Unmasking corporate hypocrisy: CSR deception impact on consumer behaviour and brand evaluations

This study examined how fashion brands’ deceptive marketing messages related to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) impact consumers’ brand-oriented and self-oriented behaviours under the influence of perceived brand motives and hypocrisy evaluations (CH). Employing a 2 × 2 online experiment and data from 504 US participants, this study demonstrated that deceptive CSR marketing messages, if detected, evokes increased CH. ANOVA results indicated that altruistic motives bolstered CH, while brands’ self-serving motives were non-significant. MANOVA results indicated CH's significance in heightening consumers’ negative comments, complaints, and boycotting intentions while undermining sustainable consumption-related intentions. This research underscores the overlooked importance of CSR-deception in hypocrisy literature and the collective role of egoistic and altruistic motives in consumers’ responses. Its novelty also lies in investigating consumers’ self-oriented behaviours resulting from CH. The study suggests that marketers should leverage consumers’ evaluation of fashion brands’ altruistic motives to improve perceptions when brands’ deceptive CSR practices are exposed.