Research On The Characteristics Of Consumer Responses To CSR In China

China has become the world's largest market. Chinese consumers have already attracted great attention from not only local enterprises but also multinational corporations. With corporate social responsibility (CSR) gradually being applied in corporate strategic management and marketing practice, how different classes of consumers respond to CSR? Furthermore, what kind of difference and law will be emerged when consumers face CSR information of different industries? These issues have not yet been acquired a reasonable answer and explanation. Based on a situational survey on 1022 consumers of six industries, this paper explores consumer response to CSR, including local characteristics, industry or product characteristics, group characteristics and the intrinsic relationship between industry and group characteristics. Specific questions are as follows:1) How Chinese consumers will respond to corporate CSR? 2) What is the consumer response difference among different product categories, and explain that difference by the psychological mechanism? 3) What is the group features of CSR responses based on segment? We explain the results combined with China's special economic and cultural background; 4) What is the internal mechanisms between product type and group identity? The discussion of this question is helpful for a more in-depth exploration about the internal laws of consumers responses to CSR.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:First, the Chinese consumer's overall perception of CSR has its own local characteristics.1) Chinese consumers show a low level of general awareness to acts of CSR in their daily life and consumption behaviors, and consumers' further responses are restricted by the low attention; 2) The higher level of consumer perception to CSR, the higher level of their trust to the sincerity of CSR, and the more positive evaluation of businesses they make. However, consumer trust to CSR will not be converted to a positive product association and purchase intention; 3) Chinese consumers are most concerned about the result and sustainability of CSR, rather than the motivation of it; 4) Chinese consumer is difficult to accept the premium in a certain range even when they face an excellent performance of CSR. Second, Chinese consumers' response to CSR different among industries or product categories. Results show that corporate selling products of moderate differentiation (vs. high differentiation and low differentiation), experience (vs. search and credence) and utilitarian (vs. hedonic and hybrid) are more able to win consumers'more positive reacts to CSR on the aspects of product association and purchase intention. Third, Chinese consumers'responses to CSR has significant group characteristics. Our study shows that the relationship between CSR and demographics is not linear. There is a big difference among different social groups with diverse demographic characteristics. This research divides Consumers into three types which are warm, practical and shrewd, and the major differences in the distribution of demographics among that three types are age and income. Middle-aged and middle-income consumers are more willing to respond positively to CSR. Fourth, there is an inherent correlation between industry characteristics and group characteristics of consumer responses to CSR. Our study finds:1) Only the consumer groups of warm-type and practical-type are more active when receiving CSR information of corporation selling experience goods, and practical-type consumers are also influenced significantly by CSR trust; 2) The shrewd-type consumers are very difficult to react positively to CSR, even if the corporates have won their trust, CSR can only affect their corporate evaluation, but not product association and purchase intention; 3) The practical-type consumers will transform CSR awareness of search products to positive corporate evaluations. Finally, there is a positive relationship between consumers'normative rationality and their corporate evaluations and purchase intentions, but the relationship between consumers'normative rationality and their product associations is not significant.Our study creatively combines product classification theory with CSR theory from consumer perspective, not only fill the shortcomings of existing studies which explain consumer responses to CSR only based on the overall sample and a single industry or product background. Futhermore, this research discuss consumer responses to CSR from a new perspective of normative rationality, which may rich CSR theory. The implication of this study for managers operating in China is that they must consider market characteristics and consumer characteristics of their own corporate when applying CSR as a new means of marketing or strategic.