Consistency of CEO behavior in CSRDoes it really Matter?

Damla Kartal (MSc, U of Amsterdam)Wim J.L. Elving (ASCoR, U of Amsterdam)

Overview

Theoretical background TNT post

Experiment

Results

Discussion

Implications

Research introduction

RQ: whether the reputation of the firm will be stronger when the CEO acts consistent with the CSR program of an organization compared to a CEO who does not act accordingly (inconsistent) to the organizations own CSR policies

We were triggered by this by an action by TNT post CEO Peter Bakker, who traided his Porsche Sports car for a hybrid car (less energy use, less exhaustion) in line with the PLANET ME program (sustainability) of his organisation.

Theory: Heider’ Balance theory (1958)

COMPANY

EXTENSIVE SUSTAINABILITY

PROGRAM

CEO DRIVING IN A SPORTSCAR

CEO DRIVING HYBRID!

Fit between communication & action

Practice what you preach, or get sceptical responses from stakeholders

Attribution theory, intrinsic or extensive motives to explain behaviour Intrinsic; the CEO is driving a hybrid car, because he

really cares about the environment Extrinsic; the CEO is still driving his sports car,

because he is not really interested in sustainability, but instead he is interested in the gain in reputation by having a CSR program

Experiment

Wanted to video Peter Bakker himself, but due to strikes within TNT Post and ethical considerations we choose an experiment including a newspaper article as manipulation The original contained the story that he traided his

porsche for a hybrid car The other condition we altered the original story by

asking Bakker about sustainability, but also why he still drove a Porsche sportscar

Variables

Attitude towards the company, before and after the manipulation (=reading the newspaper article) 5 items, based on Bruner & Hensel (1996) and Bae &

Cameron (2006) 7 point Likert scale (strongly disagree – strongly agree) Cronbach’s alpha >.89; factor loadings > .78

Reputation, before and after 7 point bipolar (Bae & Cameron, 2006) for instance

unreliable/reliable, not genuine/sincere etc. Cronbach’s alpha > .73

Results

Attitude towards TNT post, although the lines show a promising trend, not significant (t(124) = -.55, n.s.)

Also for reputation we did not find significant results due to our manipulation

Attitude towards TNT

Discussion

We did not find the results we have hoped to find

Manipulation with the help of a newspaper article maybe not strong enough

The CEO might be too unknown for our respondents

Bad timing

Future research

Replica of this experiment with other respondents (more knowledge about this CEO and/or company)

Another type of manipulation (video, audio)

Another case

Thank you for your attention

damlakartal@live.nl

W.j.l.elving@uva.nl

@WimElv

@DamlaKartal