CSR-related consumer scepticism: A review of the literature and future research directions

Abstract

Consumer scepticism has attracted increasing scholarly attention in recent years. However, the scientific understanding of the development and consequences of consumer scepticism towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) and related programmes remains fragmented. In response, this paper reviews, synthesises and assesses the CSR-related scepticism literature from more than two decades (1998–2021) within the antecedents–consequences framework. In this paper, 89 studies in the existing literature are synthesised and critically evaluated, and the problems and gaps in the literature are highlighted. This paper also presents an attempt to develop an integrative framework to provide a comprehensive understanding of the antecedents and consequences of CSR-related scepticism. Finally, it offers future research directions based on the current knowledge and gaps in the extant literature.