Sang Yong Bok

We examine the persuasiveness of advertising messages based on individuals’ tendency towards metaphoric thinking measured by metaphor usage measure (MUM) and construal level. Two on-line studies show that individuals’ metaphoric thinking tendency moderates the perceived persuasiveness of advertising messages (metaphor vs. non-metaphor) and that construal level mediates this effect. Study 1 shows that MUM moderates the effect of message type demonstrating that individuals with high MUM evaluate a metaphoric message more persuasive. Study 2 demonstrates that this interaction is mediated by construal level. Analysis using PROCESS macro revealed that construal level decreases after being exposed to a metaphoric message which is opposite to what was expected. Additional analysis was performed to probe a possible cause for this unexpected finding. Although it is premature to conclude, it appears that shift-in-emotion in high-level construal may need further investigation. In addition, findings suggest that metaphor may be effective only to those who are in a high tendency towards metaphoric thinking.

The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between consumer perception of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), corporate brand trust, corporate hypocrisy, and corporate reputation. Based on the one-to-one interview method using a structured questionnaire of 560 consumers in South Korea, the proposed model was estimated by structural equation modeling analysis. The model suggests that consumer perception of CSR influences consumer attitudes toward a corporation (i.e., perceived corporate hypocrisy and corporate reputation) by developing corporate brand trust. This in turn further enhances corporate reputation while decreasing corporate hypocrisy. The findings of our study demonstrate that consumer perception of CSR is an antecedent to corporate brand trust, which fully mediates the relationship between consumer perception of CSR and corporate reputation. In addition, corporate brand trust has the role of partial mediator in the relationship between consumer perception of CSR and corporate hypocrisy. These results imply that to better understand the relationship between consumer perception of CSR and consumer attitudes toward a corporation, it is necessary to consider corporate brand trust as an important mediating variable. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed, together with its limitations and potential for future research.