Communicating about halal products to non-Muslim consumers – the role of fit and scepticism

ABSTRACT

Globalization and migration have increased the Muslim population in many European countries and thereby the desire for products that meet religious needs. Several retailers have responded by offering halal products. Thereby, they also foster the inclusion of their Muslim customers as an act of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Yet, consumers are often sceptical regarding the motives of companies for CSR activities. This study addresses the question how the perceived fit between a company and its offering of halal products affects consumers’ cognitive and behavioural responses and how scepticism that the company offers halal products only for self-serving reasons impacts this effect. A total of 212 consumers in Austria completed an online survey. The results suggest that company-halal fit is a key factor in determining how consumers respond to a retail company’s initiative to offer halal food products. We found that a better perception of the company-halal fit results in a more favourable CSR image. This relationship is partially mediated by consumer scepticism about the company’s motives. Higher fit decreases scepticism about the company’s motives, while higher scepticism reduces the effect of company-halal fit on the CSR image. Moreover, results reveal a positive link between CSR image and word-of-mouth behaviour.

KEYWORDS:

• CSR
• CSR image
• halal
• fit
• scepticism about motives
• survey

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), which can be considered a ‘firm’s commitment to maximize long-term economic, societal, and environmental well-being through business practices, policies, and resources, is a strategic imperative’ (Du, Bhattacharya, and Sen 2011, 1528). Globalization and demographic changes highlight the societal dimension of CSR and encourage companies to engage in CSR activities that address the needs and expectations of more diverse stakeholders (Hansen and Seierstad 2017). In the consumer context, providing religious minorities with access to particular products and services that serve their religious demands can be seen as an act of CSR in the social dimension. Specifically, the increase of the Muslim population in Europe has encouraged companies, above all food retailers, to better serve Muslim consumers by providing them with halal products and services. ‘Halal’ is an Arabic word from the holy book of the Qur’an; according to the teachings of Islam, the word may be translated as ‘permissible’ (Wilson and Liu 2010, 107). A basic acceptance and understanding of halal are central to every Muslim’s belief (Wilson and Liu 2010).

Although offering halal products might be part of a company’s initiative to support the inclusion of Muslims, consumers often distrust or are sceptical about CSR causes and the corporate intention behind communicating about it (e.g., Connors, Anderson-MacDonald, and Thomson 2017; Illia et al. 2013; Manuel, Youn, and Yoon 2014; Schade, Wang, and van Prooijen 2022). Consumers who tend to have higher scepticism toward a company’s CSR generally doubt whether the activities and messages are truthful and believable (Webb and Mohr 1998). Thus, communicating about CSR efforts is a challenging task against the backdrop of consumer scepticism (e.g., Du, Bhattacharya, and Sen 2010; Illia et al. 2013). This is particularly the case regarding controversial issues, such as halal products, as halal is considered a source of confrontation between Islamic and European secular values (Göle 2013). Aside from ethical concerns with regard to animal welfare, the halal controversy is accompanied by Islamophobia, which is fuelled by terrorist attacks (Göle 2013) and negative media coverage about Muslims (Thomas and Selimovic 2015).

Research in CSR suggests that the difficulties of communicating CSR can be addressed by demonstrating a fit between the company’s identity and values and the cause supported in the CSR engagement (Chandler and Werther 2014; Ellen, Webb, and Mohr 2006; Guzmán and Becker-Olsen 2010; Schmeltz 2017). Previous research suggests that the fit or alignment between the company and its CSR activities is a key variable for CSR success. High perceived fit between the company and its CSR activities has been shown to have a positive effect on consumer responses (e.g., Becker-Olsen, Cudmore, and Hill 2006; Elving 2013; Schmeltz 2017; Sen and Bhattacharya 2001; Yoo and Lee 2018) and to decrease scepticism (Rifon et al. 2004).

Despite a body of research considering effects of perceived CSR fit from a consumer’s perspective, the effects of the fit between offering halal products and the company, i.e., company-halal fit, on cognitive and behavioural outcomes has remained underexplored. The majority of research on halal focuses on purchasing behaviour (e.g., Malkawi 2014; Shaari and Ariffin 2010). Various researchers in western countries evaluated the attitudes of non-Muslim consumers toward halal products, in particular halal meat, and the effects of intergroup discrimination on outgroups (Rauschnabel et al. 2015; Schlegelmilch, Khan, and Hair 2016; Wilkins et al. 2019). Yet, as companies are increasingly morally obligated to implement mechanisms that solve public issues (Scherer, Palazzo, and Baumann 2006), such as the inclusion of religious minorities, the effects of offering halal food products on a company’s image and consumers’ word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviour seem even more relevant in a European context than purchase behaviour.

This study addresses this underexplored area of research on halal and CSR, by examining the influence of perceived company-halal fit on a company’s CSR image and consumers’ intention to speak positively about it while considering the effects of consumer scepticism about the company’s intentions in a western European country, Austria. The paper contributes to the research on CSR and diversity and its effects on the corporate image. The empirical findings may furthermore shed light on the potential for businesses to foster positive attitudes and communication behaviours through an effective communication approach. The research is guided by the following overarching research question:

RQ: What is the effect of perceived company-halal fit on consumers’ cognitive and behavioural responses and how does scepticism about the company’s motives impact this relationship?

Literature review

CSR and diversity & inclusion

Globalization and demographic changes coin the business environment in which new stakeholders and national policies are imposing expectations on companies’ CSR practices (Dahlsrud 2008). This leads companies to contribute to the resolution of public issues (Scherer 2018) and to respond to a diverse range of stakeholder expectations (Rimmington and Alagic 2017). The social dimension of CSR including corporate contributions to different areas of governance like anti-discrimination or inequality initiatives (Scherer, Palazzo, and Baumann 2006) is thereby highlighted. This links CSR to diversity management, which Mor Barak (2005, 208) defined as ‘organizational actions designed to create greater inclusion of employees from different backgrounds into the formal and informal organizational structures through deliberate policies and programs’.

While Mor Barak’s definition and most studies on diversity management focus on employees (e.g., Ely and Thomas 2001; Ravazzani 2016), valuing diversity in society also means to foster inclusion of external stakeholders like consumers. Thus, offering products that help religious minorities to live according to their beliefs and demands, for example supplying Muslim consumers with halal food, can be seen as diversity management. This is especially the case as Muslims increasingly want to shop from mainstream supermarkets (Wilkins et al. 2019).

Fit

CSR implies that companies function and are guided by values other than merely generating profit (Freeman 1984). A company’s CSR activity is generally related to its corporate identity and values, legitimated and frequently judged by stakeholders (Schmeltz 2014), particularly by ethical consumers (Shaw et al. 2005), as stakeholders seek to determine whether corporate values are compatible with their expectations (Schmeltz 2014). The fit between the company and the social cause it supports is an important factor in driving positive CSR outcomes (e.g., Becker-Olsen, Cudmore, and Hill 2006). CSR fit refers to the perceived relevancy between the characteristics of a company and its CSR activities (Becker-Olsen, Cudmore, and Hill 2006). In the social marketing context, fit is defined as the perceived link between a cause and a company’s product line, brand image, position, and/or target market (Varadarajan and Menon 1988).

A strong perceived fit has been shown to elicit more favourable responses (Deitz, Myers, and Stafford 2012; Gupta and Pirsch 2006) such as positive attitudes and perceived sincerity (Olson 2010). The psychological explanation is that a good fit between prior expectations and knowledge about a firm and a CSR initiative facilitates the integration into a consumer’s existing cognitive structure, which strengthens the connection between the company and the initiative (Becker-Olsen, Cudmore, and Hill 2006; Fiske and Taylor 1991). A low fit CSR initiative, on the other hand, is rather perceived as inconsistent with prior expectations and actions and is more difficult to integrate into consumers’ cognitive structures (Becker-Olsen, Cudmore, and Hill 2006). Research shows that lack of consistency between prior expectations and new information triggers scepticism and negative attitudes (Forehand and Grier 2003; Simmons and Becker-Olsen 2006).

Developing the hypothesized model

The relationship between fit, image, and WOM

Communication highlighting the fit between the company and the cause helps to raise consumer awareness of CSR initiatives and can elicit the desired attitudinal and behavioural outcomes (Bhattacharya and Sen 2004). Specifically, consumers’ perception of the fit between the company and the social cause it supports has been shown to be an important antecedent of corporate trustworthiness which then impacts the CSR image (Fatma 2022). The CSR image of a company represents stakeholders’ impressions of how an organization portrays itself, either intentionally or unintentionally, regarding its socially responsible operations (Plewa et al. 2015).

Drawing on the findings on CSR fit, we assume that company-halal fit is associated with a positive CSR image. If consumers perceive a fit between the company and its offering of halal products, the cognitive connection between the company and the initiative is strengthened. Thus, high fit should lead them to conclude that the company is socially responsible and fulfils its social obligations towards society and diversity and inclusion. On the flip side, perceiving low fit should result in a less favourable CSR image. The first hypothesis reads:

H1:

The better consumers perceive the company-halal fit, the more favourable their CSR image of the company.

A positive CSR image has been shown to result in behavioural outcomes, including purchase intentions, loyalty (Maignan and Ferrell 2001), and WOM intentions (Plewa et al. 2015). In the context of communicating about halal offerings to non-Muslim consumers, positive WOM is particularly relevant. According to Bhattacharya and Sen (2004, 20), consumers’ willingness to talk positively about a company’s engagement in socially responsible activities is one of the ‘key behavioural outcomes of positive CSR activities’. An advantage of WOM, which is informal communications that is directed at other consumers about the ownership, usage or characteristics of particular goods or their sellers (Westbrook 1987), is that the receiver perceives the communicator as unbiased (Schiffman and Kanuk 2007). Thus, WOM is generally more credible than a company’s own communication efforts (Allsop, Bassett, and Hoskins 2007). Based on extant research (Plewa et al. 2015), we assume that the perception that a company is socially responsible with regard to including ethnic-religious minorities fosters consumers intention to spread positive WOM.

H2:

The more favourable consumers’ CSR image of a company, the greater their intention to spread positive WOM about it.

The role of consumer scepticism as mediator

Companies are faced with an inherently sceptical audience who questions companies’ motives when they communicate about their good deeds (Connors, Anderson-MacDonald, and Thomson 2017; Elving 2013; Schmeltz 2017). Scepticism has been described as ‘a person’s tendency to doubt, disbelieve, or question’ (Skarmeas and Leonidou 2013, 1832). Forehand and Grier (2003) argue that consumer scepticism can be either a trait (i.e., being a sceptical person in general) or a state (i.e., being sceptical about a particular company’s motives). In the current paper, we understand consumer scepticism as the state of disbelieving or distrusting a company’s motivation in trying to carry out CSR activities (Becker-Olsen, Cudmore, and Hill 2006; Forehand and Grier 2003; Gupta and Pirsch 2006; Rifon et al. 2004). Scholars (e.g., Forehand and Grier 2003; Rifon et al. 2004) apply attribution theory as a framework to theorize the arising of scepticism. Attribution theory is based on the idea that people are social perceivers who – from events they see and experience – make inferences about the causes of a person’s (or organization’s) behaviour, which can be external or internal motives (Kelley 1973). In the context of CSR, scholars refer to self-serving or profit motives (e.g., to increase company’ profits) and society or public-serving motives (e.g., concern about the well-being of community and individuals outside of the firm) (Becker-Olsen, Cudmore, and Hill 2006; Forehand and Grier 2003; Rifon et al. 2004). Research showed that stronger perceptions of public-serving motives result in more positive consumer responses toward the company and its CSR initiatives (Forehand and Grier 2003; Schade, Wang, and van Prooijen 2022), while the attribution of self-serving motives negatively influences perceptions of authenticity, purchase intention, and loyalty to the company (Alhouti, Johnson, and Holloway 2016). Thus, we expect that the state of being more sceptical towards a company’s motives regarding its halal offers impacts its CSR image adversely.

H3:

The more sceptical consumers are about a company’s motives to offer halal products, the less favourable their CSR image of the company.

The fit, or misfit, between the company and the cause can lead consumers to think about the true motive of a company’s CSR. Rifon et al. (2004) argue that low fit is more likely to activate consumer knowledge about self-serving motives while high fit may not trigger as many cognitive elaborations and hence could minimize consumer scepticism. Simmons and Becker-Olsen (2006) suggested that consumers generate more negative thoughts when they perceive the company-cause fit to be low compared to high. Similarly, Forehand and Grier (2003) found the level of scepticism to be higher when there is a mismatch between the cause and the firm. Hence:

H4:

The better consumers perceive the company-halal fit, the less sceptical they are about the company’s motives to offer halal products.

The role of scepticism as a mediator influencing consumers’ attitude and behavioural outcome has been addressed in previous studies (e.g., Elving 2013; Rifon et al. 2004; Schade, Wang, and van Prooijen 2022). Elving’s (2013) study revealed an indirect effect of fit between the company and the CSR activity on consumers’ attitude towards the company mediated by the level of scepticism. Other studies showed that scepticism reduces the effect of persuasion (Obermiller, Spangenberg, and MacLachlan 2005) and negatively influences consumer responses to a company’s CSR (Skarmeas and Leonidou 2013). Hence, we hypothesize a mediating role of scepticism:

H5:

The effect of perceived company-halal fit on CSR image is mediated by scepticism regarding the motives of the company to offer halal products.

Figure 1 depicts the hypothesized model.

Figure 1. Hypothesized model.

Method

Sample and procedure

An online-survey was conducted to investigate the effects of perceived company-halal fit on consumers’ cognitive and behavioural responses. Respondents were bachelor students at an Austrian university, who received extra course credit as compensation for their participation. The study underwent ethics screening and received approval of the University’s Faculty of Social Sciences IRB (ID: 20201117_039). In total, 212 people fully completed the questionnaire. The sample was 81% female, 19% male, and 1% divers with an average age of 22 years (SD = 5.37). The majority reported to be of Christian faith (53%) and 41% reported to believe in no religion. Moreover, 4% were Muslims, 1% Buddhists, 0.5% Jewish, and 0.5% reported to have another religion.

Participants were told that they participate in a study regarding their opinion about activities of selected food retail companies and gave their informed consent before participation. A large, well-known retailer, which owns various food retail chains in Austria, where the study was conducted, served as the target stimulus. In addition to leading in halal offers, the retailer engages in CSR activities to support Muslim refugees, for example by offering language courses and by providing internships, apprenticeships, and employment opportunities.

Participants were asked to read a short text about the retailer, which presented information about their halal offerings. The headline read: ‘Expanded product range: Halal products’ and was followed by more specific information: ‘COMPANY¹ supermarkets also offer halal products such as beef, sausage, and beverages, especially for Muslim customers. The term Halal comes from the Arabic language and means “permitted” according to the Islamic faith. Like all COMPANY meat suppliers, the suppliers of Halal meat are also obliged to comply with the Animal Welfare Act’.

Measures

The measures of key concepts in this study were drawn from previous research and adapted to reflect the study’s context. To assess perceived company-halal fit, we followed Ellen, Webb, and Mohr (2006) and applied the scale by Sengupta, Goodstein, and Boninger (1997). CSR image was measured by a scale from Plewa et al. (2015). To capture WOM, the scale by Romani, Grappi, and Bagozzi (2013) was included. Scepticism regarding the company’s motives was measured with the item ‘COMPANY¹ does not have a genuine concern for the welfare of their Muslim consumers’. from Rifon et al. (2004). A seven-point answering format was used for all items (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree). The survey concluded with demographic questions regarding gender, age, and religion.

Cronbach’s alpha for company-halal fit, CSR image, and WOM was above .80, showing an acceptable degree of internal consistency. Table 1 shows the scales’ statistical information. The single-item measure for scepticism was normally distributed (M = 3.98, SD = 1.68, skewness = −0.16, kurtosis = −1.01). The dataset and survey can be found at https://data.mendeley.com/preview/svtgj7pn4c?a=1193ae49-23da-4995-a5e3-1bd84546b419.

Table 1. Statistical information on scales.

Construct/Indicator	Mean	SD	Skewness	Kurtosis	SL	α
Company-halal fit	5.17	1.36	−0.67	−0.09		.83
Halal offers are relevant to COMPANY.	5.62	1.39	−1.04	0.57	.83
Halal offers fit with COMPANY.	4.94	1.67	−0.61	−0.55	.90
Halal offers are appropriate for COMPANY’s brand image.	4.93	1.64	−0.58	−0.53	.86
CSR image	4.52	1.23	−0.26	−0.26		.86
COMPANY shows a high level of social commitment.	4.60	1.34	−0.27	−0.38	.87
COMPANY strives to undertake social responsibility.	4.44	1.38	−0.32	−0.42	.91
As a company, COMPANY fulfils its social obligations towards society.	4.50	1.46	−0.15	−0.55	.87
WOM	3.93	1.57	−0.22	−0.68		.88
I intend to say positive things about COMPANY to friends, relatives, and other people.	3.67	1.69	0.05	−0.92	.91
I intend to recommend to buy products of COMPANY to my friends, relatives, and other people.	4.02	1.83	−0.20	−1.04	.87
I intend to mention unfavourable things about COMPANY to my friends, relatives, or other people. (R)	4.09	1.71	−0.35	−0.83	.92

Note. SL = standardized loadings, α = Cronbach’s alpha, R indicates recoded items. COMPANY was substituted by the name of the retailer.

Results

Test of the hypothesized model

The hypothesized model (see Figure 1) was tested with path analysis using Maximum Likelihood estimation in SPSS AMOS 26.0.0. All requirements were met without any modifications (skewness <3, kurtosis < 10.00, VIF < 3.00, low Mahalanobis distances; cf. Kline 2011). Table 2 shows correlations between the scales and the indicator for scepticism.

Table 2. Correlations.

	Company-halal fit	CSR image	WOM	Scepticism regarding motives
Company-halal fit	–
CSR image	.22**	–
WOM	.13	.47***	–
Scepticism regarding motives	−.17*	−.33***	−.16*	–

Note. ***p < .001; **p < .01; *p < .05.

Critical values indicating a good fitting model include a non-significant χ² -test with χ²/df < 2.00, SRMR < .08, RmSEA < .06, CFI > .95, NFI > .95, and AGFI > .95 (Byrne 2001; Hu and Bentler 1999). Our suggested model showed a good fit (χ² (2) = 0.15, p = .930, SRMR = .01, RmSEA = .00, CFI = 1.00, NFI = 1.00, AGFI = 1.00). No modification indices were suggested. Figure 2 shows the standardized estimates of the path model.

Figure 2. Path model with standardized estimates.

Note. ***p < .001; **p < .01; *p < .05; χ² (2) = 0.15, p = .930, SRMR = .01, RmSEA = 0.00, CFI = 1.00, NFI = 1.00, AGFI = 1.00.

Test of hypotheses

As hypothesized in H1, perceived company-halal fit has a positive relation with CSR image (β = .17, p = .008), i.e., the better the halal offers were perceived to fit to the company, the more positive consumers regarded the CSR image of the company. Further, CSR image shows a positive effect on WOM (β = .47, p < .001) as suggested by H2; i.e., the more positive a company’s image concerning CSR is perceived, the more positively consumers speak about the company. The found negative impact of perceived company-halal fit on scepticism regarding the company’s motives (β = −.17, p = .015) was proposed by H3, i.e., the more consumers perceive that halal offers fit to the company, the less sceptic they are about the company’s intentions. Also, H4, suggesting a negative relation between scepticism and CSR image, was supported (β = −.30, p < .001); i.e., the more sceptical consumers are about a company’s motives regarding halal offers, the worse they perceive the CSR image of the company.

To examine whether scepticism regarding the company’s motives mediates the relation between company-halal fit and CSR image, specific indirect effects were tested. To this end, Gaskin, James, and Lim’s (2020) plugin for AMOS, bootstrapping 2,000 samples was used. Results show the mediation effect suggested in H5 (β = .05, p =.021, lower limit = .01, upper limit = .09); i.e., perceived company-halal fit decreases consumers’ scepticism concerning the company’s intentions regarding halal offers and, as a consequence, scepticism decreases the company’s CSR image perceived by consumers.

Discussion

This study addressed the question how the perceived fit between a company and its offering of halal products affects consumers’ cognitive and behavioural responses and how scepticism regarding the company’s intention regarding halal offers impacts this effect. The research was conducted in a western European context, in Austria, among predominantly non-Muslim consumers, thus WOM and not purchasing behaviour was studied as the relevant behavioural response.

First of all, the findings imply that perceived company-halal fit is a key factor in determining how consumers respond to a retail company’s initiative to offer halal food products. Although some studies have shown that high fit does not necessarily generate favourable outcomes (Lafferty 2007), or some highly fitting socially motivated programs might even negatively impact consumer responses to promotions (Becker-Olsen, Cudmore, and Hill 2006), we found that the better the perception of the company-halal fit the more favourable the CSR image. This finding is in line with previous research indicating that company-CSR fit has positive effects on corporate trustworthiness and consequently on CSR image (Fatma 2022) and that a fit between consumers, the company and the CSR initiative can generate positive results (Schmeltz 2017). We could furthermore identify a positive link between CSR image and WOM. While previous research has indicated that CSR image indirectly strengthens WOM (e.g., Plewa et al. 2015), our result suggests a direct effect of the CSR image on consumers’ intention to say positive things about the company.

Although some studies suggest that high fit can enhance consumer scepticism (Ellen, Webb, and Mohr 2006), our results in the context of halal offerings show that better company-halal fit is related to less scepticism that the company only offers halal products for self-serving reasons. Our results align with those of Rifon et al. (2004), who suggest that a high congruence between a brand and social sponsorship may reduce scepticism due to low cognitive elaboration that leads to more positive attitudes. Higher scepticism, on the contrary, adversely affects the CSR image. As Webb and Mohr (1998) suggest, individuals who are highly sceptical of CSR believe that a company’s social responsibility effort is driven by self-serving motives.

The findings indicate that consumer scepticism partially mediates the effect of perceived company-halal fit on CSR image. Higher fit decreases scepticism, but higher scepticism reduces the effect of company-halal fit on CSR image. The results imply that whenever consumers are sceptical concerning a company’s intention, they are likely to use their scepticism as a cue to lessen their attitudes and evaluations.

Implications, limitations and future research

In western nations, which are becoming increasingly multi-cultural, where the Muslim population highlights the emergence of new demands, expectations, and diverse values, this study is a step towards enhancing our understanding of halal offerings from a CSR lens. Contrary to previous studies aiming to understand the opinion of the non-Muslim majority in Europe about halal products and their purchase behaviour, which mostly achieved negative outcomes, our findings highlight the importance of perceived company-halal fit. Specifically, our findings suggest that a food retailer is evaluated more positively regarding its social responsibility when consumers see an alignment between the company and its halal offers.

For companies, our results suggest that leveraging CSR fit has the potential to encourage consumers to recognize companies as socially responsible, which ultimately results in positive behavioural outcomes like spreading positive WOM. Our study demonstrates that scepticism about companies’ motives distracts consumers from seeing a company as socially responsible; yet, a good fit and enhancing CSR image improves consumers’ response. This finding suggests that although companies that offer halal products and services should be mindful of consumers’ scepticism towards motivations for offering halal products, demonstrating a suitable fit to overcome the communication problem is promising.

This study contributes to the contemporary CSR-fit communication and halal literature on theoretical, methodological, and practical levels. The study addressed a gap in the literature on both CSR communication and halal by connecting the two under the umbrella of external diversity and inclusion, thus contributing to the theoretical development of this emerging but relatively unexplored field. Second, on a methodological level, this study contributes to the extant body of literature examining CSR-fit communication as a constitutive process that may strategically improve the positive cognitive and behavioural outcome in the context of halal product offerings. Finally, this study also contributes to practice because communicating about CSR due to consumers’ scepticism towards companies’ motivation is challenging. Moreover, the contentious nature of halal products adds to communication difficulties.

Although we are confident that our research will serve as a basis for future studies on CSR-fit communication in the case of halal offerings, there are several limitations when interpreting the results. First, our research addressed the halal offering under the notion of CSR and external diversity and inclusion; however, it lacks to show the influence of effective company-halal fit concerning diversity and inclusion. Thus, more empirical research needs to be conducted to explore this understudied field in practice. An interesting avenue to fill this gap is conducting an experiment where consumers are exposed to different CSR information to shed light on which specific CSR-fit information works best in the context of halal offerings.

Furthermore, our sample was restricted to university students and thus the results might not be generalizable to the larger society. Thus, future research should broaden the scope of samples and include diverse consumers representing the larger society.

Acknowledgments

The authors received no financial support for the research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data is available at Mendeley Data, doi: 10.17632/svtgj7pn4c.1 (DOI is reserved and will be provided in case of publication).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Samira Rahimi Mavi

Samira Rahimi Mavi studied journalism and communication at the University of Allameh-Tabataba’i, Tehran, and obtained her PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Vienna (Department of Communication). Her primary research areas include CSR communication, diversity and inclusion, corporate communication strategies on controversial issues, and the negative effects of media and consumer criticism.

Sabine A. Einwiller

Sabine A. Einwiller is the Professor of Public Relations Research at the University of Vienna, Austria, Department of Communication where she heads the Corporate Communication Research Group. She studied Psychology at the University of Mannheim, Germany, and received her PhD in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Her main research areas comprise employee communication, CSR communication, corporate reputation management, and the effects of negative publicity and complaining.

Ingrid Wahl

Ingrid Wahl is a senior researcher in the Corporate Communication Research Group at the Department of Communication at the University of Vienna. She studied Psychology at the University of Vienna, Austria, and obtained her PhD in Social Sciences also from the University of Vienna. Among her research interests are internal communication, cooperation in social dilemmas, work psychology, diversity, distance learning, and teleworking.

Notes

1. Instead of COMPANY, the name of the retailer was mentioned in the study.