Han, J.H., Davies, G. and Grimes, A. (2021) Recency effects in the buffering of negative news by corporate social responsibility advertising. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 26 (2). pp. 382-402. ISSN 1356-3289
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing from the theory of how relevant items are processed in memory when making judgements, this study aims to test for recency effects between CSR advertising and related, negative news on how a company is perceived and the explanatory roles of environmentalism, attribution and both feelings and attitudes towards the advertising itself.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses between-subjects experimental design with pretests.
Findings
Order effects exist, which, when ads and news are similarly influential, evidence a recency effect. The process is explained by both the mediating influence of attribution of blame and the moderation of this influence by attitude towards the environment. Differences between the effectiveness of ads are explained by the mediating influence of attitudes towards and feelings about the ad together with the moderation of this influence by involvement in the ad context.
Practical implications
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) ads should be pretested in the context of related but negative news, and not just on their own, to ensure they can buffer such news. CSR ads can be more effective when following rather than preceding such news and should not be withdrawn if such a crisis occurs.
Originality/value
The research first attempts to explain recency effects theoretically from the influence of CSR ads on negative CSR-related news. It also shows the determining factors in how such effects influence consumers by considering attribution, environmentalism, attitude to the context and attitude and feelings towards CSR ads.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Corporate Communications: An International Journal. This version is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. |
Keywords: | CSR advertising; Negative news; Recency effects; Mediation effects; Attribution theory; Advertising effectiveness |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 13 Jul 2022 06:53 |
Last Modified: | 15 Jul 2022 04:11 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Emerald |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1108/ccij-03-2020-0053 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:172426 |
Download
Filename: Han, Davies and Grimes (2020) - Recency effects of CSR advertising on negative news.PDF
Licence: CC-BY-NC 4.0