When corporate sustainability violates public expectations: Insights from stakeholders’ perspective (2022)

Past research reveals that emphasizing corporate social responsibility (CSR) fit can attenuate stakeholders’ skeptical perceptions, meet stakeholders’ expectations, and enhance corporate credibility. CSR fit concerns with thematic congruence between a company’s primary area of business and its CSR efforts. Highlighting such a fit between the mission of CSR and that of a company in the apology statement can lessen anger toward a company in a crisis. Does corporate sustainability have to be controversial? How do you manage corporate sustainability in a challenge crisis? This study addresses the two overarching questions in our research, which will provide nuanced insights into the understanding of stakeholder reactions to corporate sustainability initiatives by investigating one of the most important stakeholder groups to companies – consumers–to explore why and how they react to corporate sustainability.