Influence of Luxury Companies' Corporate Social Responsibility Activities on Consumer Purchase Intention: Development of a Theoretical Framework

Abstract

The topics of sustainability and strategic corporate social responsibility are currently being discussed by different stakeholders on academic, industry and various activist levels; however, the level to which they are incorporated into organizations’ strategy varies significantly by industry. The needs of the customers as well as the requirements from state governance may challenge the currently relatively “CSR silent” luxury industry to become more active in its contribution to social responsibility. This paper investigates the topic of corporate social responsibility within the context of the luxury industry, the extent to which customers are aware of CSR and the significance of the role it plays in their customer journey. The authors provide a literature review focused on exploring CSR variables that impact customer purchase intention in general and specifically in the luxury segment, from which they identify key CSR measures and conduct qualitative research to develop a theoretical framework. It suggests that purchase intention in the luxury segment is dependent on the luxury values, individual sustainable dimension and awareness of the brand’s CSR, the last two relationships being potentially moderated by certain conditions such as demographics and general positive attitudes towards CSR and sustainability. The model’s output is in the formulation of several propositions for further research. Overall, the qualitative interviews indicate that while knowledge of the specific CSR activities of particular luxury brands was low, luxury buyers in this research tend to express quite positive attitudes towards CSR in general, were rational, and very open to considering CSR as an added value to their luxury shopping.