowalski, 1990). Leary and Kowalskis (1990) two-component model of impression management suggests that impression man- agement is composed of impression motivation (i.e. the desire to convey a particular self-image) and impression construction (i.e. the choice of an appropriate self-image and a way to convey that image). When people become concerned about their public self-image, this concern activates not only impression motivation but also the impres- sion construction process. Moreover, during this impression construction process, pro-social behavior for an altru- istic reason, rather than an egoistic reason, is selected because a good deed stemming from an altruistic reason, rather than from a selsh reason, is acknowledged by social norms (Berkowitz and Daniels, 1964). For example, when a public self-image concern is heightened, other-benet appeals are more effective to induce donation behav- ior rather than self-benet appeals (White and Peloza, 2009). By the same logic, when people consider public self-image, their impression management motivation increases and this motivation allows people to consider social image-related aspects of products (Lee and Shavitt, 2006), including CSR information. That is, when impression management motivation is low, CSR information is considered for purchase decisions only by some people who are inherently altruistic or who support the do- main of CSR initiatives. Conversely, when impression management motivation is high, CSR information is diagnostic for purchase decisions even by other people who are not altruistic or do not support the domain of CSR initiatives. Furthermore, because pro-social behavior for altruistic (vs egoistic) reasons is normatively ap- proved of (Berkowitz and Daniels, 1964; White, 1984; Fisher et al., 2008), heightened impression management motivation makes altruistic (vs egoistic) reasons more inuential and dilutes the relative inuence of self (vs other) benet positioning (White and Peloza, 2009). Therefore, it could be argued that the effect of CSR beneciary (other vs self) positioning on purchase intention is inuenced by heightened impression management motivation. More- over, the role of product category, purchase situation, and consumer disposition, which are related to this motivation, will be investigated. Product category People use certain products to express their social identity and infer users social identity (Burroughs et al., 1991; Berger and Heath, 2007). Thus, the symbolic, visible, and identity-relevant products are more frequently used than the instrumental, invisible and identity-irrelevant ones for this purpose (Bearden and Etzel, 1982; Shavitt, 1990; Berger and Heath, 2007). When people purchase social identity-related products such as wrist watches, jackets, or T-shirts, they consider whether their chosen products appropriately express their social identity. Further, people consider the social image-related aspects of products in order to manage their social image and impression (Shavitt et al., 1994; Lee and Shavitt, 2006). For instance, one of the success factors of the hybrid vehicle, Prius, was that it is an appropriate medium to express a drivers identity as an environmental leader (Maynard, 2007). As a result, CSR information, which is related to the users social image, becomes more diagnostic or considered for the purchase of social identity-related products rather than social identity-unrelated products. Furthermore, because good deeds for altruistic reasons are normatively approved of (Berkowitz and Daniels, 1964; White, 1984; Fisher et al., 2008), it is normatively more highly recommended to purchase social-identity-related products from socially responsible companies for altruistic reasons rather than for selsh reasons. Putting it together, it is expected that when people purchase products related to social identity, the spontaneously heightened impression management motivation increases the diagnosticity of CSR information. Such motivation also makes altruistic (vs egoistic) reasons more inuential, diminishing the relative inuence of self (vs other) 17 Csr for Sustainable Development Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt. 21, 1427 (2014) DOI: 10.1002/csr benet positioning of CSR on purchase intention. In contrast, when people purchase products unrelated to social identity (e.g. detergent, socks), the impression management motivation would be low. This low impression management motivation may neither increase the diagnosticity of CSR information nor make altruistic reasons more inuential, thus maintaining the effect of CSR beneciary positioning. H2: Product category will moderate the effect of CSR beneciary (self vs. other) positioning on purchase intention. Specically, the effect of CSR beneciary positioning will disappear in social identity-relevant products while such an effect will remain in social identity-irrelevant products. Purchase situation and disposition of consumer A choice situation inuences impression management motivation. When people make a decision publicly or account for their decision, impression management motivation increases (Reis and Gruzen, 1976; Leary and Kowalski, 1990; Ratner and Kahn, 2002). More specically, when others are watching their decision or their decision might be known to others, and when they present their choice publicly, people are motivated to manage their impression (Arkin et al., 1980; Schlenker and Weigold, 1992). Thus, people consider social-image-related aspects of products including CSR information for purchase decisions. Furthermore, as shown above, when impression management motivation is heightened by public choice situation, a good deed stemming from altruistic reasons is selected because of its normative appropriateness (Berkowitz and Daniels, 1964; Leary and Kowalski, 1990). Putting it together, it is expected that when the purchase situation is public, heightened impression manage- ment motivation increases the diagnosticity of CSR information and emphasizes altruistic (vs egoistic) reasons, thus eliminating the relative inuence of positioning CSR beneciary as self vs other on purchase intention. In contrast, when the purchase situation is private, the low impression management motivation may not increase the diagnosticity of CSR information or emphasize altruistic reasons, thus maintaining the effect of CSR bene- ciary positioning. However, the inuence of purchase situation on impression management motivation might vary with peoples disposition. Some people carefully monitor how they project themselves to others and adjust their behavior in order to give a good impression to others, whereas other people pay little attention to their public image. According to the literature on individual differences in impression management motivation, high self-monitors who are high in public self-awareness or high in self-monitoring, are more conscious of their impressions on others, thus being affected by social inuence (Snyder, 1974; Fenigstein et al., 1975; Scheier and Carver, 1985). In other words, high self-monitors behave differently depending on whether they are in public or in private situations. Specically, these high self-monitors are conscious of others presence, ask themselves about the behavior required in a situation, and tend to behave based on these requirements in order to give a good impression (Leary, 1995). Conversely, low self-monitors who are low in public self-awareness or low in self-monitoring are indifferent to required behavior cues, lack the capability to manage their impression, and are reluctant to follow the norm (Snyder, 1974). To summarize, purchase situation has an inuence on the impression management motivation of high self-monitors, thus moderating the effect of CSR beneciary positioning on purchase intention. Specically, in a private purchase situation where their impression management motivation is low, they are more sensitive to quality or price information connected with their self-interests rather than CSR information connected with their social image. As a result, their purchase decision is inuenced by the CSR beneciary positioning. However, in a public purchase situation where their impression management motivation is high, CSR information is considered for purchase decisions and moreover, altruistic reasons become more inuential than egoistic reasons, eliminating the effect of CSR beneciary positioning. On the other hand, purchase situation does not inuence the impression management motivation of low self-monitors and hence, the effect of CSR beneciary positioning remains for the low self-monitors. H3: The effect of CSR beneciary positioning on purchase intention will be moderated by the purchase situation and the level of self-monitoring. 18 M. S. Kim et al. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt. 21, 1427 (2014) DOI: 10.1002/csr For high self-monitors, the effect of CSR beneciary positioning on purchase intention will be moderated by a purchase situation. Specically, purchase intention will be higher when the CSR beneciary is positioned as self vs other in the private purchase situation, whereas purchase intention will not vary with CSR beneciary positioning in the public purchase situation. Conversely, for low self-monitors, the effect of CSR beneciary positioning on the purchase intention will not be moderated by a purchase situation. A description of the theoretical model and the hypotheses are presented in Figure 1. Experiment 1 Experiment 1 intends to test whether purchase intention increases when the CSR beneciary is positioned as self versus other (hypothesis 1) and to examine whether this CSR beneciary positioning effect is moderated by product category (hypothesis 2). Method Pretest A pretest was conducted to validate the CSR beneciary positioning information and to select social-identity-related versus unrelated products. Fair-trade was chosen as a CSR domain because of consumers growing interest in fair- trade products; cotton was chosen as a fair-trade product because various products (e.g. T-shirt, underwear, socks) can be manufactured from cotton. Forty-six participants were recruited for extra credit in an introductory marketing course and were randomly given a booklet containing either the other-benet or self-benet version of CSR infor- mation. Participants responded to questions such as how much of the given information was related to other-benet (To what degree is this information associated with interests of others? and To what degree is this information focused on helping others?) and to self-benet (To what degree is this information associated with the interests of the purchaser? and To what degree is this information focused on helping the purchaser?) on a seven-point scale (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree). These items were adapted from White and Peloza (2009). The rst two items were averaged for the other-benet index and the second two items were averaged for the self-benet index. Afterwards, participants rated the identity relevance level of products (i.e. T-shirt, pants, hat, and socks) (Does a T-shirt greatly express your identity?; Can you tell a person by his or her T-shirt selection?) on a seven- point scale (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree). These items were adapted from Berger and Heath (2007) and were averaged for the identity relevance index. Participants showed a tendency to evaluate the other-benet (vs self-benet) version of CSR information as being more focused on other-benets, and the self-benet (vs other-benet) version as being more focused on self-benets. However, such a tendency was not statistically signicant (for each, M other vs. self = 5.29 vs. 4.75; t(44) = 1.64, p >.1; M other vs. self = 3.06 vs. 3.45; t(44) = 1.11, p >.1). Therefore, based on additional interviews, other-benet and self- benet versions were modied to be distinctively different from each other in their relatedness with self-benet. This modied version was used for the main experiment. The means (with standard deviations in parentheses) Figure 1. Proposed model and hypotheses 19 Csr for Sustainable Development Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt. 21, 1427 (2014) DOI: 10.1002/csr of the identity relevance levels of the products were T-shirt = 5.13 (1.05); hat = 4.53 (1.17); pants = 4.42 (1.22); and socks = 3.01 (1.48), respectively. T-shirts [socks] were chosen as identity relevant [irrelevant] products, and the identity relevance level of T-shirts was signicantly greater than that of socks (t(45) = 9.15, p = .000) Participants and design Eighty-nine undergraduate students from a university in Korea were recruited in exchange for extra credit in an introductory marketing course. They were randomly assigned to the conditions of a 2 (CSR beneciary: other vs self) 2 (product category: socks vs T-shirt) between-subjects design. Procedure Participants were given a survey booklet and either read other-benet or self-benet version of CSR information. The text of the other-benet [self-benet] CSR information was as follows: FT. Co. is a clothing company sourcing fair-trade certied cotton. We pay a fair price to our farmers in seven countries including India, Peru, and Cameroon. The fair-trade agreement of FT. Co. guaranteed farmer groups sustainable incomes, thus improving the quality of farmers lives. Also, cotton farmers receive benets including water supplies, education, and hygiene from F.T. Co. [thus improving the quality of cotton. You can purchase clothes made from high quality cotton from F.T. Co.]. The purchase intention of T-shirts [socks] from this company was assessed using two items (I will purchase the T-shirt [socks] and It is likely that I will buy the T-shirt [socks]) adopted from Putrevu and Lord (1994) on a seven- point scale (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree). Afterward, participants responded to the CSR beneciary manipulation check items (i.e. items for other-benet; items for self-benet; and the identity relevance manipulation check items). After answering the demographic questions, participants were debriefed. Results Manipulation checks To examine the effectiveness of the CSR beneciary manipulation, a 2 (CSR beneciary: other vs self) 2 (product category: socks vs T-shirt) ANOVA was conducted on the perceived relatedness to other-benet and self-benet, respectively. The results revealed a main effect of CSR beneciary only on the perceived relatedness to self-benet (F(1,85) = 7.00, p <.01), whereby participants in the self-benet conditions considered the given CSR information as more related to their self-interests than did participants in the other-benet condition (M other vs. self = 3.23 vs 3.90). As expected, there was no signicant main effect or signicant interaction effect of CSR beneciary and product category on the perceived relatedness with other-benet. Therefore, the manipulation of CSR beneciary was successful. Also, to examine the effectiveness of product category manipulation, a 2 (CSR beneciary: other vs self) 2 (product category: socks vs T-shirt) ANOVA was conducted on the perceived social identity relevance of each product. As expected, there was only a main effect of the product category (M socks vs. T-shirt = 3.29 vs. 4.52; F(1,85) = 14.79, p = .000), indicating that participants perceived identity relevance of T-shirts as higher than that of socks. Test of hypotheses To test hypotheses 1 and 2, a 2 (CSR beneciary: other vs self) 2 (product category: socks vs T-shirt) ANOVA was conducted on the purchase intention. The main effect of product category was not signicant, but the main effect of CSR beneciary was marginally signicant and more importantly, this effect was manifested by the predicted inter- action effect of CSR beneciary and product category (for each, F(1,85) <1; F(1,85) = 2.79, p <.1; F(1,85) = 4.85, p <.05). In addition, as shown in Figure 2, follow-up contrasts showed a difference in the identity irrelevant product (i.e. socks), whereby participants displayed greater intent to purchase products in the self-benet condition (M self = 5.00) rather than the other-benet condition (M other = 3.94); this difference was statistically signicant 20 M. S. Kim et al. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt. 21, 1427 (2014) DOI: 10.1002/csr (F(1,85) = 7.60, p <.01). Conversely, in the identity relevant product (i.e., T-shirts), purchase intention did not vary with CSR beneciary positioning (M other vs. self = 4.65 vs. 4.50; F(1,85) <1). Hypotheses 1 and 2 were supported. Discussion These results support our prediction that the positioning of CSR beneciary as self enhances consumers purchase intention (hypothesis 1). This is due to the fact that self-benet CSR positioning helps consumers justify their purchase decisions and therefore, prevents or resolves conicts between their own interests and social interests (Holmes et al., 2002; White and Peloza, 2009), thus increasing purchase intention toward socially responsible products. In addition, this experiment supports our proposition that the effect of CSR beneciary positioning on purchase intention is moderated by product type (hypothesis 2). Specically, self-benet positioning rather than other-benet positioning more effectively enhances the purchase of identity irrelevant products, whereas CSR beneciary positioning does not change the purchase intention of identity relevant products. This occurs because when people purchase social identity-related products, they impulsively consider the image-related aspects of products including CSR information in order to manage their social image (Shavitt et al., 1994; Lee and Shavitt, 2006). Moreover, altruistic reasons versus selsh reasons for good deeds are emphasized due to social approval (Berkowitz and Daniels, 1964; Leary and Kowalski, 1990). Therefore, the relative inuence of self benet positioning on purchase intention disappears. In contrast, when people purchase social identity-unrelated products, impression management motivation is not activated and therefore, positioning of CSR beneciary as self is inuential on purchase intention. Experiment 2 Experiment 2 aims to examine whether CSR beneciary positioning effect is moderated by purchase situation and individual disposition (i.e. dispositional self-monitoring level) (hypothesis 3). In this experiment, fair-trade coffee beans were selected as a fair-trade product because fair-trade coffee beans have been attracting consumers interest with the increase of coffeehouse chains selling certied fair-trade coffee. Method Participants and design Seventy-four undergraduate students from a university in Korea were recruited in exchange for extra credit in an introductory marketing course. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the four groups in a 2 (CSR bene- ciary: other vs self) 2 (purchase situation: private vs public) between-subjects design. Responses of two participants Figure 2. Purchase intention as a function of CSR beneciary and product type 21 Csr for Sustainable Development Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt. 21, 1427 (2014) DOI: 10.1002/csr who did not respond to some questions were removed. Thus, responses from 72 participants were used for the subsequent analysis. Participants dispositional self-monitoring levels were measured as a continuous variable and used as an independent variable. Procedure Participants were given a booklet and were informed that the study was composed of two unrelated tasks. Each task had a different heading and font style in order to make each task look as if it pertained to a different study. In order to manipulate purchase situation, participants were given verbal and written instructions modeled after the accountability manipulation of Ratner and Kahn (2002) and White and Peloza (2009). Half of the participants in the public purchase condition were told that their purchase intentions would be made public (i.e. discussed with other students) and were reminded of this fact on the rst page of the booklet, whereas the participants in the private purchase condition were told that their purchase intentions would be private and were reminded of this fact on the rst page of the booklet. In the rst task, participants read other-benet or self-benet versions of the CSR information of a coffeehouse chain. This CSR beneciary manipulation was similar to the CSR beneciary manipulation used in experiment 1, except that coffee beans were used instead of cotton. After reading the CSR information, participants reported their purchase intention by responding to two questions which were used in experiment 1. Afterward, participants responded to the CSR beneciary (other vs self) manipulation check items, which were used in experiment 1, and purchase situation manipulation check items (I was not conscious of others when I responded to the questions; I thought my response would not be made public; I was conscious of others when I responded to the questions; I thought my response would be made public) on a seven-point scale (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree). A purchase situation index was created by reversing the scores of the rst two items and averaging these reversed items and the last two items. In the latter task, participants completed a ller task consisting of several unrelated questionnaires. They then completed the 18-item version of the self-monitoring scale (Snyder and Gangestad, 1986) on a seven-point scale (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree). A self-monitoring index was created by reversing the scores of ten low self-monitoring items (e.g. I would not change my opinions or the way I do things in order to please someone else or win their favor) and averaging these reversed items and eight high self-monitoring items (e.g. In different situations and with different people, I often act like a very different person). Results Manipulation checks To test the effectiveness of the CSR beneciary manipulation, a 2 (CSR beneciary: other vs self) 2 (purchase situation: private vs public) ANOVA was conducted on the perceived relatedness to other-benet and self-benet. As expected, there was a main effect of CSR beneciary only on the perceived relatedness to self-benet (F(1,68) = 7.29, p <.01), whereby participants in the self-benet conditions considered the given CSR information as more related to their self-interest than did participants in the other-benet condition (M Other vs. Self = 3.21 vs 3.96). On the other hand, there was no signicant main effect or interaction effect of CSR beneciary and purchase situation on the perceived relatedness to other-benet, as expected. Therefore, the manipulation of CSR beneciary appeared effective. To assess the effectiveness of the purchase situation manipulation, a 2 (CSR beneciary: other vs self) 2 (purchase situation: private vs public) ANOVA was conducted on the pur- chase situation index. The signicant main effect was neither evident nor any signicant interaction effect of CSR beneciary and purchase situation (for all, F(1,68) <1). This result will be discussed in the following general discussion section. Test of hypothesis To test hypothesis 3, a multiple regression was performed on purchase intention with CSR beneciary (dummy coded as 0= other and 1 = self), purchase situation (dummy coded as 0= private and 1 = public), mean-centered self-monitoring level, their three two-way interactions, and one three-way interaction, as predictors. Based on the recommendations and procedures of Aiken and West (1991) and Fitzsimons (2008), self-monitoring level was used 22 M. S. Kim et al. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt. 21, 1427 (2014) DOI: 10.1002/csr as a continuous variable instead of as a dichotomized variable (i.e. by a median split). As shown in Table 1, a simple effect of CSR beneciary, interaction effect of CSR beneciary self-monitoring, and interaction effect of purchase situation self-monitoring were signicant (for each, b = .43, t = 2.64, p <.05; b = .50, t = 2.80, p <.01; b= .48, t = 2.78, p <.01). More importantly, these effects were qualied by the predicted three-way interaction (b = .43, t = 2.31, p <.05). No other effects were signicant (ps >.1). These results indicate that positioning of CSR beneciary as self is more effective to enhance consumers purchase intention and the effect of CSR beneciary positioning is moderated by purchase situation and self-monitoring level. To further interpret these interactions, simple slope tests were performed on purchase intention when self-monitoring level was centered at 1 standard deviation above (i.e. high self-monitors) and below the mean (i.e. low self-monitors) (Aiken and West, 1991; Fitzsimons, 2008). For low self-monitors (1SD), as shown in Figure 3a, simple effect of CSR beneciary and purchase situation, and interaction effect of CSR beneciary situation were not signicant (ps >.10). However, for high self-monitors (+1SD), as depicted in Figure 3b, simple effects of CSR beneciary and purchase situation were signicant, respectively (for each, b = .87, t = 3.29, p <.01; b= .61, t = 3.09, p <.01). More importantly, the two-way interaction of CSR beneciary situation was signicant (b = .64, t = 2.18, p <.05). Specically, self-benet (vs other-benet) CSR positioning was more effective in increasing purchase intention in the private condition (M other vs. self = 3.25 vs. 5.86; t = 3.29, p <.01), whereas CSR beneciary positioning did not signicantly affect purchase intention in the public condition (M other vs. self = 5.08 vs. 5.49; t <1). In addition, the other-benet CSR positioning was more effective in the public condition (M public = 5.08) rather than in the private condition (M private =3.25). This difference was statistically signicant (t =3.09, p <.01). However, the effect of self-benet CSR positioning on purchase intention did not vary with the purchase situation (M private vs. public =5.86 vs. 5.49; t <1). Putting it together, hypothesis 3 was partially supported. Discussion The results of the second experiment reveal that the effect of CSR beneciary positioning is moderated by the interaction of purchase situation and consumers dispositional self-monitoring level (hypothesis 3). More specically, the effect of CSR beneciary positioning depends on the purchase situation only for high self-monitors. Such depen- dency occurs because high self-monitors adjust their behavior in order to manage their social image while low self- monitors are less inclined to change their behavior in order to manage their social image (Snyder, 1974; Snyder and Gangestad, 1986). Specically, for high self-monitors, self-benet (vs other-benet) CSR positioning is more inuential on purchase intention in the private situation, whereas this beneciary positioning effect disappears in the public situation. In addition, the other-benet CSR positioning is more inuential on purchase intention in the public purchase situation rather than in the private purchase situation, while the inuence of self-benet CSR positioning on purchase intention is constant, regardless of purchase situation. Standardized b coefcients t-value p- value (Constant) 10.99 .000 CSR Beneciary .43 2.64 .010 * Purchase Situation .15 .93 .358 Self-Monitoring -.21 1.34 .184 CSR Beneciary Purchase Situation -.11 -.51 .612 CSR Beneciary Self-Monitoring .50 2.80 .007 ** Purchase Situation Self-Monitoring .48 2.78 .007 ** CSR Beneciary Purchase Situation Self-Monitoring -.43 2.31 .024 * Table 1. Regression analysis for purchase intention Note. R 2 = .54 (Adjusted R 2 = .29), F(7, 64) = 3.67, p <.01 *p <.05 **p <.001 23 Csr for Sustainable Development Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt. 21, 1427 (2014) DOI: 10.1002/csr General Discussion This research makes several contributions to CSR literature by suggesting some ways to enhance the positive effect of CSR on consumers purchase decisions. Most of all, our research enriches CSR literature by introducing a CSR beneciary positioning frame which was studied in donation literatures (Pessemier et al., 1977; Holmes et al., 2002; Fisher et al., 2008; White and Peloza, 2009). Even though previous research argues that consumers hesitate to pur- chase products from socially responsible companies because they are not inclined to sacrice their own interests for social interests when they experience conicts between those two interests (De Cremer and Van Dijk, 2002), there was not enough effort put forth to nd ways to prevent or resolve those conicts. Consistent with the claims of the social exchange theory (Blau, 1964), the current study illustrates that purchase intention increases when the CSR beneciary is positioned as self. This result indicates that self-benet CSR communication helps consumers justify their pro-social purchases and resolve conict between their own interests and social interests (Holmes et al., 2002; White and Peloza, 2009). Thus, the probability of purchasing from socially responsible companies increases, whereas other-benet CSR communication is not effective in preventing or resolving such a conict, and thus, has little inuence on purchase intention. Our ndings also provide a boundary condition under which CSR beneciary positioning inuences purchase decisions, stipulating the moderating role of product type, purchase situation, and the self-monitoring level of con- sumer. Although some research presents that CSR information is not inuential in purchase decision due to its lack of diagnosticity for product evaluation (Keller, 2003; Grhan-Canli and Batra, 2004) and suggests some conditions under which CSR information is diagnostic (e.g. exceptional consumers who are altruistic or concerned with values represented in the CSR activities) (Collins et al., 2007; Madrigal and Boush, 2008), the ways to enhance the Figure 3. Purchase intention as a function of CSR beneciary, purchase situation, and self-monitoring 24 M. S. Kim et al. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt. 21, 1427 (2014) DOI: 10.1002/csr diagnosticity of CSR information are not adequately presented. This research introduces the impression manage- ment theory and examines various means (i.e. product type, purchase situation, and consumers self-monitoring level) to increase the diagnosticity of CSR information and the inuence of altruistic reasons. Specically, this study demonstrates that the effect of CSR beneciary positioning on purchase decisions depends on product type. When people purchase social-identity-related products, the social-image-related aspects of products, including CSR information, become immediately diagnostic (Shavitt et al., 1994; Lee and Shavitt, 2006). Moreover, altruistic reasons become more inuential in purchase decisions because pro-social behavior stemming from altruistic reason is publicly acknowledged (Berkowitz and Daniels, 1964; Leary and Kowalski, 1990), eliminating the relative inuence of self-benet positioning on purchase intention. In contrast, when people purchase social-identity-unrelated products, the diagnosticity of image-related aspects or the relative inuence of altruistic reasons do not change, maintaining the effect of CSR beneciary positioning. Also, this study found that the effect of CSR beneciary positioning varies with purchase situation and consumers dispositional self-monitoring levels. High self-monitors, who are consistently monitoring their social impression and control their behavior in order to manage their social image, are inuenced by purchase situation (Snyder and Gangestad, 1986; Leary, 1995). That is, high self-monitors tend to purchase from socially responsible companies when CSR beneciary is positioned as self vs other in private purchase situations, whereas their pur- chase intention does not change with CSR beneciary positioning in public purchase situations. CSR information positioned as other-benet can be inuential only if high self-monitors are placed in a public purchase situation compared to private purchase situation. In contrast, low self-monitors, who are inherently indifferent to their impression on others, are not inuenced by purchase situation (Snyder and Gangestad, 1986; Leary, 1995; White and Peloza, 2009). Managerial Implications This research suggests some managerial implications for companies who want to make their CSR efforts a more protable investment for their sustainable development. Most of all, companies can use CSR as a strategic invest- ment to increase their sales and prots by communicating the beneciaries of CSR as the consumers themselves. Also, current research provides some multilateral CSR communication guidelines encompassing product category, purchase situation, and consumers disposition which could be used to maximize the positive effect of CSR beneciary positioning on purchase decision. For example, companies with social-identity-irrelevant products (vs identity-relevant products) can make CSR efforts more inuential on the purchase by presenting the CSR beneciary as consumers themselves in the advertisement. Also, companies need to differentiate the CSR beneciary depending on the purchase situation (private vs public) in the point of purchase (POP). More specically, a communication strategy to make the perception of purchase situations as public could efciently encourage high self-monitors (vs low self-monitors) to participate in pro-social purchasing. Moreover, pro-social purchases by high self-monitors in private purchase situations could be increased by presenting the CSR beneciary as consumers themselves as well as others. Limitations and Future Directions The current research has some limitations. First, undergraduate students were recruited for this study and such samples might constitute a limitation in testifying real-life consumption behaviors. Even though undergraduate students are one of the major consumer segments of coffeehouse chains in Korea, further research using other samples could enhance the generalizablility of our ndings to real consumer settings. Also, the current research was conducted in Korea (i.e. interdependent culture) where people are more conscious of the presence of others and are likely to follow the norm and behavior of group members more than the people in western countries, including the EU and the USA (i.e. independent culture). Given these cultural idiosyncrasies, future research might be expanded to examine the moderating role of purchase situation in independent cultures. It is expected that purchase situation propels people into being more conscious of others in the interdependent culture than in the independent culture. 25 Csr for Sustainable Development Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt. 21, 1427 (2014) DOI: 10.1002/csr In addition, the purchase situation manipulation in experiment 2, which was modeled after the manipulations of Ratner and Kahn (2002) and White and Peloza (2009), was not effective. It is assumed that the manipulation may have contradicted participants self-esteem to acknowledge that they were conscious of others during their responses to the questionnaire, and thus, their responses were inuenced by the presence of others. Therefore, there is the possibility that even though this manipulation was effective, manipulation checks, using self-reporting, may have inadequately portrayed the effectiveness of this manipulation. Furthermore, Ratner and Kahn (2002) and White and Peloza (2009, p.113) did not report this manipulation check and related statistics. 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