In our Research Seminar Series on December 13, 2018, Amna Kirmani presented her research on consequences of an organization’s polarizing corporate social responsibility. Amna is the Ralph J. Tyser Professor of Marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland (US). She is part of the editorial board of the Journal of Consumer Research. Her research interests include morality, persuasion knowledge, online communication, and branding.

In her project, Amna examines how consumers may respond to an organization that takes a stand on a controversial social issue by showing dishonest behavior. As boycott is not always an opportunity for consumers, dishonest behavior is a way to punish an organization whose corporate social responsibility is not in line with one’s values. She demonstrates that the effect of corporate social responsibility on dishonest behavior is moderated by the individual’s cause-related identity and mediated by anticipatory self-threat. If the cause is congruent (vs. incongruent) with the individual’s self-concept, corporate social responsibility decreases (vs. increases) dishonest behavior by increasing (vs. decreasing) anticipatory self-threat (i.e., if I cheat the company, I will feel like I am a bad person). We thank Amna for her visit, and the inspiring talk and discussions.