CSR 활동의 결과에 영향을 미치는 변수로서 중요하게 다루어지고 있는 적합성(fit)은 한편으로는 적합성과 기업 이미지 간에 정(+)의 인과관계를 주장하는 연구가 제시되고 있는 반면, 적합성이 높을 경우 오히려 기업 이미지에 부정적 반응이 나올 수 있다는 주장 또한 제기되고 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 CSR 연상이 기업 이미지에 미치는 영향에 대해 살펴보고, 소비자들이 느끼는 CSR 연상이 기업 이미지에 미치는 영향에 있어서 적합성이 조절역할을 하는지, 또한 조절역할을 한다면 구체적으로 어떠한 형태의 조절역할인지를 검증해 보고자 하였으며, 이를 통해 CSR을 통한 기업 이미지 제고 방안으로서 적합성의 역할에 대한 바람직한 전략적 대안을 제시하였다. 연구 결과를 요약하면 다음과 같다. 첫째, CSR 연상에 대한 탐색적 요인분석 결과, CSR 연상은 4개의 요인으로 분류되었으며, 각각 ‘환경친화’, ‘사회공헌’, ‘소비자보호’, ‘지역 · 문화사업’으로 명명하였다. 둘째, CSR 연상이 기업 이미지에 미치는 영향을 분석하기 위해 다중회귀분석을 실시한 결과 소비자보호를 제외한 환경친화, 사회공헌, 지역․문화사업의 순으로 기업 이미지에 유의한 정(+)의 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났으며, 소비자보호의 경우 기업 이미지에 유의한 영향을 미치지 않는 것을 나타났다. 셋째, CSR 연상과 기업 이미지 간의 관계에서 적합성의 조절효과에 대한 검증을 위해 조절회귀분석을 실시하였다. 그 결과, 적합성은 환경친화, 사회공헌, 소비자보호, 지역․문화사업의 네 가지 CSR 연상에 대립조절효과를 가지는 것으로 나타났다. 즉, 네 가지 CSR 연상과 적합성 각각은 기업 이미지에 유의한 정(+)의 영향을 가지고 있으나, 각 CSR 연상이 적합성과 같이 소비자에게 제시되었을 경우에는 적합성의 영향이 CSR의 영향과 상충하였다. 이는 기업 이미지를 제고하기 위해서는 CSR 활동 시 적합성에 대한 전략적 고려가 필요함을 시사한다. 본 연구에서 밝혀진 CSR 연상의 기업 이미지에 대한 영향 및 적합성의 대립조절효과에 대한 검증 결과를 토대로 기업들의 CSR 활동에 대한 전략적 시사점을 제시하였다.
The 2015 Volkswagen’s US diesel emissions scandal has clearly demonstrated to us what negative consequences can be caused from ignoring corporate social responsibility (CSR). Volkswagen’s subsequent decision to focus mainly on developing electronic vehicles was quite an obvious attempt to make up for the environmental damage its diesel cars caused so it may restore the market’s trust. Not only Volkswagen’s bet on the development of socially responsible products but existing volumes of reports and studies suggest that CSR can positively affect corporate image and brand attitude. A firm’s act of social responsibility associates the firm to a notion of a ‘good corporate.’ This association adds to the firm’s brand value, employee loyalty, long-term profit, positive public relations and stakeholder trust, just to name a few. During the past few decades, a flow of studies has explored constituents of CSR. Among the constituents that were found, the fit between CSR initiative and corporate image has recently been rising as an important factor for the efficiency of CSR. There are two contrasting conclusions about the effect of fit at present. A volume of studies suggests positive effect of fit in corporate image, as opposed to another body of studies that raises a concern that a fit too high casts doubts and deprecates the corporate image. In our study, we examined whether the perceived fit of CSR moderates the effect of CSR in corporate image. The goal of this paper is to find an optimal strategic solution regarding the fit of CSR that will ultimately enhance the corporate image. The key findings of this study are as follows: Our exploratory factor analysis results divided CSR association into four categories, which are named ‘environmental,’ ‘social charity,’ ‘consumer protection,’ and ‘community․culture’. We employed multiple regression analysis to measure the effect of CSR associations in corporate image. The results show that ‘environmental,’ ‘social contribution’ and ‘community․culture’ positively affect corporate image, in the respective order. ‘Consumer protection,’ however, does not influence corporate image. One plausible explanation of this is that consumers perceive consumer protection as an universal corporate duty rather than a corporate-specific characteristic. There has been a number of widely publicized consumer data breach incidents recently, and in turn, superior consumer protection has become norms across many industries. The normalization of superior consumer protection in such scale may have made it hard for consumers to perceive a corporate’s consumer protection as its unique characteristic. Next, hierarchical regression analyses suggests a moderating role of fit in the effects of all four types of CSR association. Specifically, fit has antagonistic interaction effect to the effects of CSR on corporate image. The fit of CSR itself enhance the perceived corporate image. When combined with clear CSR associations, however, fit sabotages the effect of CSR on corporate image. While CSR associations positively affect corporate image, these effects will decrease with the higher fit. Likewise, the lower fit will amplify the positive effects of CSR by its antagonistic interaction effect. In the business context, this moderating role of fit sheds a light on how corporates should strategize their approach on CSR. When the goal of CSR is clear and specific to a CSR association category (e.g. to preserve natural resources, to grow small businesses in a local community), it is more effective to surprise the consumers with a low-fitted approach. Heightening the fit with company products and industry characteristics may only be effective when the goal of CSR requires those to be fulfilled. In the implication section, we provide a few business examples of this strategy. Couples of these examples include TOMS, originally a shoe brand, unexpectedly expanding to coffee sales to pursue a clear CSR goal, and Hyundai Capital, a dosmetic financial corporate that has donated service designing consulting service to local small businesses against consumers’ expectation that it would simply donate a fund.