Research Review and Prospect of Corporate Social Responsibility and Consumers’ Purchase Intention

Abstract

AbstractSince the late 1990s, with the international community paying more and more attention to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), academic circles keep a watchful eye on the influence of CSR on consumers’ attitude and behavior. Previous studies show there is complex relationship between CSR and Consumers’ Purchase Intention. Before 2001, scholars found that CSR influenced Consumers’ Purchase Intention indirectly. In 2001, they proved that the performance levels of CSR had a direct impact on Consumers’ Purchase Intention. But this kind of direct influence was limited by some factors such as the degrees that consumers trusted on CSR and corporate ability as well as the ones that the consumers supported CSR behavior. This paper analyzed and summarized the concepts of CSR, indirect and direct influences, influencing factors along with influencing mechanism, then pointed out the limitations and the future directions of the research.KeywordsCorporate social responsibilityConsumers’ purchase intentionInfluencing mechanism