TY - JOUR

T1 - Achieving consumer trust on Twitter via CSR communication

AU - Kollat, Jana

AU - Farache, Francisca

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - Purpose: Corporations are under increasing pressure to communicate their position and policies with regards to corporate social responsibility (CSR), informing consumers about the corporations’ good intentions and actions to appear trustworthy. Corporations have been asked to engage in dialogue with their consumers. However, academic literature still lacks empirical research that examines how consumers react to asymmetric versus symmetric communication strategies. Design/methodology/approach: The present paper closes this gap and evaluates how consumers react to different CSR communication approaches on social media, specifically on Twitter. The study is based on a sample of 507 respondents in the UK, representing a well-educated population of social media users. The sample was divided into two sub-samples, one receiving a set of tweets with an asymmetric CSR communication approach (N = 242) and the other one with a symmetric CSR communication approach (N = 265). Findings: The main finding of this study is that an asymmetric communication approach performs generally better than a symmetric communication approach. However, consumers’ involvement and their own personal information processing mechanisms also play a significant role when evaluating the trustworthiness of corporations. Originality/value: The paper provides insights into how corporations should communicate with consumers on Twitter and what characteristics they should take into consideration to achieve consumer trust.

AB - Purpose: Corporations are under increasing pressure to communicate their position and policies with regards to corporate social responsibility (CSR), informing consumers about the corporations’ good intentions and actions to appear trustworthy. Corporations have been asked to engage in dialogue with their consumers. However, academic literature still lacks empirical research that examines how consumers react to asymmetric versus symmetric communication strategies. Design/methodology/approach: The present paper closes this gap and evaluates how consumers react to different CSR communication approaches on social media, specifically on Twitter. The study is based on a sample of 507 respondents in the UK, representing a well-educated population of social media users. The sample was divided into two sub-samples, one receiving a set of tweets with an asymmetric CSR communication approach (N = 242) and the other one with a symmetric CSR communication approach (N = 265). Findings: The main finding of this study is that an asymmetric communication approach performs generally better than a symmetric communication approach. However, consumers’ involvement and their own personal information processing mechanisms also play a significant role when evaluating the trustworthiness of corporations. Originality/value: The paper provides insights into how corporations should communicate with consumers on Twitter and what characteristics they should take into consideration to achieve consumer trust.

KW - Communication strategy

KW - Consumer trust

KW - CSR communication

KW - Social media

KW - Stakeholder engagement

KW - Management studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85029720829&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1108/JCM-03-2017-2127

DO - 10.1108/JCM-03-2017-2127

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85029720829

VL - 34

SP - 505

EP - 514

JO - Journal of Consumer Marketing

JF - Journal of Consumer Marketing

SN - 0736-3761

IS - 6

ER -