How do disabled and non-disabled baristas affect philanthropic corporate social responsibility?

Abstract

The number of workers with disabilities is increasing in Korea. The employment of disabled workers is significantly related to philanthropic corporate social responsibility, which is the voluntary social activities of companies for social development. In addition, the employment of disabled people plays a critical role in building a healthy society. It is widely accepted that philanthropic corporate social responsibility is critical in the business environment as it is significantly related to the image of the business. For this reason, the current study tried to apply the concept of philanthropic corporate social responsibility in the coffee industry. More specifically, this study examined the differences in the perceptions of philanthropic corporate social responsibility between type 1 coffee shops where disabled baristas provide services and type 2 coffee shops where non-disabled baristas provide services. A total of 581 samples including 288 customers from type 1 coffee shops and 293 customers from type 2 coffee shops were collected in South Korea. The data analysis results indicated that there were significant statistical differences in philanthropic corporate social responsibility between type 1 coffee shops and type 2 coffee shops. That is, customers had higher levels of philanthropic corporate social responsibility when disabled baristas provided services. The theoretical and practical implications are presented later in the paper.