Study On Consumer Perception Of Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives

More and more companies started to practice socially-based events in order to enhance company images and achieve their strategies. However, in the practices, not all the corporate social responsible initiatives are effective. Some of them even cause negative effects.More research on the corporate social responsibility from a consumer perspective focuses on the things happened after the positive company image has built by CSR behaviors. However, little is known about how consumers’CSR beliefs are formed. This is because extant research has been concerned primarily with the consequences of CSR:it has either manipulated consumers’CSR association in an experimental context or assessed such beliefs without attention to its antecedents. Also little is known about how consumers decide to support a CSR initiative. Actually, the consumers’perception process is crucial to the design of a proper CSR initiative.Targeting at the gaps in practices and theories, our research questions include following:Do consumers care about the CSR initiatives? How do consumers think when they receive the CSR information? How do CSR initiatives influence the behaviors of consumers?To answer those questions, both qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis are conducted in this research. First of all, we reviewed the theories of CSR, consumers responses and regulatory focus. Secondly, we explored the socially responsible purchase and disposal behavior in China, and the empirical analysis supports a scale of6dimensions. The analysis shows that consumers in China do care about the CSR initiatives during their purchase. Thirdly, semi-structured depth interviews were conducted with27interviewees on their attitude toward the CSR initiatives. Based on the analysis of the original materials and open coding, we concluded with eight elements to achieve positive CSR association has been gained. After axial coding, the first four elements are coded as profit belief, and the rest four elements are coded as security belief. Then after core coding, the model named "the function mechanism between CSR initiative information and the consumer responses" has been developed. Fourthly, a scenario-based experiment has been conducted. The data is analyzed with single-factor analysis of variance, two-factor analysis of variance and multi-level regression analysis. The last but not the least, managerial suggestions has been provided based on the research results.The research results in the dissertation are following:When a CSR initiative is able to improve the welfare of companies’important stakeholder, help to achieve the sustainable development, keep high fit and long vitality, consumers may attain the profit beliefs. Besides, if there are supervision and administration to assure the reality, the correction and the security of the CSR initiative, and there is corresponding corporate commitment, the consumers produce the security beliefs. CSR association and purchase intention are derived from profit beliefs and security beliefsThis research discusses the consumer reaction towards CSR initiatives, the function mechanism between CSR initiative information, and the consumer responses. The certain CSR information induces the profit beliefs and security beliefs about the initiative, then influence CSR association and purchase intention under the moderating effect of consumer regulatory focus.The regulatory focus theory has been used in the CSR domain in the research. It is proved that consumers regulatory focus moderates the initiative belief and CSR association. Consumers with a promotion focus are more sensitive to CSR information, and prevention focus consumers are not so much into CSR because they care more about direct consumption information.