Food marketers have responded with numerous self-regulatory actions intended to address childhood obesity. While research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) generally provides strong evidence with regard to the economic benefits enjoyed by socially responsible corporations, it is unclear how and why consumers respond to different levels of CSR, especially in the food industry. Our research examines the effects of CSR activities, intended to combat childhood obesity, on consumers’ company evaluations and subsequent purchase intentions, while assessing the mediating role of attributions, in a product-failure setting. Results indicate that a food company’s high commitment toward a major social issue may trigger less blame to the food marketer for a product failure, which in turn positively affects consumers’ attitudes toward the company. Our findings offer strong evidence that food corporations can truly do well by doing good.

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an imperative business practice in today’s national and global marketplace (Carvalho, Sen, de Oliveira Mota, & de Lima, 2010). This view derives not only from companies’ obligations to enhance society’s well-being, but also from their capability to prosper, increase competitive advantage, and improve company performance. Academics and practitioners alike have realized that CSR is more than an ethical imperative, it also represents an economic requirement in today’s marketplace (Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001); this business practice being incorporated into long-term strategic plans to maintain and/or enhance market performance (Mahoney & Thorne, 2005; Tian, Wang, & Yang, 2011). Moreover, the literature on CSR suggests a well-established link between CSR and consumers’ attitudes toward the company and intentions to repurchase its products (Inoue, Funk, & McDonald, 2017). As Sen, Du, and Bhattacharya (2016) argue in their review of the substantial work on corporate social responsibility, there is a strong consensus among CSR scholars that consumers make their purchases based on the company’s socially responsible behavior. Importantly, CSR-related outcomes that include increased loyalty and purchase intentions, willingness to pay premium prices, and positive company and/or product evaluations, unequivocally contribute to enhanced firm financial performance (Peloza & Shang, 2011). Nevertheless, consumers’ CSR awareness remains considerably low (Park, Kim, & Kwon, 2017). A strong belief in the literature is that CSR should be done right (Carvalho et al., 2010) and consumers’ responses to CSR depend on how corporations manifest their CSR (Green & Peloza, 2011). Consumers do not perceive all CSR actions in the same manner (Andreu, Casado-Díaz, & Mattila, 2015); this reality merits further attention (Green & Peloza, 2011). Different levels of CSR produce different stakeholder reactions (Torugsa, O’Donohue, & Hecker, 2012); this insight should be considered when predicting CSR critical outcomes such as attitudes and purchase intentions (Kim, 2017). In their systematic review of corporate social responsibility, Peloza and Shang (2011) called for research that explores the effects of various CSR activities on consumer attitudes. This is instrumental because different CSR initiatives may be perceived as higher or lower commitments to a cause, which in turn are expected to lead to more positive or negative consumer responses.