The ‘Dark Side’ of CSR:

Potential Backfire Effects

Chelsea R. Willness, University of Saskatchewan

willness@edwards.usask.ca

& David A. Jones, University of Vermont

Citation information

Willness, C. R. (2016, April). The dark side of CSR: Potential backfire

effects. Invited presentation at the “CSR Summit: The Micro-Processes

of Social Responsibility in Organizations: A Bottom-Up Perspective,”

funded by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology

and The National Science Foundation (NSF). Anaheim, CA.

Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility

CSRSubsequent

Financial

Performance

Favourable response

from stakeholders

Consumers

Employees

Job seekers

Positive responses to CSR ….

Consumer behavior (e.g., Becker-Olsen et al., 2006; Du et al., 2007)

EEs’ commitment and OCB (e.g., Jones, 2010, Willness et al., 2014)

Attracting talent (e.g., Jones, Willness, & Madey, 2014)

Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility

CSRSubsequent

Financial

Performance

Favourable response

from stakeholders

Consumers

Employees

Job seekers

Negative response

from stakeholders

Positive responses to CSR is only part of the story….

Understanding how CSR can help attract talented workers —and in

some cases repel them—can inform recruitment practice and help

justify sustained investments in CSR.

Journey to Date

Conceptual Work

Goal: Understanding the Space

• Conceptual clean-up

– Seeking clearer definitions

– Differentiating between related constructs re.

stakeholders’ responses to CSR

or

Willness, C.R., & Jones, D.A. (2014, July). Finding order in construct chaos: Clarifying and differentiating the ways stakeholders' perceive and react to CSR. International Congress of

Applied Psychology, Paris, France.

Stakeholders’ Reactions & Responses to CSR

• Individual difference constructs:

1. Generalized CSR Attitudes (e.g., Kolodinsky, Madden, Zisk, & Henkel., 2010)

• Situation-based constructs about a company’s practices:

2. Perceived Extent of CSR (e.g., Jones, Willness, & Madey, 2014)

3. Attitudes about a CSR Practice (e.g., Jones, 2010)

4. Attributed Motives for CSR (e.g., Vlachos, Theotokis, & Panagopoulos, 2010)

So far, ‘reactions’ piece is missing…

Cynicism

• Trait or individual difference

• Exists on a continuum in the population (Bedeian, 2007)

• Dislike, distrust, disillusionment (three cheers for alliteration)

• Antecedent of skepticism (Obermiller & Spangenberg, 1998)

• State or reaction, characterized by doubt, disbelief,

suspicion, and questioning the target’s motives

• An attitude of doubting the truth of something (such as a

claim or statement)

Skepticism

New construct: ‘CSR Cynicism’ (working definition)

• Stable and individual characteristic

• Disillusionment or apathy toward CSR

• General - across contexts and firms

An individual who is high in this attribute

would be more unaccepting of, and apt to

view unfavorably, the notion of any for-profit

company engaging in CSR.

Also new: ‘Skepticism toward CSR Claims’ (working definition)

• Distrust or disbelief about

the characterization of a

particular firm’s specific

CSR practice or overall

reputation for CSR.

Empirical Work

Goal: Going Beyond Anecdotal Evidence

• Studies examining “backfire effects” of CSR

– Is this really thing?

– Are some people cynical toward CSR in general?

– Regardless of individual differences or tendencies, are some

companies’ CSR practices met with skeptical reactions?

– Does CSR send negative signals to job seekers?

• Piloting measures

or

Willness, C.R., & Jones, D.A. (2015). Corporate social responsibility can attract job seekers… but can it also repel some of them? In K. Y. T. Yu (Chair), Employer images and recruitment:

Novel approaches for researchers and practitioners. 75th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Vancouver, BC.

Field Study

• 360 job seekers attending a career fair in Western Canada

• Responded to surveys as they exited the career fair in exchange for treats

• Part of a larger study, so items were embedded in a longer survey

Measures & Constructs

• Assessed similar CSR- and non-CSR related constructs

to determine whether CSR Cynicism and Skepticism

Toward CSR are useful concepts

• Two specific types of CSR: CI and ENV

• Used adaptations of existing measures – not a full

validation study

How Did the Constructs Perform

Separate analyses for CI and ENV

1. Correlations

– Relationships are as expected

2. Measurement models (SEM/AMOS)

– Hypothesized model is best fitting

• Except: Fit is better when removing Trust Propensity altogether

3. Factor analysis (ML)

– Clear, strong factor loadings for all constructs

• Except, again trust propensity and two of the CSR Attitudes items did

not load as expected

• Reverse coded / negatively worded items

Opportunities & Challenges….

• Main conclusion – yes, it’s a thing

• Attributed motives – really important but measures did not

translate/perform well

– Poor reliabilities

– Unclear structure

• Future research here…

– More work on measures

or

Jones, D. A., Willness, C. R., & Heller, K. W. (2016).Illuminating the signals job seekers receive from an employer’s community involvement and environmental sustainability practices: Insights into why most job seekers are attracted, others are indifferent, and a few are repelled. Frontiers in Psychology, Organizational Psychology Specialty Section, 7, Article 426, 1-16. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00426.

Qualitative Study

• N=108 participants reviewed company webpages

• Content analysis of written responses about CI and ENV

Reactions to CSR

• Positive responses about CI and ENV:

– Support for 2 mechanisms found in Jones, Willness, & Madey’s

(2014) AMJ – perceived value fit, expected EE treatment

– Identified new mechanisms – positive work environment, financial

standing

• Neutral and Negative responses (n = 39)

– “We Care” page had no effect on attraction (30 – 35% of sample)

– “We Care” page had negative effect (1 – 4% of sample)

– Further examination of these participants’ responses….

Reasons CI/ENV Did Not Enhance Attraction

• Poor fit with employer

• Compensation priority

• Other priorities

• Detracts from profits or company success

• Misunderstood information

• Skepticism and Cynicism about CI or ES

Factors Affecting Cynicism/Skepticism

• Must see or experience to believe

• More detail needed

• Prior experience

• Poor fit with business

• Non-distinctive impact

• Motives for CI or ES

• All firms claim to care

Key Takeaways

Many stakeholders do respond positively to CSR

BUT…. Some people may react negatively to CSR:

Backfire effects can occur

Promising evidence that cynicism and skepticism are valuable

constructs for understanding people’s reactions to CSR

“You have to be authentic (when

dealing with CSR) otherwise people

become very skeptical about who

you are and why you're doing it,

and that can be very damaging.”

Mark Wakefield

Corporate Citizenship Manager for IBM UK

(Musafer, 2012, BBC News)

ReferencesJones, D. A., Willness, C. R., & Heller, K. W. (2016). Illuminating the signals job seekers receive from

an employer’s community involvement and environmental sustainability practices: Insights into why most job seekers are attracted, others are indifferent, and a few are repelled. Frontiers in Psychology,

Willness, C.R., & Jones, D.A. (2015, August). Corporate social responsibility can attract job seekers… but can it also repel some of them? In K. Y. T. Yu (Chair), Employer images and recruitment: Novel approaches for researchers and practitioners. 75th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Vancouver, BC.

Jones, D.A., Willness, C.R., & Madey, S. (2014). Why are job seekers attracted by corporate social performance? Experimental and field tests of three signal-based mechanisms. Academy of Management Journal, 57, 383-404.

Willness, C.R., & Jones, D.A. (2014, July). Finding order in construct chaos: Clarifying and differentiating the ways stakeholders' perceive and react to CSR. International Congress of Applied Psychology, Paris, France.

Willness, C.R., & Jones, D.A. (2013). Corporate environmental sustainability and employee recruitment: Leveraging “green” business practices to attract talent. In A. H. Huffman & S. R. Klein (Eds.), Greening Organizations: Driving Change with I-O Psychology (pp. 231-250). Routledge Academic.

White, K., & Willness, C.R. (2009). Consumer reactions to the decrease-usage message: The role of elaborative processing. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19, 73-87.

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