The CSR's influence on customer responses in Indian banking sector

In the face of growing attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in the marketplace, this paper seeks to demonstrate how corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives influence customer purchase intention in context of Indian retail banking. Further, the impact of awareness as a moderating variable between CSR and purchase intention has been examined. The conclusion drawn from this study have important implications for Indian banks as they suggest that building a socially responsible image might have a favorable effect on consumer purchase intention. Findings suggest that corporate ability has a strong effect on customer purchase intention while CSR activities were found to exert influence on customer purchase intention in cases where the customer was aware of such activities being conducted. This paper contributes to existing CSR literature by offering a deeper understanding into CSR dynamics and its effect on consumer purchase intention. Further, the study tests the level of consumer awareness of CSR activities in a real market situation (not artificial or simulated) which has not been done in previous studies.     

An empirical comparison of methods for measuring consumers’ willingness to pay

A valid procedure for measuring consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) is crucial in designing optimal pricing policies or for estimating demand for new products. Understanding potential sources of differences in WTP estimates that emerge from value elicitation studies constitutes an important step in research on how managers should estimate consumers’ WTP. This research presents an empirical analysis of two potential sources of differences and discusses possible means of mitigating them. We find substantial and significant differences between the WTP reported by subjects when payment of the stated price is real or hypothetical. Notwithstanding the dichotomy between real and hypothetical WTP, we find significant differences among the WTP estimates of a broad range of value elicitation methods.     

Investigating the direct and indirect effects of corporate hypocrisy and perceived corporate reputation on consumers’ attitudes toward the company

Consumers are placing increasing importance on the social responsibility of firms when making purchase decisions. Nonetheless, corporate irresponsibility has become more prevalent in the corporate world. Through corporate social responsibility (CSR), companies can showcase their virtues and appear as good citizens while ignoring many internal standards. Hence, the primary purpose of this study was to explore the impact of corporate hypocrisy on CSR belief, corporate reputation, and consumers’ attitudes toward a company that may have a bad reputation. Second, we investigated the mediating effect of CSR belief and perceived corporate reputation on the relationships between corporate hypocrisy and consumers’ attitudes toward the company. We asked a sample of respondents in Australia (n =518) to respond to a real CSR campaign launched by a beer company. The results showed that CSR belief mediates the relationship between corporate hypocrisy and consumers’ attitudes toward the company. The results indicated a perception that companies may use CSR to try to shift the blame from producers to users. The results of this study provide guidelines for managers, social marketers, and public policy makers on how to create and evaluate companies’ CSR campaigns. The results of this study contribute to the debate on how consumers respond to various CSR campaigns as well as the intended or unintended consequences of CSR in directing consumers’ attention away from the negative impacts businesses have on society.     

Measuring Corporate Social Responsibility: A Scale Development Study

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of the most prominent concepts in the literature and, in short, indicates the positive impacts of businesses on their stakeholders. Despite the growing body of literature on this concept, the measurement of CSR is still problematic. Although the literature provides several methods for measuring corporate social activities, almost all of them have some limitations. The purpose of this study is to provide an original, valid, and reliable measure of CSR reflecting the responsibilities of a business to various stakeholders. Based on a proposed conceptual framework of CSR, a scale was developed through a systematic scale development process. In the study, exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the underlying factorial structure of the scale. Data was collected from 269 business professionals working in Turkey. The results of the analysis provided a four-dimensional structure of CSR, including CSR to social and nonsocial stakeholders, employees, customers, and government.     

Perceived corporate social responsibility effects across nations – The role of national institutions

While many multinationals reduce their ecological footprint and signal corporate social responsibility (CSR), consumers’ perceptions of CSR signals have distinct cross-national effects on behavior. However, knowledge of how national institutions influence these effects remains limited. The authors address this gap by analyzing the roles of institutions in perceived CSR effects on consumer purchase intention, via trust and quality, in 43 countries using multilevel modeling. They find a core pathway of CSR among the direct and indirect effects. Importantly, they show for the first time how economic, regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive institutions affect these pathways differently. Key levers are revealed, together with less important institutions. These findings have direct implications for managers and stakeholders interested in cross-national differences in CSR effects.     

Rethinking the new corporate philanthropy

More than ever, corporations are expected to practice “citizenship” by engaging in various community or social philanthropy programs. These corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs have broad appeal among business scholars, business executives, and the public. After first setting some theoretical boundaries for CSR as it relates to the legal and strategic management fields, the authors examine how CSR (both its implementation and expectations) can lead to unintended results, compromising the distinct roles business and government play in market-driven, democratic systems.     

The new WTP: Willingness to participate

A key concept underlying competitive strategy is that of WTP, representing the consumer's ‘willingness to pay’ a premium price for goods or services. Through branding and other efforts, companies strive to push their message out and create a high willingness to pay, whereby consumers feel there are few or no substitutes for what these companies are selling. Social media, however, are making push-based marketing anachronistic. Users of social media typically eschew professional communications forced on them by faceless and impersonal organizations, in favor of more personal conversations. These individuals seek greater engagement with their preferred brands, and involvement—with or without the company's approval—in creating brand personalities. Their affinity for these preferred brands might well auger the dawn of a new WTP: willingness to participate. This article presents a model of consumer engagement through social media, and argues for re-conceptualizing WTP by utilizing a series of examples which show how companies that engage consumers via social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) stand to reap the benefits of long-term competitive advantages.     

Assess the impact of subjective norms of consumers' behaviour in the Greek olive oil market

The objective of the research was to highlight the role that socio-economic and spatial attributes of consumers – households exert on their choices regarding not only the supply modes but also the price they are willing to pay for different categories of olive oil. Regarding WTP for different olive oil labels, consumers are willing to pay premiums only for olive oils being processed by either private companies or cooperatives, with the latter to gain 34% of them in case they would decide to change the olive oil they usually purchase. The most important consumer profile is the young educated consumer one.     

An exploratory study of environmental attitudes and the willingness to pay for environmental certification in Mexico

This paper explores how environmental attitudes of consumers in Mexico influence their willingness to pay a premium (or, marginal WTP) for environmentally-certified products. In addition, we also challenge the theoretical assumption that the relationship between environmental attitudes and purchasing is linear. We test our hypotheses with an analysis of marginal WTP based on a survey of 301 Mexican consumers. Using conjoint analysis to determine marginal WTP, we find support for the idea that as attitudes become more pro-environmental, they more than proportionally boost marginal WTP. We conclude our paper by discussing implications for research and practice that focus on environmental segments of consumers.     

The Worth of Values – A Literature Review on the Relation Between Corporate Social and Financial Performance

One of the older questions in the debate about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is whether it is worthwhile for organizations to pay attention to societal demands. This debate was emotionally, normatively, and ideologically loaded. Up to the present, this question has been an important trigger for empirical research in CSR. However, the answer to the question has apparently not been found yet, at least that is what many researchers state. This apparent ambivalence in CSR consequences invites a literature study that can clarify the debate and allow for the drawing of conclusions. The results of the literature study performed here reveal that there is indeed clear empirical evidence for a positive correlation between corporate social and financial performance. Voices that state the opposite refer to out-dated material. Since the beginnings of the CSR debate, societies have changed. We can therefore clearly state that, for the present Western society, “Good Ethics is Good Business.”     

Consumers’ implicit attitudes toward corporate social responsibility and corporate abilities: Examining the influence of bank governance using the implicit association test

In studying corporate association valence for two dimensions: corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate abilities (CA), this paper aims to investigate how corporate governance may contribute to brand equity. Using an experimental design, this research measures implicit consumers attitudes with two implicit association tests (IAT) to assess the potential moderating effect of banks governance. In study 1, we manipulated solidarity vs. non-solidarity concept (major meaning associated with CSR) by mobilizing 116 respondents. In study 2, we manipulated performance vs. non-performance concept (major meaning associated with CA) by mobilizing 96 respondents. Results reveal that the CSR association is more positive for member-owned banks than for investor-owned banks. Conversely, the CA association is more positive for investor-owned banks than for member-owned banks. These results emphasize the role of governance in building brand equity through its impact on the valence of the brand associations.     

浅谈企业社会责任——由“三鹿奶粉事件”想到的

"奶粉事件"又一次引起人们对企业社会责任的思考,企业要实现可持续发展的目标,保持长期的竞争优势,就必须承担相应的社会责任。     

Using consumer perceived ethicality as a guideline for corporate social responsibility strategy: A commentary essay

“Consumer Perceived Ethicality” presents a framework of perceived consumer ethicality as summarized from in-depth interviews with 20 citizens of the United Kingdom and Germany. The framework identifies six broad domains and 36 sub-items (6 for each domain) that serve as examples of consumer-generated “unethical corporate behaviors.” This commentary highlights the contributions, discusses the limitations and presents an alternative perspective on the study of consumer perceived ethicality.     

Product uniqueness as a driver of customer utility in mass customization

Mass customization (MC) constitutes a promising strategy for companies which aim to provide products which are better adapted to individual customers’ aesthetic and functional preferences. Drawing on commodity theory, we argue that the perceived uniqueness of a self-designed product is a second driver of utility in MC. We find that in addition to the significant effect of aesthetic and functional fit, the perceived uniqueness of a self-designed product (1) contributes independently to the utility a customer experiences, and (2) that this effect is moderated by the consumer’s need for uniqueness. In product categories which can serve this counterconformity motive for consumers, this suggests that MC toolkits should be constructed with the objective of facilitating the creation of unique products as well as providing affirmative feedback that this uniqueness has been achieved.