| General Secretary Xi Jinping once stressed at a symposium for entrepreneurs that "enterprises should not only take up economic and legal responsibilities,but also social and moral responsibilities." Taking up social responsibility provides enterprises with great opportunities for development and is an important basis for enterprises to gain a competitive advantage.As the public attaches increasing importance to CSR,more and more companies are promoting their social responsibility.In this regard,CSR communication plays an important role in bridging the gap between the fulfilment of CSR and its ultimate effect.If social responsibility is accepted by consumers,companies are more likely to achieve more with less.Despite the importance of CSR communication,in practice it does not always lead to positive results and sometimes has negative consequences,such as consumer suspicion.In recent years,research has noted that bullshits is one of the factors that negatively affects the effectiveness of CSR communication,but there is no empirical research to support this conclusion.As the ultimate goal of effective CSR communication is to induce changes in consumer attitudes or behaviour,building a positive corporate image in the minds of consumers is undoubtedly crucial,and therefore corporate image is an important outcome variable.In this paper,the following research questions are posed in the context of CSR communication,combined with specific management practices and related research:(1)Do bullshits have a negative impact on consumers’ perceptions of corporate image in the context of CSR communication?(2)Does consumer scepticism play a mediating role in this process?(3)Do different types of bullshits have different degrees of negative impact on corporate image in the context of CSR communication?(4)Does tone of voice play a moderating role in the impact of empty talk types on consumers’ corporate image?In order to answer the above questions,this paper delves into the above questions based on attribution theory and HSM theory,combined with the existing literature,and proposes a theoretical model and research hypotheses for this study to explore the impact of bullshits and types of bullshits on corporate image in the context of CSR communication,and to test the mediating role of consumer suspicion and the moderating role of tone types.This study used an experimental approach to test the model and hypotheses through three experiments.Experiment 1 used a one-factor2-level(bullshits: yes /no)experimental design to investigate whether bullshits have a significant effect on corporate image and to test the mediating role of consumer suspicion;Experiment 2 used a one-factor 2-level(type of bullshits: jargony/ empty)between-subjects experimental design to investigate whether there is a significant difference in the effect of different types of bullshits on corporate image in the context of CSR communication and to test the mediating role of consumer suspicion;Experiment 3 used a 2(type of bullshits: jargony/empty)x 2(type of tone:positive/plain)between-subjects experiment to investigate the effect of different types of bullshits on corporate image and the moderating effect of the variable tone.Through statistical analysis of the data,the findings show that:(1)bullshits negatively affect corporate image in the context of CSR communication,where consumer suspicion plays a fully mediating role.(2)empty bullshits have a greater negative impact on corporate image than jargony bullshits,with consumer suspicion playing a partially mediating role.(3)Tone type significantly moderates the relationship between bullshits and corporate image,and the interaction term between bullshits and tone type has a significant effect on corporate image.This study further deepens and expands the research on CSR communication,and provides practical guidance for CSR communication,helping companies to design a reasonable CSR communication plan,so that they can establish a good image and lay the foundation for their own better development. |
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