How does dialogic corporate social responsibility communication affect online brand advocacy?: The role of other-regarding preferences and social norms

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate how a firm’s dialogic CSR communication influences consumers’ attitudes and behaviors on social media as well as what the role of other-regarding preferences on engagement behaviors is, and how personal differences influence the effect of dialogic CSR communication on normative social perceptions. The research protocol was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board at Oklahoma State University (OSU). A cross-sectional quantitative research design by utilizing online surveys was conducted to achieve the purpose of this study. This dissertation was conducted in the restaurant industry because restaurants, independent or chain, all actively communicate with their customers online to provide them with valuable experiences. Participants who follow their favorite restaurant’s Twitter account and had experiences of engaging in Twitter behaviors with restaurant firm’s CSR-related postings were selected. Data were collected using Amazon Mechanical Turk. A total of 743 participants were recruited for further analysis. Descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, and multi-group analysis were conducted for data analysis. The findings showed that consumers’ perception of restaurant firm’s dialogic CSR communication on Twitter positively influence their other regarding preferences such as CSV perception, empathy, and social identity. Moreover, the mediating effects showed that through consumer’s perception of firms’ CSV strategy and social identity, restaurant firms’ dialogic CSR communication can positively influence OBA. Furthermore, the findings of this dissertation identified that there is a significant difference of power groups in the relationships between dialogic CSR communication and empathy/social norms. Specifically, it was found that the effect of dialogic CSR communication on empathy and social norms were greater for consumers who feel powerful in the Twitter community. This dissertation contributes to the literature by showing the underlying mechanism by evaluating the mediating role of other-regarding preferences (e.g., CSV, social identity) in the relationships between dialogic CSR communication and OBA. This dissertation also provides valuable practical implications for managers and marketers by helping them to understand the importance of dialogic communication principles in CSR communication on social media to positively influence customers’ brand advocacy behaviors.