Do Consumers Expect Companies to be Socially Responsible? The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Buying Behavior

Abstract

Companies are facing increasing pressure to both maintain profitability and behave in socially responsible ways, yet researchers have provided little information on how corporate social responsibility impacts profitability. This paper reports the findings from in-depth interviews of consumers to determine their views concerning the social responsibilities of companies. A typology of consumers whose purchasing behavior ranges from unresponsive to highly responsive to corporate social responsibility was developed from the analysis.According to a recent Gallup poll (1997), the public has less confidence in big business than other institutions such as the military, the police, public schools, and newspapers. The only institutions ranking lower in consumer confidence were Congress and the criminal justice system. Concurrently, firms are under increasing pressure to give money to charities, protect the environment, and help solve social problems in their communities-in other words, to behave in socially responsible ways. Although academics and business leaders have engaged in a great deal of debate about the social responsibilities of business, there has been little research on what the general public expects. As a result, those who run corporations lack a clear understanding of what the public wants from them and how far they are expected to go toward helping their communities.

Consumers' Perception towards Corporate Social Responsibility and Repurchase Intention: A Study of Consumer Industry in Vietnam

“…Furthermore, purchasers are willing to be charged at higher price for products that meet corporate social responsibility's requirements and are friendly with the environment (Sempora, 2008;Seven One Media, 2009;DLG, 2010). The result in censuses and explorations showed that how much consumers are interested in corporate social responsibilities and how these responsibilities influence on purchasing of clients (Smith, 2009;Mohr et al (2001).…”

Giving the Gift of Goodness: An Exploration of Socially Responsible Gift-Giving

“…First, while, previous researchers have developed consumer typologies based on general consumer expectations for firms to engage in socially responsible activities (Mohr et al 2001) and how consumers respond to specific CSR activities such as cause-related marketing campaigns (Webb and Mohr 1998), this current study is innovative as it explores the role of socially responsible consumption via gift-giving (i.e., buying for others). This in turn supports the development of a typology based on differences in personal consumption decisions and giftgiving decisions.…”

“…Second, socially responsible consumption behavior (SRCB), defined as "a person basing his or her acquisition, usage and disposition of products on a desire to minimize or eliminate any harmful effects and maximize the long-term beneficial impact on society" (Mohr et al 2001; 47) is rising in importance amongst consumers. However, previous research demonstrates that consumers who engage in some form of socially responsible consumption behavior do not necessarily behave uniformly.…”

“…In addition, the goal of our research is discovery-oriented and we sought to examine a variety of factors that influence socially responsible gift-giving. Similar qualitative methods have been used by researchers examining consumer behaviors related to CSR activities (e.g., Carrigan and Attalla 2001;Mohr et al 2001;Oberseder et al 2011). Additionally, qualitative research methods can provide an important sense of realism to the examination of consumer responses to CSR (Arnold et al 1996).…”

“…Additionally, qualitative research methods can provide an important sense of realism to the examination of consumer responses to CSR (Arnold et al 1996). Finally, previous research that has developed consumer typologies based on the consumer response to both CSR in general (Mohr et al 2001) and those considering cause-related marketing campaigns (Webb and Mohr 1998) have followed a similar exploratory, qualitative approach. Building on these previous efforts, our typology differs in that we examine the consumer response across both personal consumption and gift-giving decisions.…”