How corporate social responsibility (CSR) saves a company: The role of gratitude in buffering vindictive consumer behavior from product failures

Abstract

Product failures often lead consumers to engage in vindictive behaviors. Dissatisfied consumers can easily share their negative product/service experiences with others online and often deliberately express their frustration in ways that harm companies (e.g., brand sabotage). Hence, minimizing such behaviors after a product failure is critical to maintaining long-term customer relationships for companies. The present research demonstrates how a company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement mitigates vindictive consumer behaviors in response to a product failure from the company. We suggest that the buffering effect of CSR engagement is driven by consumers’ feelings of gratitude for a priori pro-social effort and its impact on the perceived trustworthiness of the company. We also propose failure attribution (i.e., internal vs. external) as a boundary condition that moderates the buffering effect through consumer gratitude and trustworthiness.