Coherence between saying and acting: The role of self-serving motives and consumer skepticism in corporate hypocrisy and CSR reputation
(A2024-119321)

AUTHORS

Barbara Culiberg, University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business; Mateja Kos Koklic, University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business; Mila Zečević, University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business; Petar Gidaković, IESEG School of Management, Univ. Lille CNRS; Vesna Zabkar, School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana

ABSTRACT

The prevailing positive relationship between CSR and consumer responses has recently been replaced by a more critical perspective and constructs of a more incredulous nature. Accordingly, we present a conceptual model that focuses on corporate hypocrisy as the main construct and examine its antecedents and outcomes. We propose that consumer skepticism and perceived corporate self-serving motives positively influence individual perceptions of corporate hypocrisy. Furthermore, corporate hypocrisy affects a company’s CSR reputation and negative word of mouth. The model tested on a sample of 1336 consumers confirmed the positive effect of skepticism on corporate hypocrisy. Surprisingly, the significant impact of self-serving motives on corporate hypocrisy was negative. As expected, corporate hypocrisy had a negative impact on CSR reputation and a positive impact on negative word of mouth. Finally, the effect of CSR reputation on negative word of mouth was also negative.