Data for: When CSR-Based Identification Backfires - Testing the Effects of Identification-Related Negative Publicity

The results of an experiment and an online survey show that CSR-based consumer-company identification, which is based on the perception that consumer and company share the same values of social and environmental responsibility, effectively protected consumers’ attitudes against counterattitudinal information. However, this only showed when the negative information was unrelated to CSR. The protective effect of CSR-based C-C identification on attitudes toward the company was suspended when identified consumers learned about a transgression in the domain of CSR. And worse than that, as shown using the example of Volkswagen’s emissions scandal, loyal customers who initially identified with the automaker because of the alleged eco-friendliness of its cars were seriously inclined to punish VW. This is because they felt betrayed as the very values on which their identification was based had been violated. This state of disidentification turned out to be the key mediator for customers’ intention to punish the company.