A Study On The Influence Mechanism Of Corporate Social Responsibility Communication On Brand Equity

With the rising awareness of responsible consumption and the wide application of social media,the communication about social responsibility between corporates and consumers has become an important issue in theoretical research and enterprise practice.Corporate social responsibility has been proven to positively influence the accumulation of brand equity,but the communication dilemma has made this impact uncertain.Consumers expect to know more about the company's performance of responsibility as a basis for brand selection,but they are skeptical about social responsibility information and believe that companies are “self-promotion”,and even use the "fraudulent donation" and "doing show" to give a bad review of the brand image.In the face of consumer expectations and suspicions,social responsibility communication has become a dilemma for corporates.Foreign scholars have paid great attention to the dilemma of social responsibility communication,but there are disagreements on the definition of corporate social responsibility communication and on the conclusion of consumer brand attitude.The research on the impact of corporate social responsibility communication on the brand equity mechanism remains incomplete.Domestic research in this field is relatively lagged,empirical research is scarce,and there is still a lot of work in theoretical exploration.This study focuses on the dilemma of communication,and we intend to depth analyzing the key issues that cause the dilemma,and discuss how companies can improve brand equity through social responsibility communication.The major tasks include:Firstly,definition the concept of corporate social responsibility communication.Through combing the literature,we integrate the concepts under constructivism and utilitarianism,redefines the concept of corporate social responsibility communication,and sorts out four concepts involved in the communication process: corporate social responsibility identification characteristics,consumer perceived credibility,and consumers Participate in,and consumer information quality,and focus research to explore the relationship between the above four concepts.Secondly,research of the impact of corporate social responsibility identity characteristics on the perceived credibility of consumers.We uses information credibility and corporate credibility as consumer perception variables,and advances the research to explore the impact mechanism of corporate social responsibility identification characteristics on consumer information credibility perception and corporate credibility,and consumer information quality in the regulating effect in this process.Thirdly,research on the impact of consumer perceived credibility on brand equity.This article starts from the attributes of brand information aggregates,discusses the impact of consumer trust and brand credibility on the formation of information credibility,and the mediating effects of consumer participation in the process.Finally,construction and empirical test of the mechanism model of the impact of corporate social responsibility communication on brand equity.Through the above research,a conceptual model from corporate social responsibility identification characteristics to consumer perception credibility to brand equity is constructed.The relationship between variables is analyzed to form research hypotheses.The hypothesis relationship between variables is tested through empirical analysis.We compare dual paths that CSR identity characteristics impact on the brand equity,and form research findings and management implications.This study comprehensively applies qualitative and quantitative research methods to research the mechanism of corporate social responsibility communication on brand equity.We recovery 721 questionnaires,form 602 valid final samples through questionnaires,and apply the SEM and Amos software to test the hypothesis of the relationship between the variables.The series of theories found that the following four aspects:Firstly,we found that there are differences in the impact of corporate social responsibility identity characteristics on corporate credibility and information credibility.The empirical results show that the four variables of corporate social responsibility identity characteristics have greater impact on corporate credibility than on the information credibility,while the altruistic and commitment characteristics have no significant effect on information credibility.This shows that the altruistic motivation and commitment characteristics can increase consumers' credibility perception of corporate responsibility,but consumers will not believe the altruistic motivation and commitment information content expressed by the company.This shows that consumers have two different perceptions of corporate social responsibility information,and it further reveals that consumers have two skeptical attitudes – doubts about the content of information and suspicion of the credibility of corporate responsibility,and also prove that Social responsibility communication is not merely a transmission of information,but also an intrinsic characteristic.This study not only enriches the theory of corporate social responsibility impact on consumers' perceptions,but also effectively complements the theoretical research on consumer perception credibility.Secondly,consumers' perceived credibility can inspire consumers to engage the communication.The empirical test results show that corporate credibility and information credibility have a persuasive effect on consumer engagement.However,from the comparison of persuasive effects,corporate credibility has greater impact on engagement than information credibility.The results of the study reveal the internal mechanism of effective corporate communication for corporate communication.That is,the corporate transmit the identification signature signal,and the consumer information credibility and corporate credibility perception mediate the role of consumer participation.The consumer is more likely to perceive that the corporate is trustful and willing to engage in communication.This study makes up for the lack of corporate social responsibility that affects the lack of consumers' engagement in research.Thirdly,we also found that CSR communication has a dual-path impact on brand equity.That is to say,the corporate social responsibility identification features affect brand equity through two different paths of corporate credibility and information credibility.The empirical results show that the corporate social responsibility identification feature->enterprise credibility->brand asset path has stronger influence and more significant impact.This also shows that corporates can reduce consumer suspicion and bring more High market returns,and consumers also expect companies to have a sense of responsibility;and corporate social responsibility-> information credibility-> brand assets,the path of influence is low,and not significant.At present,academic research has not yet explored the impact of corporate social responsibility on brand equity from the perspective of communication.The research in this paper is not only a deepening of the existing theories,but also the discovery of the dual-path mechanism has provided important reference for follow-up research and corporate social responsibility.And the result may provide a meaningful theoretical referable implication for corporate communication practice.Finally,we found consumers' perceived information credibility will indirectly affect brand equity through their engagement practices.The research results show that consumer engagement can fully mediate the impact of information credibility on brand equity.From the perspective of communication,corporates should interact with their consumers frequently to deepen consumers' perception of the information that corporates disclosure,so that they get the benefit from the CSR disclosure.The interactive communication of corporate social responsibility between corporate and consumers is a frontier issue in theoretical research.There is not much empirical research carried out.our study is not only a supplement to existing theories,but also gives important referable theory for corporates communication implementation.