Corporate citizenship as a marketing instrument: Concepts, evidence, and research directions

ABSTRACT

Confronted with increasing pressures to limit government spending on social welfare, more and more public policy makers welcome the growing social involvement of corporations. Yet, it remains difficult for them to promote corporate citizenship because its impact on organizational activities remain largely unknown. This paper proposes that corporate citizenship may be a way to market the organization and its products to consumers. Specifically, after defining the nature of corporate citizenship, the paper reviews past research findings suggesting how and why consumer behaviors may be impacted by corporate citizenship. Given the scarcity of research in that area, a conceptual framework grounded on established theories is introduced to guide future inquiries on the value of corporate citizenship in terms of consumer marketing.

As suggested by Maignan, Ferrell, and Hult (1999), corporate citizenship can be conceptualized as the extent to which businesses...