Influence of CSR awareness on Consumer Behavior through Trustworthiness: The New Approach

Zohreh Alizadehrad,Ekaterine Maglakelidze

doi:10.33422/ejbs.v3i2.417

Abstract

The goal of this research is to measure level of customer awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Georgian society and to study the influence of CSR awareness on consumer behavior through trustworthiness (one of the dimensions of corporate credibility) by revealing the correlations between customer awareness and corporate trustworthiness, customer willingness to be involved in CSR initiatives and customer purchase intentions. The descriptive research was carried out and data were collected based on the survey of 915 respondents located in Tbilisi, Georgia. The relationships between variables have been studied by using multiple regressions technique. This article provides data that lead to a new conceptual model and point the importance of elevating the level of customer CSR awareness in achieving corporate credibility goals.Beyond it, customers’ inclination to purchase products from those companies who care about their long-term interest has been revealed.

Highlights

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is nowadays part of the recent agenda for public policymakers
The main findings of this study is that the level of CSR awareness among Georgian consumers is not high
Georgian consumers seem to be concerned with corporations CSR initiatives but their knowledge of CSR is somehow limited with care over environment because they understand this aspect of corporate social responsibility better than other ones

Summary

Introduction

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is nowadays part of the recent agenda for public policymakers. Among the different stakeholders addressed by CSR, consumers stand for the large economic impact and diversity of assessing effects. Prior literature on CSR and consumers tested the effect of CSR on corporate credibility (Brammer & Millington, 2005; Lichtenstein, Drumwright, & Braig, 2004) emphasizing that one of the key elements in any CSR research should be how corporations report consumers’ perception of CSR. No matter what kind of CSR practices implemented by companies or how CSR initiatives engage in, the impact of CSR on consumer behavior may be null or even negative (Du, Bhattacharya, & Sen, 2010). With the rising practical application of CSR, the question of how to convey related messages to positively impact customers is growing in importance

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion