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Social responsibility has become a cornerstone of brand management, enabling brand differentiation in a high growth market. By distinguishing between symbolic and utilitarian associations of social responsibility, our study identifies two levers for consumer brand commitment. We posit that utilitarian associations enhance consumer brand commitment by strengthening consumer trust. We also argue that brands can encourage consumer commitment through their environmental and philanthropic engagements by conveying values with which consumers can identify to foster brand identification. This second commitment lever is argued to be particularly effective for consumers with strong social/environmental personal norms. We empirically test our research model on a sample of regular consumers of organic food brands, validating the two pathways from social responsibility to brand commitment. The moderating role of consumers' personal norms on the process was confirmed regarding the philanthropic dimension but not the environmental one. Contributions and implications for sustainable marketing are discussed.

Social responsibility has become a cornerstone marketing policy, enabling brand differentiation in a high-growth market. By distinguishing between symbolic and utilitarian associations of social responsibility, our study identifies two levers for consumer brand commitment. We posit that utilitarian associations enhance consumer brand commitment by strengthening consumer trust in a context imbued with fear and skepticism about the consequences of consumption for health. We also argue that brands can encourage consumer commitment through their environmental and philanthropic engagements by conveying values with which consumers can identify. This second commitment lever is argued to be particularly effective for consumers with strong social/environmental personal norms. We empirically test our research model on a sample of regular consumers of organic food brands validating the two pathways from social responsibility to brand commitment. The moderating role of consumers’ personal norms on the process was also confirmed regarding the philanthropic dimension but not the environmental one. Contributions and implications of these findings are presented in the discussion part.