The purpose of this study is to examine corporate social responsibility (CSR) message strategies on publics’ attitude and behavior. To examine the effects of message strategies, this dissertation investigated what type of message strategy is more effective and if different types of strategies differently affect publics’ attitude toward a company, purchase intention, and word-of-mouth intention (WOMI). Two issue types (an issue about the company’s commitment to production and an issue about the company’s commitment to philanthropy) and two types of motive statements (only public-serving motive and a message with public-serving motive and firm-serving motive were adopted. The dissertation also explored how different types of publics moderate the link between the strategies and publics’ responses. The types of publics were segmented based on the situational theory of publics (STP). Data were collected from 276 participants who completed the online experiment. Findings indicated that issue types influenced publics’ purchase intention and WOMI significantly. But in terms of attitude toward a company, only one company case showed a significant difference between two types of issue. In terms of motive, no significant effects were found. However, an interaction effect between issue and motive on WOMI was found. The interaction effect implied that when people read a message about an issue that contains a statement of the company’s philanthropy, stating only a public-serving motive is more effective than stating both a public-serving motive and firm-serving motive. A moderator effect of the public type was found on WOMI. This finding implicated that active publics tend to have more WOMI when they read a public-serving motive and a firm-serving motive in case of an issue with a company’s commitment for philanthropy. This study provides a theoretical implication of a possibility of a synthesis of the CSR communication model and the STP. For practitioners, this study provides practical implications regarding effective CSR message strategies for target publics. In spite of several limitations, this study contributes to developing a practical and theoretical framework for CSR communication and to better understanding publics’ perception about strategic CSR communication.