Not all corporate social responsibility (CSR) is created equal: a study of consumer perceptions of CSR on firms post fraud

ABSTRACT

Through the lens of Resource-Advantage Theory, we find that consumer’s perceptions of CSR and CEO compensation influence their view of the firm in a post-fraud environment. Those who see CSR used in a post-fraud environment as a positive strategy prefer to see firms that engage in CSR that assists close stakeholders while those who do not like seeing CSR used as a strategy post fraud would prefer CSR that benefits the community at large. Our findings suggest that firms may wish to target consumers differently when communicating post-fraud CSR messages.