Effects of displaying social enterprise certification information on consumers’ product evaluations and purchase intentions

Abstract

This study examines how, in Korea, displaying the social enterprise certification logo and/or the information about the socially vulnerable employees affects consumers’ product evaluations and purchase intentions, especially when consumers have different general attitudes towards the vulnerable groups employed. The findings of an experiment showed that displaying the social certification logo on product labels always affected our participants’ purchase intentions for products positively, even when the label also disclosed the information that the product might be produced by employees who belong to socially vulnerable groups towards whom the participants had negative general attitudes. In addition, disclosing the information about the socially vulnerable groups the company hired affected the participants’ product purchase intentions in accordance with the valence of the attitudes the participants held towards the socially vulnerable groups. However, the participants’ evaluations of the product were not influenced by either the certification logo or the information about the employees.