Do consumers support the cross-border charitable activities as the same?

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the impact of cross-border charitable activities on host- and home-country consumers based on the social identity theory. Design/methodology/approach: Through an extensive literature review and two experimental designs, this study establishes the research framework and hypothesises the relationships between the constructs. Findings: National power moderates the impact of cross-border charitable activities on host- and home-country consumers. In particular, compared to countries with high national power, countries with low national power undertaking cross-border charitable activities will receive more positive reactions from the host-country consumers, and, conversely, more negative reactions from the home-country consumers. Research limitations/implications: From the consumer perspective, this study finds that brand cross-border charitable activities have different influences on consumers in different countries because of an identity transformation mechanism that exists between the “insiders” and the “outsiders”, which is different from the assumptions of western theories. Practical implications: The findings provide insights for undertaking brand cross-border charitable activities. Originality/value: Previous studies, which are based on social identity categorisation, assume that cross-border charitable activities have a more positive impact on home-country consumers than host-country consumers. However, this study adopts the research paradigm of social identity relationisation and draws an opposite conclusion, which not only expands the theory of local intergroup interaction, but also clarifies how brand cross-border charitable activities influence Chinese consumers.