Research highlights trust's role in collective behavior, particularly within contemporary social dilemmas involving climate change and public health crises. Previous studies show that an organization's actions can shape how customers perceive it as socially responsible and trustworthy. Yet, our understanding of how organizational behavior influences customers' active participation in prosocial behavior remains limited. Through an online vignette experiment, this study examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) behavior signaling, trust in one’s electric utility, and collective action. I operationalize collective action as willingness to tolerate discomfort, shift appliance usage, and increase the temperature above normal daily comfort during an extreme heatwave. Preliminary results from SEM modeling suggest that both pro-social and pro-environmental CSR signaling enhance perceptions of trustworthiness across all three measures of collective action. However, this does not always translate to an increased likelihood of individuals engaging in collective action. I find that pro-social CSR signaling indirectly boosts all three measures of collective action, while pro-environmental CSR signaling shows no effect. Lastly, I find no evidence that high-fit CSR signaling (behavior closely aligned with corporate functions) impacts collective action more than low-fit CSR signaling. This research increases our understanding of how specific CSR signals influence trust and collective action, offering insights for organizations aiming to foster prosocial responses to pressing issues like climate change.
Keywords: Trustworthiness, Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Dilemmas, Energy Conservation, Extreme Heat
