Corporate spin or corporate conscience? Examining corporate climate change communication effects on consumer attitudes and behaviors

Despite the growth of interest in corporate social advocacy (CSA) and corporate political activism (CPA) on controversial social issues, there has been little research focused on the role and effect of corporations communicating about climate change. Through an online survey-experiment, this dissertation tested the effects of corporate climate change communication based on three degrees of message influence based on stakeholder engagement and communication strategies: corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate social advocacy (CSA), and corporate political activism (CPA) on consumer responses (e.g., perceived corporate reputation, perceived corporate credibility, purchase intention, and positive word-of-mouth intention). A moderated-mediation model was used to examine the influence of consumers’ attribution of corporate climate motives and consumers’ climate change attitudes. Results indicate that the type of corporate climate message received has an influence on consumers’ attributions, perceptions of credibility, perceptions of reputation, and positive word-of-mouth intentions, but no effect on purchase intention, and no effect derived from climate change attitudes. Also, while there is a mediation effect of attribution in the relationship between each climate change message and consumer responses, there is no moderated-mediation effect between the types of climate change messaging and consumer responses through attribution. These findings provide theoretical and managerial implications for how corporations can better understand the effect of using different types of corporate climate change communication strategies, make informed decisions about which type of message is most effective for audiences (based on consumers’ climate change attitudes and perceptions of corporate motives); and provide new opportunities for PR practitioners within corporations to lead corporate climate change communication efforts.

Embargo status: Restricted until January 2022. To request access, click on the PDF link to the left.