The Correlation of CSR and Consumer Purchase Intent: A Study of IT Professionals

Abstract

There is evidence that purchase choice behaviour of consumers is motivated by utility, value for money, and social betterment. It results in a phenomenon called Consumer Social Responsibility (CnSR). This research paper aims to examine whether consumers’ purchase intent will be influenced when they are made aware of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) information and would this information induce them to pay extra for the product in question. Consumer’s vote in the form of positive purchase intent and willingness to pay premium for social features of the product would actually provide a business case for enterprises to engage in CSR both as a normative ethical conduct and to mitigate the challenges of externality effects their business conduct might generate, the social reactions to such situations and potential state intervention. We conducted an analysis on the correlation pattern between CSR and consideration to purchase. It was found that consumers do not discriminate between levels of CSR involvement by enterprises but show sharp negative responses when the hypothetical enterprise in the study has done poorly on the environmental aspect of CSR. This implies that consumers do not possess the same level of liking or sympathy to different social issues.