Johnson-Young Publishes Research on Corporate Social Responsibility Campaigns

Elizabeth Johnson-Young, Assistant Professor of Communication, has published a peer-reviewed research article in Corporate Communications: An International Journal. The article, “The CSR paradox: When a social responsibility campaign can tarnish a brand,” looks at instances when a social campaign can hurt a brand even though it may successfully raise concerns for the campaign issues. The paper presents results of an experiment looking at prevention versus promotion-framed messages in a real-world corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaign to understand differences in concerns for the campaign issues and attitudes towards the sponsoring corporate brand. Results indicated that even when message framing produced strong concerns for the issues, negative effects of the message framing were directed at the brand itself. The publication is now available online and will be in the next printed journal, as well.