• Korea Trade Review
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.131-148
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• 2021

This study examines how corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects corporate tax avoidance behavior. Using a sample of publicly listed U.S. firms, we find that legal CSR-which is required by law-reduces the level of corporate tax avoidance because this type of CSR reduces information asymmetry between investors and corporate management in such a way that investors are less likely to perceive tax avoidance behavior as a risk. On the other hand, we find that the relationship between normative CSR-which is a voluntary type of CSR behavior-and tax avoidance is not statistically significant. Instead, our additional analysis reveals that normative CSR increases the level of corporate tax avoidance conditional on reporting quality. This study provides meaningful implications to the academic literature and to practitioners. Not only does this study highlight the fact that not all CSR are alike, it highlights that it is important to provide transparent CSR information in order to allow stakeholders to estimate the net effects of firms' CSR activities and tax payment.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.5-16
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• 2009

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities have been shown to be potential factors that can improve corporate image and increase the ability of corporations to compete. However, most previous studies related to CSR activities investigated how these activities influence product and corporate evaluation, as well as corporate image. In addition, some researchers treated consumers' perceptions of corporate motives as moderator variables in evaluating the relationship between corporate social responsibilities and consumer response. However, motive-based theories have some weaknesses. Corporate social responsibility activities cause two motives(egoistic vs. altruistic) for consumers, but recently, Vlachos et al. (2008) argued that these motives should be segmented. Thus, it is possible to transform the original theory into a modified theory model (persuasion knowledge model, PKM). Vlachos et al. (2008) segmented corporate social responsibility motives into four types and compared the effects of these motives on customer loyalty. Prior studies have proved that CSR activities with positive motives have positive influences on customer loyalty. However, the psychological reasons underlying this finding have not been determined empirically. Thus, the objectives of this research are twofold. First, we attempt to determine why most customers favor companies that they feel have positive motives for their corporate social responsibility activities. Second, we attempt to measure the effects of consumers' reciprocity when society benefits from corporate social responsibility activities. The following research hypotheses are constructed. H1: Values-driven motives for corporate social responsibility activities have a positive influence on the perceived reciprocity. H2: Stakeholder-driven motives for corporate social responsibility activities have a negative influence on the perceived reciprocity. H3: Egoistic-driven motives for corporate social responsibility activities have a negative influence on perceived reciprocity. H4: Strategic-driven motives for corporate social responsibility activities have a negative influence on perceived reciprocity. H5: Perceived reciprocity for corporate social responsibility activities has a positive influence on consumer loyalty. A single company is selected as a research subject to understand how the motives behind corporate social responsibility influence consumers' perceived reciprocity and customer loyalty. A total sample of 200 respondents was selected for a pilot test. In addition, to ensure a consistent response, we ensured that the respondents were older than 20 years of age. The surveys of 172 respondents (males-82, females-90) were analyzed after 28 invalid questionnaires were excluded. Based on our cutoff criteria, the model fit the data reasonably well. Values-driven motives for corporate social responsibility activities had a positive effect on perceived reciprocity (t = 6.75, p < .001), supporting H1. Morales (2005) also found that consumers appreciate a company's social responsibility efforts and the benefits provided by these efforts to society. Stakeholder-driven motives for corporate social responsibility activities did not affect perceived reciprocity (t = -.049, p > .05). Thus, H2 was rejected. Egoistic-driven motives (t = .3.11, p < .05) and strategic-driven (t = -4.65, p < .05) motives had a negative influence on perceived reciprocity, supporting H3 and H4, respectively. Furthermore, perceived reciprocity had a positive influence on consumer loyalty (t = 4.24, p < .05), supporting H5. Thus, compared with the general public, undergraduate students appear to be more influenced by egoistic-driven motives. We draw the following conclusions from our research findings. First, value-driven attributions have a positive influence on perceived reciprocity. However, stakeholder-driven attributions have no significant effects on perceived reciprocity. Moreover, both egoistic-driven attributions and strategic-driven attributions have a negative influence on perceived reciprocity. Second, when corporate social responsibility activities align with consumers' reciprocity, the efforts directed towards social responsibility activities have a positive influence on customer loyalty. In this study, we examine whether the type of motivation affects consumer responses to CSR, and in particular, we evaluate how CSR motives can influence a key internal factor (perceived reciprocity) and behavioral consumer outcome (customer loyalty). We demonstrate that perceived reciprocity plays a mediating role in the relationship between CSR motivation and customer loyalty. Our study extends the research on consumer CSR-inferred motivations, positing them as a direct indicator of consumer responses. Furthermore, we convincingly identify perceived reciprocity as a sub-process mediating the effect of CSR attributions on customer loyalty. Future research investigating the ultimate behavior and financial impact of CSR should consider that the impacts of CSR also stem from perceived reciprocity. The results of this study also have important managerial implications. First, the central role that reciprocity plays indicates that managers should routinely measure how much their socially responsible actions create perceived reciprocity. Second, understanding how consumers' perceptions of CSR corporate motives relate to perceived reciprocity and customer loyalty can help managers to monitor and enhance these consumer outcomes through marketing initiatives and management of CSR-induced attribution processes. The results of this study will help corporations to understand the relative importance of the four different motivations types in influencing perceived reciprocity.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.9
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• pp.101-112
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• 2014

Purpose - Recently, although corporate social responsibility activities have been increasing in size, they do not have to achieve qualitative improvements and can be passive and cost consuming. Therefore, companies should make quantitative as well as qualitative improvements in their efforts in corporate social responsibility activities. In this study, the classification of social responsibility activities in a variety of studies was analyzed through a more specific path than in previous studies. Corporate behavior image, social behavior image, and corporate contributions image were analyzed through a more detailed analysis of performance. This study suggests that more detailed and concentrated social responsibility activities be pursued by forming companies. Research design, data, and methodology - The purpose of study is to gauge the corporate need for a more intensive, specific area of CSR activities. For this purpose, the sample of consumers that were targeted for CSR activities, recognized as 261 persons, have been investigated. Through a theoretical discussion on previous research, nine hypotheses were established on corporate image, the influence of corporate performance on CSR, and the CSV regulation effect. In order to test the hypothesis, a survey was conducted on 261 male and female consumers who were targeted for CSR, being persons in their 20s to 40s. PASW Statistics 18.0 and AMOS 18.0 were used for statistical analysis. Results - Corporate behavior image was formed through legal responsibility activities and economic responsibility activities. In addition to economic responsibilities, ethical responsibilities and environmental responsibilities were confirmed to have influence on social behavior image. Corporate social responsibility and philanthropic responsibility were confirmed to have influence on economic contribution image. Corporate image has positive effects on brand attitude, corporate reputation, and corporate competition. In addition, when CSV awareness is high, consumers perceive corporate image only through economic responsibility. However, when CSV awareness is low, economic responsibility as well as legal responsibility through charitable activities form the corporate image that influences the brand attitude and corporate reputation, as well as corporate competitiveness. It would appear that the area of corporate social responsibility needs more intensive management for corporate image and corporate competitive advantage. Conclusion - First, the findings of this study show that each CSR activity has a different effect on corporate image and thus, the corporate image influences corporate performance in distinct ways, depending on the CSR activity. This implies that reactive strategies should be tailored to the required image. Second, there is a difference in CSV awareness between groups. When the CSV awareness is low, we can confirm that legal responsibility activities have an especially significant effect on corporate image, implying that corporations should pursue their economic objectives within legal regulations and need to invest significant time and effort for this. This study has limited generalization potential because the result of the model fit has insufficient reference value. In future research, we need to approach various dimensions of corporate performance.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.10
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• pp.501-511
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• 2020

As more consumers are interested in sustainability issues and evaluate brands based on their social responsibility issues involved, firms are using social media platforms in order to communicate with consumers about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. However, the current literature focuses mostly on factors drive engagement of promotional messages, while little evidence was found in the literature on how to design effective CSR messages on social media to engage consumers. Using over 3,000 branded posts on Facebook and Twitter, this research explores factors that help CSR messages become more engaging in social media. The results show that, on average, CSR messages had a negative significant effect on consumer engagement. However, CSR messages became more engaging when designed with emotional appeals, longer texts, and a hashtag. While marginal, CSR messages with informational appeals and humor undermined the effect of CSR messages on engagement. Finally, we explore different types of CSR messages by their beneficiary scope and the role of brands in the message and discuss what message contents drive more engagement in social media. This research contributes to the academic literature and managers by providing new insights on how to design CSR messages for effective communications in social media.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.793-805
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• 2021

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program has become one of the primary concerns of companies worldwide. For many companies, treating the environment and the community well is important to business practice and reputation, and this is reflected in their CSR programs. CSR is a company's obligation to consider the interests of its employees, customers, shareholders, communities, and the environment and to consider the social and environmental consequences of their business activities. CSR plays an important role in relationship building with customers. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between customer perception of CSR and customer trust. The model of this study considers two mediating variables, i.e., company reputation and word of mouth to link CSR to customer trust. This study employs a causal survey design. The respondents were 160 consumers who have purchased products and knew about CSR programs of a global food company. Data analysis was using structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypotheses. The results of this study revealed that CSR negatively impacts customer trust. Furthermore, CSR positively impacts corporate reputation and word of mouth. Besides, this study found corporate reputation positively impacts word of mouth and customer trust. While the mediating effect of reputation and word of mouth also positively impacts the relationship between CSR and consumer trust. A good reputation and word of mouth could be connecting buyers and enhances the power of suppliers.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.63-82
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• 2019

Due to technological development in the globalized food system, quantitative problems of food supply have been solved, but food risks have expanded from problems in specific regions to global problems. In order to maximize the efficiency of agricultural production, the growth in agricultural production system, procirement of raw materials, establishment of food processing processes and establishment of food supply chain systems are required. Control of hazards requires facility and administrative efforts. In this study, we examined the role of CSR in conjunction with food safety. Food SCM is related to food safety and correlates with the food supply chain. In terms of the triple bottom line theory, CSR is correlated with SCM and it is possible to pursue food safety through corporate CSR and SCM. In this study, it is statistically confirmed that SCM and CSR are in a positive relationship. In the impact of CSR on food safety, it has been confirmed that economic responsibility and legal responsibility take precedence over environmental responsibility and social responsibility. Based on this, we can achieve food safety through SCM and CSR, and we can decide which of CSR activities can be prioritized.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.245-262
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• 2021

Despite the numerous advantages that CSR engagement can potentially offer, top managers may not always be willing to invest in CSR as they are expected to meet expectations of external constituents in the short run. Given that financial analysts' expectations are important short-term performance targets that top managers are motivated to meet, this study examines how performance relative to earnings forecasts issued by analysts affect top managers' decisions about CSR engagement. Using a sample of publicly listed U.S. firms from 2000 to 2016, we find that top managers are more likely to reduce discretionary expenditure on CSR activities as performance falls below analyst forecasts to improve financial performance in the following fiscal year. As performance exceeds analyst forecasts, top managers are motivated to reduce CSR investments in order to meet higher expectations of analysts. As financial analysts closely monitor the firms that they follow in order to publish investment advice to market participants, we find that analyst coverage weakens top managers' incentive to reduce CSR engagement. Overall, this research sheds meaningful insight into the contextual background in which the top managers are situated in when they make decisions on CSR engagement.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.10 no.9
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• pp.221-228
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• 2019

Companies are making great efforts to integrate CSR into various aspects of their management strategies. A lot of research has been conducted on what management intends to do indirectly and indirectly. Was performed. In this study, we conducted additional research considering executive compensation as an indicator of the motivation for management to participate in CSR. The main purpose of this study was to analyze whether accounting performance measures or market performance measures are given more weight when providing rewards for performance to corporate managers conducting CSR activities. The analysis of the relationship between CSR and executive performance-reward sensitivity showed that corporate executives who actively implement CSR pay more weight to market performance measures rather than accounting performance measures. Considering the long-term performance of CSR when paying executives' compensation, the company pays more for market performance than accounting performance. This study is expected to be useful for executives to design compensation contracts to actively induce CSR implementation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.809-824
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• 2017

Interest in and use of social media as a communication channel are consistently evolving; in addition therefore, corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities have been often conducted on online channels such as social media due to the advantages offered by the rapid spread of information. Consumers can be persuaded differently and their cognition can be influenced depending on who delivers what message. This study examines the influence of information source characteristics on eWOM acceptance of CSR messages and attitudes toward a company. This study compares cases: when a company sends their CSR message versus when an individual (i.e., consumer's acquaintance) sends the company's CSR message. A total of 320 respondents were presented with online stimuli and responded to the questionnaire to identify this phenomenon. Vegan fashion (which refers to products made from raw materials without animal cruelty) was used as stimuli in this study because it is a representative example of CSR activities. As a result, when consumers are exposed to CSR messages online, perceived expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness of information source affect consumer's electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) acceptance and attitude toward a company. However, only trustworthiness influences eWOM acceptance in cases of a corporation information source. This study confirms the differences in eWOM acceptance and in attitudes to the company depending on to whom the messages were sent and with what content.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.5-11
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• 2015

Purpose - The purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of social status perception and interest in social issues on the authenticity perceived by consumers of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of premium brands. Research design, data, and methodology - Behavioral experiments were performed to observe the impact of consumers' social status perception and interest in social issues on their perceived authenticity of CSR motivation related to premium brands and consumer behavior. Results - We found that the possibility of social mobility and the degree of individuals' interest in the environment and CSR enable them to reconsider the authenticity of CSR motivation, thereby having positive effects on purchase intention, willingness to recommend the product, and brand value. This research also showed that proactive customers who seek to move up the social ladder have a stronger interest in social issues such as the environment or CSR. Conclusions - Our research suggests that when conducting a consumer segmentation analysis for the launch of CSR products (products released for CSR), a positive mind-set toward social mobility serves as an effective criterion.