Abstract
A number of companies are involved in various social responsibility programs aimed at increasing consumer trust in their services and improve overall image of the firm. This phenomenon is prevalent in developed world but is still new in emerging economies. In a developing country like Pakistan, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is affected by various factors. The purpose of this mixed method study is to examine key antecedents to consumer responses to CSR to determine a link between CSR activity and consumers’ responses to such actions. After a qualitative study, a pre-tested structured questionnaire was administered to 224 respondents. The constructs were validated using confirmatory factor analysis and regression analysis was conducted to test hypotheses. It was found that purchase intention was impacted by perceived CSR which was positively influenced by awareness while trust played a pivotal role as a mediator between CSR and purchase intention. Surprisingly, religiosity was not significantly related to CSR. The study was conducted using a hypothetical company; however more insight might be gained if the company name was used since certain consumer patterns are brand specific.
Highlights
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an important topic in both academic literature and business world in the past two decades (Fatma & Rahman, 2015)
The objective of this study is to re-examine key antecedents to consumer responses to CSR in order to establish a clear link between CSR activity and consumers’ responses to such activity
I think Company X took a lot of effort to be socially responsible I think company X’s socially responsible actions are sincerely aimed at contributing to society I care about environmental protection in my day to day activities I pay attention to some social issues involving multinational companies’ donation I feel sorrow and dissatisfaction when I do something against my faith I have feeling of being afraid of Allah I have a feeling of being punished by Allah when I do something wrong I feel pleasure by seeing others follow Islamic teachings
Summary
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an important topic in both academic literature and business world in the past two decades (Fatma & Rahman, 2015). It is stated that CSR positively influences firm’s financial performance (Weinzimmer & Esken, 2016), supports its share prices (Cochran & Wood, 1984), shores up its market values (Mackey et al, 2007) and provides competitive advantage (Diddi & Niehm, 2016). Consumers want companies to behave ethically in addition to providing quality product at a lower price (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2004). Sen and Bhattarchariya (2004) attested that among all the stakeholders of a company, consumers are most influenced by the social initiative undertaken by a firm
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