Perceived CSR impact on purchase intention: The roles of perceived effectiveness, altruistic attribution, and CSR-CA belief

Abstract

With the rapid development of market economy, consumers gradually begin to take corporate social responsibility (CSR) as one of the factors that determine their purchase intention when purchasing products. Based on the attribution theory, this paper develops a moderated mediation model to investigate its internal mechanism, and empirically tests the conceptual model through a questionnaire survey. The results indicate that Perceived CSR has a direct and positive impact on consumers' purchase intention and has an indirect and positive impact on consumers' purchase intention through altruistic attribution. Consumers' perceived effectiveness positively moderates the impact of Perceived CSR on altruistic attribution, while different beliefs about corporate social responsibility-corporate ability (CSR-CA) moderate the relationship between altruistic attributions and consumer purchase intentions. Finally, some recommendations are put forward for the results of the survey, for reference by the academia and industry.