<p> This research investigated the effects of supplier corporate social responsibility (CSR) on buyer expectations of corporate brand performance as well as the mediating effects of brand equity on buyer expectations of brand performance. For decades, organizations have integrated CSR as a business strategy to engage multiple stakeholders in a favorable manner. Extensive literature has revealed how CSR drives brand equity to sustain a brand&rsquo;s competitive advantage through improved profitability and reputation in the market; it also has indicated the value of CSR as influencing brand performance. This research successfully closed gaps in the extant literature by addressing the influence of CSR as viewed by U.S. buyers in the business-to-business environment, thus explaining value creation and redistribution through the influence of stakeholder theory. A quantitative, non-experimental survey was conducted with 400 randomly selected business-to-business buyers working for U.S. companies with a minimum of 100 full-time employees. Panel respondents were screened for decision-making authority, industry, and geographic distribution to participate in the online survey. Analysis revealed that supplier CSR significantly influenced brand performance expectations of buyers, with brand equity working to enhance brand performance expectations. Confirming that supplier CSR investment translated to a competitive advantage with business-to-business customers highlighted the available potential of targeted spending by supplier organization marketing divisions to key stakeholder groups.</p>

<p> A majority of marketers plan to increase their investment in online marketing messaging to reach an expanding population of potential consumers using online social networking platforms. The problem addressed in this study was a marketer&rsquo;s inability to determine the most effective video advertising in a social networking site to increase consumer attitude and engagement. A non experimental quantitative survey study was used to gather data to test a unique hypothesized structural equation model based on the theory of advertising involvement and the affect transfer theory. The purpose was to examine the relationships among the factors of consumer attitude, defined as attitude toward the advertising and attitude toward the brand, the second order construct of advertising involvement, and the consumer engagement behaviors of sharing intention and purchase intention. Participants were recruited from the student body of a community college located in a major metropolitan city in the southwest United States. Data analysis consisted of summary descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modeling (SEM). The objective of the research was to contribute to the theoretical body of knowledge by demonstrating the generalizability of the theory of advertising involvement to video advertising. The measurement model was a good fit to the data, CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.000. Findings indicated that the theory of advertising involvement, first validated in the context of static advertising, is useful in understanding the relationship of the factors in the context of video advertising. </p><p> Attitude toward the advertising played a significant mediating role between advertising involvement and the two factors, attitude toward the brand and sharing intention. Attitude toward the brand played a significant mediating role between advertising involvement and the two factors of sharing intention and purchase intention. Attitude toward the advertising had no significant influence on purchase intention. The structural model can serve as a useful tool in evaluating video advertising in a social networking site. Future research with the model should be conducted with different types of products, different types of videos, and different consumer populations.</p><p>