AI-Led or Human-Led? Disclosure of the CSR Decision-Maker, Motive Attribution, and Perceived CSR Authenticity

Organizations have begun using artificial intelligence (AI) not only to produce CSR communication but also to set CSR agendas. In these applications an algorithmic system identifies social issues, ranks candidate projects, and recommends allocations that managers then review. How publics evaluate CSR initiatives disclosed as originating this way remains underexplored. Drawing on attribution theory, this study proposes that the disclosed decision-maker operates as a source cue shaping perceived organizational capability (competence, fairness, and transparency), attributions of public-serving motive, and perceived CSR authenticity. In an online experiment, 517 U.S. adults recruited through Dynata read a corporate press release describing an identical CSR initiative attributed either to an AI system or to a human team. Participants who read the AI-led disclosure reported lower competence, fairness, transparency, public-serving motive attributions, and perceived CSR authenticity. Capability judgments predicted motive attributions, which in turn predicted perceived authenticity. The disclosed initiator shifted the level of these judgments without altering the structure of the process. Attitudes toward AI moderated the effect of the disclosure on capability perceptions, whereas AI literacy did not. The study positions AI as a decision-making agent in public relations and identifies perceived CSR authenticity as an attributional endpoint.