Building corporate reputation, overcoming consumer skepticism, and establishing trust: choosing the right message types and social causes in the restaurant industry

This study aims to examine the effects of message type and adoption of various social-cause categories on consumers’ reactions in building trust, reducing consumer skepticism, and bolstering corporate reputations within the restaurant and foodservice industries. A 2 (type of message: a text-only message versus one with text and visuals) × 4 (types of social causes: health, human services, animal welfare, and environmental concern) between-subjects experimental design was employed. The sample involved 433 U.S. adult consumers who volunteered to take a survey. Participants responded with the lowest levels of skepticism, the highest levels of trust, and the greatest respect for corporate reputation when the messages they viewed included visuals to go along with the message text. No differences were found among the four types of social causes with regard to participants’ responses, except for perceived trust. We also found interaction effects on participants’ responses regarding the relationships between types of messages and social-cause categories.