When doing good helps doing better: moral licensing of blatant transgressions with ambiguous brand responsibility through CSR

Purpose Despite their practical relevance, limited research has examined transgressions involving ambiguous brand responsibility. This paper aims to investigate how corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects the moral licensing of such transgressions. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected via three between-subjects online experiments (n = 255/185/276) with volunteers from a German Business School. Building on moral licensing, the studies examine both the moral credentials (Studies 1 and 2) and the moral credits (Studies 1 and 3) pathway. The hypotheses were tested using analyses of variance (ANOVAs) and regression-based analyses. Findings The results indicate that CSR alters the construal of responsibility, reducing direct blame attribution and fostering brand forgiveness. CSR improves ex ante attitude toward the brand, serving as a buffer against reputational damage. However, CSR neither mitigates the emergence of negative moral emotions nor the deterioration of attitude following misconduct. Originality/value This research extends the literature on brand transgressions by addressing the underexplored role of ambiguous brand responsibility. It details the mechanisms through which CSR influences consumer blame attribution and brand forgiveness.