Humane‑oriented CSR on social media: The roles of other‑praising emotions and social justice values

What the paper says

Despite their potential to enhance CSR communication effectiveness, research on customer responses to humane-oriented CSR appeals on social media remains limited. In particular, little attention has been paid to the role of other-praising emotions - gratitude, elevation, admiration, and awe - in shaping the impact of online humane CSR initiatives. Thus, this paper aims to investigate how humane orientation in CSR posts predicts other-praising emotions and how these emotions mediate the relationship between CSR and customer behavioral intentions, including purchasing and social media engagement. Moreover, the moderating roles of social justice values and self-construal are examined. Data were collected via survey from Jordanian Facebook users and analyzed using moderation and mediation techniques. Results revealed that humane orientation positively affected other-praising emotions, which mediated the relationship between humane CSR and consumer behavior. Social justice values moderated emotional responses to CSR, while self-construal had no significant moderation effect on the emotion–behavior links. Addressing gaps in CSR communication literature, these findings emphasize the importance of humane CSR and moral emotions in driving successful CSR discourse on social media. They also provide practical insights to help firms select and communicate CSR practices that effectively achieve their business goals.