报告摘要：
This study examines firms’ contentious practice of requiring consumer sacrifices, termed consumer social responsibility (CnSR), within firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. We categorize firms’ CSR actions into CnSR inclusion (CnI) and exclusion (CnE), and examine how these CnSR policies relate to CSR-washing, where firms with inauthentic CSR initiatives (I-type firms) may mimic those with authentic ones (A-type firms). Distinct from prior signaling models with singular signaling tools, our model innovatively employs conjoined signaling tools (CnSR policy and product price) to explore CSR-washing avoidance, integrating consumers’ cost fairness concerns and belief uncertainty in both signaling tools. Firstly, our research reveals a surprising finding: CnSR inclusion, despite requiring consumer sacrifices, can actually benefit consumers. In complete information scenarios, the benefits of CnSR inclusion to consumers become particularly pronounced when CSR fulfillment outweighs CnSR, consequently alleviating consumers’ concerns regarding cost inequity. In incomplete information scenarios, CnSR inclusion generates signaling effects that serve to deter CSR-washing, thereby enhancing consumer welfare. Specifically, while prices alone cannot signal the authenticity of firms’ CSR initiatives, A-type firms implementing CnSR inclusion can restore this signaling effect even when consumers sacrifice significantly for CnSR. Secondly, our study reveals that CnSR inclusion may engender conflicting interests between A-type firms and public policymakers in terms of avoiding CSR- washing. When A-type firms contribute minimally to CSR, deterring CSR-washing with CnI may decrease social welfare, despite benefiting A-type firms. Our main results suggest that firm managers should not fear “consuming consumers” (i.e., requiring consumers to make sacrifices for firms’ CSR initiatives), as leveraging CnSR inclusion may benefit consumers. Furthermore, our research contributes to the definition of inclusion in firms’ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) activities by distinguishing inclusion based on cost rather than benefit, thereby expanding the traditional definition of inclusion.
嘉宾简介：
Yunchuan Liu教授毕业于美国哥伦比亚大学，是市场营销、运营管理、供应链管理、信息管理、消费金融等方面的专家，多篇文章发表在Marketing Science、Management Science、Production and Operations Management和Quantitative Marketing and Economics等期刊，现任Decision Sciences和Service Sciences副主编、曾任Marketing Science编委，多次获得Management Science和Marketing Science杰出评审奖，是华人学者营销协会的联合创办人，中国市场营销国际学术年会暨中国创造展执行主席，曾任美国中伊州华人协会主席。
