Who should communicate CSR activities to consumers? NGO partnership and company CSR reputation as determinants

In the evolving landscape of digital communication, social media is an essential platform for companies to disseminate their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. These interactive media also allow other stakeholders, such as the beneficiaries of the CSR, to share information about the activities. Drawing on attribution theory and the source credibility model, this study aims to investigate how the source of CSR messages – corporations or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – influences the effectiveness of the communication. A quantitative approach is used with a 2 (CSR reputation, positive vs negative) × 2 (source of the CSR message, NGO vs company) between-subjects experimental design involving 408 participants. When the message is communicated by an NGO, a CSR initiative is perceived as less strategically motivated. There is a positive effect of the company’s preexisting CSR reputation on the effectiveness of the communication, increasing consumers’ attributions of values-driven motives and reducing their attributions of strategic-driven and stakeholder-driven motives for the company’s CSR activities. This study offers pragmatic insights for companies aiming to optimize their CSR communication strategies, especially in its delineation of the nuanced interplay between the CSR message source, consumer attributions of motive and corporate reputation. The results highlight the importance of generating attributions of value-based motives in relation to CSR communications, identifying a great opportunity to integrate NGOs into the CSR communication process.