Emphasizing the Negative Builds Trust in CSR Environmental Messaging

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Summary

As counterintuitive as it sounds, this study shows that companies in environmentally unfriendly industries are perceived as more trustworthy when they use negatively framed messaging focused on reducing the damaging impact of their production processes, rather than on positively framed messages that tout benefits. Building such trust, in turn, elicits favorable consumer intentions and behaviors.

Author Bios:

Giovanni Pino (giovanni.pino@unich.it) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Studies “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti–Pescara, Italy, and a former lecturer in marketing at the University of Portsmouth, U.K. His research focuses on marketing communications and sustainable consumption behavior.

Giampaolo Viglia (giampaolo.viglia@port.ac.uk) is a professor of marketing at the University of Portsmouth, U.K., and at UNIVDA (Università della Valle d’Aosta), Italy. His current research deals with pricing and consumer decision making.

Rajan Nataraajan (natarra@auburn.edu) is emeritus professor at Auburn University, in Auburn, AL, and a freelance professor doing academic stints across the globe. He has been the executive editor of the journal Psychology & Marketing for a quarter of a century.

Alessandro M. Peluso (alessandro.peluso@unisalento.it) is an associate professor of business management at the University of Salento, Italy, and a contract professor of social marketing at the LUISS (Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli) University of Rome. His research interests include social communication, word of mouth and sustainable consumption.

Marco Pichierri (marco.pichierri@uniba.it) is an assistant professor of business management and digital marketing at the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Italy. His research interests deal with consumer behavior and advertising effectiveness.