Consumer Social Responsibility (CnSR)

Abstract

Despite the extensive debate as to what corporate social responsibility (CSR) is, consumer social responsibility (CnSR) has received very limited attention by researchers and practitioners (Quazi et al. 2016) and remains a term that is largely unexplored and under-theorized (Vogel 2005; Caruana and Chatzidakis 2014). Very few of the many articles about CSR discuss the role of the consumer in achieving corporate social responsibility even though it will be difficult if not impossible for corporate social responsibility to succeed without the assistance of consumers (Vitell 2015). In its broadest form, consumer social responsibility can be defined as "the conscious and deliberate choice to make certain consumption choices based on personal and moral beliefs" (Devinney et al. 2006). It mainly shows up in two different ways: • Expressed activity with respect to specific causes (e.g., protests and demonstrations) • Expressed activity in terms of purchasing (e.g., consumer boycotts or buycotts, ethical consumption) Levels of consumer activism have been fueled by increased exposure to and accessibility of information about questionable business practices such as child labor, environmental pollution, or animal welfare abuse (Shaw et al. 2006).