When the world came to a halt during the first wave of the pandemic, something fascinating happened in the business world. Companies, large and small, started showing up in unexpected ways: from tech firms donating connectivity to brands switching from luxury to lifesaving products, producing hand sanitizers overnight.
At a time when fear and uncertainty dominated headlines, a quiet question emerged: Do people still care about corporate social responsibility when survival feels like the priority?
The Science of How We Feel and Think About CSR
A team of researchers set out to explore how people’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors toward CSR shift in challenging times. They studied how the public across Europe and Africa responded to companies’ responsible actions during the early months of COVID-19.
The goal wasn’t simply to find out whether people approved of a company’s CSR but to uncover why. They wanted to see what drives our reactions: the mind, which processes logic and fairness, or the heart, which feels empathy, pride, and trust.
What they found reveals something deeply human about how we connect with responsible business.
The Mind Builds Perception
Despite the chaos of the pandemic, one thing remained steady: people’s ability to think critically about business behavior.
The study found that cognitive evaluations, the rational, thought-based judgments people make about a company’s actions, were the strongest predictors of how responsible a company was perceived to be.
In other words, people paid attention to facts, logic, and fairness. They looked at whether a company acted transparently, treated employees well, and genuinely aligned its actions with its values.
Even in difficult times, the public was not easily swayed by grand gestures alone. It was the substance of a company’s response that built credibility.
The Heart Drives Action
But when it came to supporting a company, buying from it, defending it, or standing by it, logic took a back seat.
Positive emotions like pride, interest, and enthusiasm became the real fuel behind people’s supportive behavior.
The findings revealed something striking: people’s hearts decided what their minds only approved. While rational evaluation built trust, emotional connection built loyalty.
And surprisingly, negative emotions didn’t seem to matter much at all. Even when people felt disappointed or critical, they didn’t necessarily turn away. In times of crisis, we tend to be more forgiving and more willing to give companies the benefit of the doubt, driven by a shared sense of vulnerability and collective hope.
What This Means for Companies
The research offers a simple but powerful message: in times of uncertainty, people care deeply about how companies make them feel and think.
To earn both trust and support, companies need to balance the head and the heart. To win the mind, they need to be transparent, fair, and consistent. To win the heart, they need to act with empathy and communicate with warmth and sincerity.
CSR is not just a reputational tool; it is an emotional bridge. Companies that cross it with both authenticity and intelligence are the ones people will stand by, even when the world is shaking.
Mind Over Heart or Both?
Ultimately, the findings point to a truth that extends beyond business: our minds shape our judgment, but our hearts decide our loyalty. During crises, people might analyze less harshly and forgive more easily, but they never stop caring about values. CSR still matters, perhaps even more than before. Because in challenging times, how a company makes people feel becomes its most enduring legacy.
This article was inspired by the research “Mind over Heart? Exploring the Influence of Emotional, Cognitive, and Behavioral Responses to CSR in Challenging Times” by Anastasiya Saraeva and Irene Garnelo-Gomez (Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK) and Hamed Shamma (Onsi Sawiris School of Business, The American University in Cairo).
