Can Corporate Social Responsibility Reputation Backfire? The Research on Consumer's Retaliation Behavior in Genetically Modified Product-Harm Crisis

Abstract

Abstract:

The widespread development of genetic engineering technology has given birth to a new type of Product-Harm Crisis (PHC) related to genetically modified products. In the new type of PHC, consumers are generally confronted with an increased dread risk and unknown risk compared to conventional PHC. It makes the traditional risk prevention strategy of building good corporate social responsibility (CSR) reputation fail. Given that, we explain the relevant psychological motivation of the failure according to cognitive dissonance theory. Then on this basis we identify the critical situation and mechanism that CSR reputation strategy work or fail referring to criminal psychology. Several conclusions are achieved:in the new type of PHC, how CSR reputation affects consumer's retaliation behavior depends on the level of the corporation's greed that consumer perceived. When the perceived greed is low, good CSR reputation plays a similar role with that in conventional PHC. That is to say it still acts as a buffer on retaliation behavior through reducing righteous anger. On the contrary, when the perceived greed is high, good CSR reputation will act as an assistor on retaliation behavior through stimulating righteous anger. The results illuminate the importance of developing crisis prevention strategy on consideration of types and situations of PHC. Simultaneously, when a corporation has good CSR reputation, it should be more meticulous in case of its backfire effect.

Key words: genetically modified product-harm crisis, retaliation behavior, corporate social responsibility reputation (CSR reputation), corporate greed, righteous anger

Wang Hanying, Tian Hong, Xing Hongwei. Can Corporate Social Responsibility Reputation Backfire? The Research on Consumer's Retaliation Behavior in Genetically Modified Product-Harm Crisis[J]. , 2018, 30(12): 237-246.

References

[1] Coombs T., Holladay S. CSR as Crisis Risk:Expanding How We Conceptualize the Relationship[J]. Corporate Communications:An International Journal, 2015,20(2):144-162
[2] Wagner T., Lutz R. J., Weitz B. A. Corporate Hypocrisy:Overcoming the Threat of Inconsistent Corporate Social Responsibility Perceptions[J]. Journal of Marketing, 2009,73(6):77-91
[3] Merrin R. P., Hoffmann A. O. I., Pennings J. M. E. Customer Satisfaction as a Buffer against Sentimental Stock-Price Corrections[J]. Marketing Letters, 2013,24(1):13-27
[4] Korschun D., Bhattacharya C., Swain S. D. Corporate Social Responsibility, Customer Orientation, and the Job Performance of Frontline Employees[J]. Journal of Marketing, 2013,78(3):20-37
[5] Xie C., Bagozzi R. P., Grønhaug K. The Role of Moral Emotions and Individual Differences in Consumer Responses to Corporate Green and Non-Green Actions[J]. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2015,43(3):333-356
[6] Klein J., Dawar N. Corporate Social Responsibility and Consumers' Attributions and Brand Evaluations in a Product-Harm Crisis[J]. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2004,21(3):203-217
[7] Vassilikopoulou A., Siomkos G., Chatzipanagiotou K., et al. Product-Harm Crisis Management:Time Heals All Wounds?[J]. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2009,16(3):174-180
[8] Hsu L., Lawrence B. The Role of Social Media and Brand Equity during a Product Recall Crisis:A Shareholder Value Perspective[J]. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2016,33(1):59-77
[9] Festinger L. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance[M]. Stanford:Stanford University Press, 1957
[10] Eisingerich A. B., Rubera G., Seifert M., et al. Doing Good and Doing Better despite Negative Information? The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Consumer Resistance to Negative Information[J]. Journal of Service Research, 2011,14(1):60-75
[11] Godfrey P. C. The Relationship between Corporate Philanthropy and Shareholder Wealth:A Risk Management Perspective[J]. Academy of Management Review, 2005,30(4):777-798
[12] McFadden B. R., Lusk J. L. Cognitive Biases in the Assimilation of Scientific Information on Global Warming and Genetically Modified Food[J]. Food Policy, 2015,54:35-43
[13] Slovic P. The Perception of Risk[M]. London:Earthscan Publications Ltd, 2016
[14] Sörqvist P., Marsh J. E., Holmgren M., et al. Effects of Labeling a Product Eco-Friendly and Genetically Modified:A Cross-Cultural Comparison for Estimates of Taste, Willingness to Pay and Health Consequences[J]. Food Quality and Preference, 2016,50:65-70
[15] Aquino K., Tripp T. M., Bies R. J. Getting Even or Moving on? Power, Procedural Justice, and Types of Offense as Predictors of Revenge, Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Avoidance in Organizations[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2006,91(3):653-668
[16] Antonetti P., Maklan S. An Extended Model of Moral Outrage at Corporate Social Irresponsibility[J]. Journal of Business Ethics, 2016,135(3):429-444
[17] McCullough M. E., Kurzban R., Tabak B. A. Cognitive Systems for Revenge and Forgiveness[J]. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2013,36(1):1-15
[18] Chester D. S., Dewall C. N. Combating the Sting of Rejection with the Pleasure of Revenge:A New Look at How Emotion Shapes Aggression[J]. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 2016,112(3):413-430
[19] Strelan P., Weick M., Vasiljevic M. Power and Revenge[J]. British Journal of Social Psychology, 2014,53(3):521-540
[20] Lindenmeier J., Schleer C., Pricl D. Consumer Outrage:Emotional Reactions to Unethical Corporate Behavior[J]. Journal of Business Research, 2012,65(9):1364-1373
[21] Haidt J. Elevation and the Positive Psychology of Morality, Flourishing:Positive Psychology and the Life Well-Lived[C]. American Psychological Association, 2003
[22] Barclay L. J., Whiteside D. B., Aquino K. To Avenge or Not to Avenge? Exploring the Interactive Effects of Moral Identity and the Negative Reciprocity Norm[J]. Journal of Business Ethics, 2014,121(1):15-28
[23] Grappi S., Romani S., Bagozzi R. P. The Effects of Company Offshoring Strategies on Consumer Responses[J]. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2013,41(6):683-704
[24] Ahn H., Sung Y., Drumwright M. E. Consumer Emotional Intelligence and Its Effects on Responses to Transgressions[J]. Marketing Letters, 2016,27(2):223-233
[25] Crossley C. D. Emotional and Behavioral Reactions to Social Undermining:A Closer Look at Perceived Offender Motives[J]. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2009,108(1):14-24
[26] Grégoire Y., Laufer D., Tripp T. M. A Comprehensive Model of Customer Direct and Indirect Revenge:Understanding the Effects of Perceived Greed and Customer Power[J]. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2010,38(6):738-758
[27] Parguel B., Benoît-Moreau F., Larceneux F. How Sustainability Ratings Might Deter ‘Greenwashing’:A Closer Look at Ethical Corporate Communication[J]. Journal of Business Ethics, 2011,102(1):15-28
[28] Homburg C., Stierl M., Bornemann T. Corporate Social Responsibility in Business-to-Business Markets:How Organizational Customers Account for Supplier Corporate Social Responsibility Engagement[J]. Journal of Marketing, 2013,77(6):54-72
[29] Xu D. J., Cenfetelli R. T., Aquino K. The Influence of Media Cue Multiplicity on Deceivers and Those Who Are Deceived[J]. Journal of Business Ethics, 2012,106(3):337-352
[30] Aquino K., Tripp T. M., Bies R. J. How Employees Respond to Personal Offense:The Effects of Blame Attribution, Victim Status, and Offender Status on Revenge and Reconciliation in the Workplace[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2001,86(1):52-59
[31] Podsakoff P. M., MacKenzie S. B., Lee J. Y., et al. Common Method Biases in Behavioral Research:A Critical Review of the Literature and Recommended Remedies[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2003,88(5):879-903
[32] Baron R. M., Kenny D. A. The Moderator-Mediator Variable Distinction in Social Psychological Research:Conceptual, Strategic, and Statistical Considerations[J]. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1986,51(6):1173-1182
[33] Edwards J. R., Lambert L. S. Methods for Integrating Moderation and Mediation:A General Analytical Framework Using Moderated Path Analysis[J]. Psychological Methods, 2007,12(3):1-22
[34] Sandin P. Approaches to Ethics for Corporate Crisis Management[J]. Journal of Business Ethics, 2009,87(1):109-116
[35] Laufer D., Coombs W. T. How Should a Company Respond to a Product Harm Crisis? The Role of Corporate Reputation and Consumer-Based Cues[J]. Business Horizons, 2006,49(5):379-385
[36] Akkawanitcha C., Patterson P., Buranapin S., et al. Frontline Employees' Cognitive Appraisals and Well-Being in The Face of Customer Aggression in an Eastern, Collectivist Culture[J]. Journal of Services Marketing, 2015,29(4):268-279
[37] Reckers P., Samuelson M. Toward Resolving the Debate Surrounding Slippery Slope Versus Licensing Behavior:The Importance of Individual Differences in Accounting Ethical Decision Making[J]. Advances in Accounting, 2016,34:1-16
[38] Ventura V., Frisio D. G., Ferrazzi G., et al. How Scary! An Analysis of Visual Communication Concerning Genetically Modified Organisms in Italy[J]. Public Understanding of Science, 2017,26(5):547-563
[39] Rozin P., Lowery L., Imada S., et al. The CAD Triad Hypothesis:A Mapping between Three Moral Emotions (Contempt, Anger, Disgust) and Three Moral Codes (Community, Autonomy, Divinity)[J]. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1999,76(4):574-586
[40] 梁漱溟. 梁漱溟全集[M]. 山东:山东人民出版社, 1992
[41] Bawa A. S., Anilakumar K. R. Genetically Modified Foods:Safety, Risks and Public Concerns——A Review[J]. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 2013,50(6):1035-1046
[42] Chan G. K. Y. The Relevance and Value of Confucianism in Contemporary Business Ethics[J]. Journal of Business Ethics, 2008,77(3):347-360
[43] Lang. J. T. Elements of Public Trust in the American Food System:Experts, Organizations, and Genetically Modified Food[J]. Food Policy, 2013,41:145-154
[44] 王汉瑛,田虹. 产品伤害危机后企业社会责任的选择:商业型还是慈善型[J]. 上海财经大学学报, 2016,18(3):62-73
[45] Lü L., Chen H. Chinese Public's Risk Perceptions of Genetically Modified Food:From the 1990s to 2015[J]. Science Technology & Society, 2016,21(1):110-128
[46] Marques M. D., Critchley C. R., Walshe J. Attitudes to Genetically Modified Food over Time:How Trust in Organizations and the Media Cycle Predict Support[J]. Public Understanding of Science, 2015,24(5):601-618