Investigating the role of corporate credibility in corporate social marketing: A case study of environmental initiatives by professional sport organizations

Highlights

► We investigate the role of corporate credibility in understanding how professional sport teams might influence consumer pro-environmental behavior. ► Organizational and program characteristics will determine the corporate credibility of the teams in supporting environmental protection. ► Corporate credibility will influence consumer pro-environmental behavior. ► Corporate credibility will have a greater effect on pro-environmental behavior for consumers with less environmental concerns.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand how professional sport organizations might influence consumer voluntary behavior through their corporate social marketing (CSM) initiatives by focusing on the role of corporate credibility. The study examined consumer responses to environmental initiatives by two professional sport teams, and showed that organizational and program characteristics were associated with the corporate credibility of the teams in supporting environmental protection (i.e., environmental credibility). Environmental credibility, in turn, was found to have a positive association with consumer pro-environmental behavior measured by daily recycling involvement and recycling intentions during the teams’ home games. The results further revealed that environmental credibility was more strongly associated with recycling intentions during games for respondents who were less involved in environmental issues. Together, these findings suggest that professional sport organizations can be an effective vehicle for socially beneficial behavior by increasing their credibility in CSM involvement.

Keywords:

• Corporate social responsibility
• Environmental issues
• Corporate credibility
• Consumer behavior

Notes

1 Tel.: [phone]; fax: [phone].

2 While attitudes are thought to consist of three dimensions including cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses to an object (Eagly & Chaiken, 1998; Petty & Wegener, 1998), the focus of this study is the behavioral dimension that captures “a person's overt actions…as well as intentions to act” (Eagly & Chaiken, 1998, p.272) with respect to environmental issues (i.e., pro-environmental behavior).

3 However, the results should be interpreted with some cautions as they are subject to internal validity issues especially in the form of reverse causation (i.e., individuals who were actively engaged in recycling tended simply to be aware of the environmental programs) or mere co-existence with no directionality.