Consumers Prefer That Corporations Donate Periodically

How should firms best communicate their corporate social responsibility efforts? Across seven preregistered studies (two large field studies and five online lab experiments), the authors find that making a series of periodic contributions (e.g., donating $20,000 per month for 12 months), rather than donating an equivalent aggregate amount (e.g., $240,000 in a year), improves outcomes for donor companies, such as reputation, customer engagement, and purchase likelihood. The benefits of periodic donations arise primarily because of heightened consumer perception of the donor company's authentic prosocial motivation, which affects outcomes in two ways: First, the consistency of periodic donations increases perception that the donor gave because of authentic prosocial motives, which then increases favorable donor evaluations. Second, heightened perception of the donor's authentic prosocial motivation also increases the perceived impact of the donation, further boosting favorable donor evaluations. Additional studies demonstrate when and why periodic donations may benefit (or, in some cases, even harm) evaluations of the donor. This research highlights consumers’ sensitivity to cues of consistency, and the importance of perceived authentic prosocial motivation, when consumers grant charitable credit for corporate social responsibility.