Effectively Communicating CSR Activities: the Role of
Emotional Empathy in CSR communication
Master thesis defense
Faculty of Economics & Business University of Groningen
Introduction
› In today’s socially conscious market environment, companies are increasingly devoting resources
towards activities of doing good (Du et al., 2010)
› However, when important stakeholders are not aware of the companies’ actions of doing good, it may not
reap the full potential benefits (Hawn & Ioannou, 2016)
› The current research aimed to acquire a better understanding in effective CSR communication
› Hereby, it investigated how inducing emotional empathy could increase favorable business outcomes for
companies that are taking responsibility for social- and environmental causes
Research question & hypotheses
› Research question
▪ Does induction of emotional empathy increases the effectiveness of CSR communication?
› Hypotheses
▪ H1 Induced emotional empathy in CSR communication increases brand attitude, CSR image, and purchase intention compared to
no empathy induced in CSR communication.
▪ H2 Induced emotional empathy in CSR communication increases personal relevance in CSR communication compared to no
empathy induced in CSR communication.
▪ H3 Personal relevance in CSR communication increases brand attitude, CSR image, and purchase intention compared to no
personal relevance in CSR communication.
▪ H4 Personal relevance in CSR communication mediates the main effect of induced emotional empathy on brand attitude, CSR
image, and purchase intention.
▪ H5 The effect of induced empathy in CSR communication on personal relevance in CSR communication will be stronger when the
consumer is predominantly prosocial compared to proself.
▪ H6 The effect of induced empathy in CSR communication on brand attitude, CSR image, and purchase intention through personal
relevance will be stronger when the consumer is predominantly prosocial compared to proself.
▪ H7 The effect of induced empathy in CSR communication on brand attitude, CSR image, and purchase intention will be stronger
Conceptual model
Methodology
› Online survey in the Netherlands using Qualtrics
› I recruited respondents via my own social network + gift voucher giveaway
› Total number of participants was 243 (42.7% female, M age = 39.26, SD = 17.17)
› The current research used a 2 (emotional empathy induction: high vs. low) x 2 (social value orientation:
prosocial vs. proself) between-subjects design
› Measurement scales were derived from literature for social value orientation (Van Lange et al., 1997),
personal relevance (Kim & Ferguson, 2014), brand attitude (Mitchell & Olson, 1981), CSR image
Methodology (2)
› Emotional empathy was induced in the survey
▪ Participants read a CSR message either with or without induced emotional empathy about a brand that is
contributing to a solution of a societal issue: Beckon Ice Cream.
› The first part of the CSR message
Results
› For all the constructs, the correlation analyses were significant meaning that new scales indicating the
average score could be calculated
› In the survey, emotional empathy was successfully induced on part of the participants
Hypotheses:
› H1 Induced emotional empathy in CSR communication increases brand attitude, CSR image, and purchase
intention compared to no empathy induced in CSR communication.
Rejected
› H2 Induced emotional empathy in CSR communication increases personal relevance in CSR communication
compared to no empathy induced in CSR communication.
Results (2)
› H3 Personal relevance in CSR communication increases brand attitude, CSR image, and purchase intention
compared to no personal relevance in CSR communication.
Supported
› H4 Personal relevance in CSR communication mediates the main effect of induced emotional empathy on brand
attitude, CSR image, and purchase intention.
Rejected
› H5 The effect of induced empathy in CSR communication on personal relevance in CSR communication will be
stronger when the consumer is predominantly prosocial compared to proself.
Rejected
› H6 The effect of induced empathy in CSR communication on brand attitude, CSR image, and purchase intention
through personal relevance will be stronger when the consumer is predominantly prosocial compared to proself.
Results (3)
› H7 The effect of induced empathy in CSR communication on brand attitude, CSR image, and purchase intention
will be stronger when the consumer is predominantly prosocial compared to proself.
Rejected
Results (4)
Discussion
› The findings contradict prior research on emotional empathy
▪ Yen & Yang (2018) stated that empathy could increase purchase intention
▪ Lee (2016) found that emotional empathy can motivate consumers to behave altruistically toward products with
social claims
▪ Basil et al. (2008) found that empathy induced in the message positively influenced the willingness to donate
› The length of the message could have influenced the effects
▪ Basil et al. (2008) used only one sentence to induce empathy
› For personal relevance, the results were in line with prior research (Du et al., 2010; Kim & Ferguson,
2014; 2018, Kim, 2017)
› Social value orientation did not significantly impact the effect of emotional empathy
▪ Although Bogaert (2008) found that dispositional empathy and a prosocial value orientation are significantly related
▪ Prosocial participants did not perceive the high induced CSR communication as more personally relevant compared
Limitations & Future research
Limitations
› Participants did read the CSR communication only one time › The survey did not include an attention check
› Participants had little information of the brand Beckon Ice Cream which increased skepticism and distrust
Future research
› Investigate the effect of situational empathy on favorable business outcomes
