The organizational framing effect on consumer evaluations of corporate donations

Purpose This paperaims to investigate a novel expectation by examining how framing a company as its constituent members (members frame) versus an organization (organization frame) can influence consumer evaluations of a product or service from this company. Design/methodology/approach Four studies were conducted examining the effectiveness of an organization (vs members) frame in a between-subjects experimental design (a pilot study, Studies 1a, 1b and 2). Study 2 also tested the moderating role of donation strategies (amount-focused vs frequency-focused). Findings Results show a members (vs organization) frame leads to a higher purchase likelihood of a product from a company engaging in corporate donations. Further, this framing effect is mediated by increased levels of consumers’ perceptions about how committed the company is to the cause and the emotion of moral elevation in response to the company’s corporate donations. Moreover, this effect is moderated when the company uses a frequency-based (vs amount-based) donation strategy. Research limitations/implications This research contributes to the literature on message framing by demonstrating how the same information about a company may lead to differential effects on consumer evaluations, depending on whether the company is framed as its constituent members versus an organization. Practical implications This paper presents significant managerial implications for small companies, in which the owner is the company, about how they can effectively communicate corporate donations to the consumers. Originality/value This research provides a novel perspective on how the same information about a company may lead to differential effects on consumer evaluations, particularly in the context of corporate donations.

The Criminalization of Workplace Harassment and Abuse

This chapter considers the legal treatment of workplace harassment and abuse. In the wake of social and political activism focused on sexual harassment, the legal regulation of harassment has been under intensive scrutiny. In the English context, harassment is already regulated by an extensive body of legal norms. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 is an interesting example where legislation provides for parallel tortious and criminal liability for the same wrong. The chapter develops the idea that criminal liability has had a ‘dragging’ effect on the civil liability regime, the effect of which has been to undermine the effectiveness of the legal response. This is because the paradigm of criminal liability has treated harassment as a personalized wrong, reflecting the structure of the criminal process to allocate censure and blame to culpable agents. The effect of this has been to obscure the structural and organizational context to harassment and abuse, which propagates in circumstances of insecurity, precarity, and non-decent work. As an alternative, the chapter defends an organizational framing of criminal liability based upon a health and safety model. It develops this model of criminal liability drawing upon the value of human dignity.

The Use of Visuals in Issue Framing: Signifying Responsible Drinking

This article offers new insights into the organizational framing of social issues by drawing attention to the use of visual framing. These insights are based on a case study of the organization, Drinkaware, and its visual framing of the issue of alcohol-related harm in its campaign material. The study identifies three overall visual framing functions performed by Drinkaware’s campaign material: normalizing alcohol consumption, defining and delimiting the scope of the issue and the responsible parties, and establishing the organization’s identity as an expert. The article contributes to institutional theory, and to organizational theory more broadly by elaborating on the significant role of visuals in the framing of an issue, particularly by providing a systematic elaboration of the visual framing functions and components. The article also extends the literature on issues and issue fields, by showing how visuals contribute to defining and delimiting issues and establishing an expert identity in an issue field.

Paid to Donate

This chapter deals with the controversial market of eggs and sperm. It examines how egg and sperm donors respond to variation in the organizational framing of paid donation—as either gift or job—and finds that it does have consequences for how individuals experience bodily commodification. Despite the fact that egg and sperm donors are alike in being motivated by the compensation, and they spend the money on similar things, they end up adopting gendered conceptualizations of what it is they are being paid to do. Women speak with pride about the huge gift they have given, while men consider donation to be a job, and some sperm donors even reference feelings of alienation and objectification.

Emotions in strategic leadership: A Literature review and theoretical modelling for future research directions

The aim was to explore the existing literature on emotion and strategic leadership in a systematic review and to synthesize it into a theoretical model. A literature review on emotion in connection to strategic leadership was undertaken. After adhering to the search strategy and exclusion criteria, 46 peer-reviewed texts consisting of articles and relevant book chapters remained. The texts were analyzed according to the grounded theory method (GTM) to generate a new theoretical model and a core variable was identified, organizational emotion shaping. The model attempts to show how the interaction of individual and organizational framing factors with the strategic leader's tasks and challenges lead to emotion shaping internal and external of the organization. Suggestions for future research were formed and suggestions of practical implications were given. This literature review and theoretical integration offers a starting point for potential areas of further exploration.