Corporate social responsibility in luxury contexts: potential pitfalls and how to overcome them

Jenni Sipilä (), Sascha Alavi (), Laura Marie Edinger-Schons (), Sabrina Dörfer () and Christian Schmitz ()
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Jenni Sipilä: LUT University
Sascha Alavi: Ruhr-University of Bochum
Laura Marie Edinger-Schons: University of Mannheim
Sabrina Dörfer: Ruhr-University of Bochum
Christian Schmitz: Ruhr-University of Bochum

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2021, vol. 49, issue 2, No 4, 280-303

Abstract: Abstract Recent marketing research has identified mixed effects of luxury companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement on customer-level outcomes. To gain a better understanding of these effects, we develop a conceptual framework in which we propose that, unless carefully implemented, CSR engagement leads to lower financial performance, decreased customer loyalty, and elevated extrinsic CSR attributions for luxury companies. These effects are exacerbated if consumers actively deliberate on the company’s CSR efforts. However, luxury companies can mitigate these pitfalls and reap the potential rewards of CSR engagement by (1) engaging in company-internal, especially employee-focused CSR instead of company-external, philanthropic CSR or (2) framing their brands as sustainable instead of exclusive. We find consistent support for our theorizing in five empirical studies. The results contribute to existing knowledge on stakeholder reactions to luxury brands’ CSR and can help managers successfully navigate the implementation of CSR in luxury contexts.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility (CSR); Luxury companies; Extrinsic CSR attributions; Company-internal CSR; Sustainability; Framing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11747-020-00755-x

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