Is Corporate Social Responsibility Considered a Marketing Tool? Case Study from Customers’ Point of View in the Slovak Food Market

Abstract

The paper aims at the question of using Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities as a marketing tool from the customers’ perspective in the Slovak food market. Five research questions and hypotheses were set to reach the given aim. The research was based on a questionnaire survey with 1254 respondents. The frequency and contingency tables were used to evaluate the obtained data, one sample proportion Z test, Pearson Chi-square test, and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Based on the results, although the customers are familiar with CSR, many respondents need to learn more about these activities. CSR activities must be more actively applied and communicated by the food companies. In most cases, Slovak customers perceive the sustainability of food companies and their CSR activities as a marketing communication tool that can build a positive image of the company. At the threshold of the 3rd millennium, CSR is also connected with rationality and irrationality in creating preferences in consumer shopping behavior. While the way that food is produced can be changed through regulation, the communication of CSR and sustainability activities are major drivers for the development of food companies. Trustworthiness is one of the key factors, and customers play a key role in this direction. The solved issue has a huge impact on the success of the food companies in the market, and, therefore, it would be suitable to pay attention to this issue and conduct similar research in other E.U. countries and on their food companies.

“Soy Boy vs. Holy Cow”—Understanding the Key Factors Determining U.S. Consumers’ Preferences and Commitment to Plant-Based Milk Alternatives

“…Regular milk and milk-based products have been criticized, as the production and processing of these products are associated with deforestation and high carbon and water footprints, resulting from greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution [27,28]. Environmentally responsible consumers are aiming to reduce their impact on the environment through their product choices and buying behavior [29,30]. As these consumers are knowledgeable about environmental issues and have positive attitudes towards environmentally friendly product alternatives, they demand transparency and verification concerning production processes [29].…”

“…Animal welfare has been widely discussed in the US dairy industry, media, and a plethora of academic studies. Agricultural consumer studies have indicated that the practices of dairy farms are raising consumer concerns and criticisms [23,[29][30][31]. These include inappropriate flooring and pasture access, separating calves from their mothers too early, the quality of neonatal care, and dehorning or tail docking without anesthesia [31][32][33].…”

Selection of Sales Mode for E-Commerce Platform Considering Corporate Social Responsibility

“…Accordingly, the e-commerce platform shall seek to improve the efficiency of undertaking CSR. (5) The demand for e-commerce platform in all three sales modes increases as the potential market size of the e-commerce platform increases, the consumers' sensitivity to the CSR input level increases, or the CSR input cost coefficient decreases, and vice versa.…”

“…The specific model structure is shown in Figure 1, and the symbols used in this paper and their relevant meanings are shown in Table 1. In addition, this paper makes the following assumptions: (1) We assume that the manufacturer's production cost, transportation cost, and transportation cost of the e-commerce platform are 0; (2) We assume that the information among the manufacturer, the offline retailer, and the e-commerce platform is entirely symmetric; (3) We assume that the market size is standardized to 1; (4) We assume that the influence of CSR undertaken by the e-commerce platform on its demand is greater than that of the offline retailer, that is, λ > β; (5) The cost of the e-commerce platform undertaking CSR is 1 2 εe 2 ; the greater ε is, the higher the CSR input cost [23]. Selling price for a product of offline retailer p e…”

“…Additionally, when platform enterprises undertake CSR, they also utilize it as a marketing and communication tool. This not only helps establish a positive corporate image [5] but also allows for the exploration of potential consumers. Ultimately, this leads to an increase in consumer purchasing intention, subsequently driving up product demand and achieving greater economic benefits [6].…”