A mixed-method study on CSR communication in the Swedish banking sector

Abstract: In light of the challenges surrounding CSR communication and the obstacles facing banks that wish to effectively communicate about their CSR initiatives, the purpose of this thesis is to examine CSR communication in the context of the Swedish banking sector. By departing from a conceptual model of effective CSR communication, this thesis intends to measure the extent to which different message content factors influence CSR authenticity and leads to favourable consumer response outcomes: attitude, trust, and word-of-mouth intention. The thesis also takes into consideration the role of consumers' general CSR knowledge in influencing the effectiveness of CSR communication. A mixed-method approach was adopted consisting of a content analysis on the websites of eight commercial banks operating in Sweden. This was followed by an experimental study measuring the effectiveness of three message content factors: issue importance, commitment, and impact. Data was collected from 1,413 Swedish university students who evaluated manipulated message content displayed on the website of a fictitious bank. The collective findings of the two studies suggests that banks should focus on different message content factors depending on the outcome they are looking to achieve. Communicating issue importance and commitment led to increased attitude and word-of-mouth intention, but not trust. In contrast, communicating the impact of CSR initiatives directly increased trust, in addition to attitude and word-of-mouth. Furthermore, CSR authenticity was found to mediate the indirect effect of commitment on attitude, trust, and word-of-mouth intention. Lastly, general CSR knowledge was found to negatively impact the effect on commitment on all consumer response variables, suggesting that increased knowledge inhibits the effect of communicated commitment.