Abstract
Companies are increasingly engaging in and supporting activities that benefit the wider society and respond to ethical and moral, sometimes even cultural, opinion agendas. These activities have, for many businesses, become a focus area in its own right and are referred to as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). However, today consumers and stakeholders expect companies to demonstrate their values through concrete actions and by publicly expressing their support for or opposition to geopolitics and topical political matters; this phenomenon is recognized in the academic literature as brand activism. Coherent, the academic literature perceives brand activism as an extension of CSR, and while several companies embark on CSR and brand activism to leverage financial and reputation benefits, incidents perceived as Corporate Socially Irresponsible behavior (CSI) have also entered the stage as the flip side to CSR, causing harmful effects on companies. Recently we have therefore started to see topics on CSI being introduced into the academic literature. The Russian invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022 caught tremendous global attention. Both politically and throughout the business world, strong reactions led to decisive and comprehensive actions opposing the Russian regime. Derived from public opinion and responses of global consumers, an assessment of dormant, apathetic, and (in)active behavior towards the incident seemed insufficiently investigated associated to CSI. Through marketing and brand theories, this thesis examines corporate businesses that withheld their presence in Russia, thereby contradicting public opinion. For this thesis, the continuous presence of a corporate company in Russia is recognized as brand apathy and elicits adverse unfavorable consumer reactions. The thesis sheds light on the perceptional change in consumers' immediate stereotypical judgment of these companies through their brand, which impacts the eventual customer outcomes, purchase intentions, and negative word-of-mouth through two mediations, brand attitude and brand transgression. The findings provide rigorous and vital new insights into marketing theory and managerial practice.
Uddannelser | Cand.merc.kom Erhvervsøkonomi og Virksomhedskommunikation, (Kandidatuddannelse) Afsluttende afhandling |
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Sprog | Dansk |
Udgivelsesdato | 15 maj 2023 |
Antal sider | 104 |
Vejledere | Milena Micevski |