Drawing inferences about others on the basis of corporate associations
Yeosun Yoon, Zeynep Gürhan-Canli, Beyza Bozok
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · 2006 · Volume 34 · Issue 2
Abstract
This research examined how observers use corporate associations (e.g., environmental responsibility) in drawing inferences about a target consumers’ dispositions (e.g., whether the target person really cares about the environment). Respondents read a scenario describing a target consumer purchasing a certain brand of pens, whose maker had recently teamed up with an environmental organization. It was found that target-related factors (e.g., impression motivation, the consistency of behavior) and company-related factors (e.g., the congruity of the supported cause with the companys’ reputation) systematically influenced the dispositional inferences made by the observers.
Keywords
corporate social responsibility, impression motivation, inference making
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