When good becomes bad: the role of corporate crisis and issue congruence

Abstract

This study investigates how different types of corporate crises and issue congruence interplay in determining the effects of a previous corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative in a company facing a crisis. The findings suggest that a previous CSR initiative can more effectively protect a company’s image when the company has a competence-related rather than a morality-related crisis. In addition, when the social cause of the CSR initiative is congruent with the issue of the negative event, consumers will respond more negatively than when there is no issue congruence between CSR and the negative event. Moreover, there is an interaction effect between issue congruence and the type of crisis. That is, when a firm has a moral crisis that is associated with the social cause supported in a previous CSR initiative, consumers perceive the firm’s CSR initiative to have been less sincere than if the firm were facing a competence-related crisis.