| This study predicted that both social conscience and business competency would have a major impact on corporate image. A total of 368 participants volunteered to read a short descriptive sketch about one of four fictional organizations, described under one of two different conditions of business competency (high or low) and one of two different conditions of social conscience (high or low). Participants then rated how they felt about the company they had just read about and the likelihood that they would recommend their product, purchase their product, or work for them. Results showed that ratings of social performance [F (1,350) = 722.62, p <.0001, r =.82] were significantly higher under conditions of high social conscience, and ratings of business performance [F (1,351) = 357.21, p <.0001, r =.71] were significantly higher under conditions of high business competency. The likelihood that an individual would buy a company's products or be willing to work for a company was heavily dependent on the company's level of social conscience. Analogously, the probability that an individual would invest in a company was heavily dependent on the company's level of business competency. Both of these factors, it seems, would have to be present for a company to satisfy its entire audience (i.e., consumers, employees, and investors). The number of results with strikingly large effect sizes suggests that this topic is one that deserves further consideration in view of its implications for social and economic outcomes. |
