The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Consumer Behavior

The Role of Corporate Social

Responsibility in Consumer Behavior

A Quantitative Study about the Purchase of a Pair of Jeans

Renske van Lent S2307723 B6074786

Double Degree Master International Business Management and Marketing University of Groningen, Newcastle University

Supervisors: Dr. Kees van Veen and Dr. Ana Javornik 3 December 2017

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Abstract

Purpose – Companies adopt corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in their

business activities to take into account the interests of all stakeholders. The CSR activities can decrease the negative or increase the positive impact of companies on consumers, the environment and other stakeholders. However, little is known about the role of CSR in consumers’ purchase behavior. The purpose of this research is to identify the role of CSR in consumer behavior when purchasing a pair of jeans.

Methodology – A survey questionnaire was electronically distributed with a total of

151 respondents. A multiple linear regression and a logistic regression were conducted to analyze the conceptual framework.

Findings – The findings indicate a positive relationship between the importance

consumers place on CSR and their socially responsible purchase intention. Consumers’ intentions were translated into actual behavior, opposed to what previous research proposed. The results showed that CSR awareness did not play a significant role in consumers’ behavior.

Managerial implications – Marketing managers should influence the importance

consumers place on CSR by implementing marketing strategies that emphasize companies’ CSR activities. The strategies can highlight the benefits and importance of CSR activities and thereby increase consumers’ purchase intention. This has positive effects on consumers’ actual purchase behavior in the context of CSR.

Research limitations – The generalizability of the findings is limited due to the bias

in the selection process and the involvement of one product from a single industry.

Originality – Most research focused on the effects of CSR on consumers’ purchase

intention without considering their actual purchase behavior. This research incorporates the actual purchase behavior to discover the relationship between the two. Besides, this research investigated the level of CSR awareness using an actual situation and a real product. Prior literature either assumed that consumers are aware or used an experimental setting and did not make a distinction between general and product CSR awareness.

Keywords – Corporate social responsibility (CSR), CSR awareness,

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Acknowledgements

The completion of my Master’s dissertation was certainly the most challenging task during university. Without many others, I would not have been able to achieve this. At first, I would like to thank my supervisors Dr. Ana Javornik on behalf of Newcastle University and Dr. Kees van Veen on behalf of the University of Groningen for their guidance, feedback and inspiration.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction ... 7

2. Literature Review ... 9

2.1 Corporate Social Responsibility ... 9

2.2 Purchase Criteria ... 14 2.3 Importance of CSR ... 17 2.4 General CSR Awareness ... 18 2.5 Purchase Behavior ... 20 2.6 Product CSR Awareness ... 22 2.7 Conceptual Framework ... 24 3. Methodology ... 25 3.1 Research Strategy ... 25 3.2 Target Group ... 27 3.3 Context of Research ... 28 3.4 Questionnaire Design ... 30

4. Findings and Analysis ... 40

4.1 Data Collection ... 40 4.2 Sample Characteristics ... 41 4.3 Factor Analysis ... 44 4.4 Reliability Checks ... 47 4.5 Descriptive Statistics ... 48 4.6 Correlations ... 53 4.7 Regression Analyses ... 55

4.7.1 Multiple Linear Regression Analysis ... 55

4.7.2 Logistic Regression Analysis ... 58

5. Discussion ... 61

6. Conclusion ... 65

6.1 Theoretical Contributions ... 65

6.2 Managerial Implications ... 67

6.3 Limitations and Future Research ... 69

7. References ... 71

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List of Figures

Figure 2.1. The conceptual framework………..……24

Figure 4.1. Histogram actual purchase behavior……….49

List of Tables

Table 3.2. Selected brands with their score on the Ethical Company Index…..…….39

Table 4.1. Sample demographic characteristics………..41

Table 4.2. Cronbach’s Alpha………..……….47

Table 4.3. Descriptive statistics: multiple linear regression analysis………51

Table 4.4. Descriptive statistics: logistic regression analysis………...…….52

Table 4.5. Results of the multiple linear regression analysis……….57

Table 4.6. Results of the logistic regression analysis………...……..60

List of Appendices

Appendix B. Factor correlation matrix………91

Appendix C. The Kaiser-Meyer Olkin Measure and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity...91

Appendix D. Anti-image correlation………..……….92

Appendix E. Factor analysis with four variables: loadings and eigenvalues…..…….93

Appendix F. Item-total statistics………..………94

Appendix G. Skewness and Kurtosis values of all variables……….95

Appendix H. Tests of Normality………..95

Appendix I. Correlation matrix all variables………..……96

Appendix J. Correlation matrix all product criteria and purchase intention………….97

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1. Introduction

The past two decades, an increase in attention for corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been witnessed in the area of marketing. Companies started to implement CSR programs and publish CSR reports as a result of pressures from consumers, the government, and the media. Via marketing campaigns, companies started to promote their socially responsible, green or ethical products to be able to reap the benefits of their CSR activities. The adoption of CSR can have positive effects for companies such as a boost in reputation (Matten and Crane, 2016). The adoption of CSR initiatives by business leaders does not only imply an economic incentive but also an ideological or ethical one (Smith, 2000). The CSR activities can impact many stakeholders and are able to decrease the negative impact or increase the positive impact of the business on social issues. The adoption of CSR activities can benefit the company as well as consumers, society and other stakeholders. Although the adoption and benefits of CSR have become important to companies, is CSR really that important to consumers?

8 Consumers increasingly want companies to engage in CSR activities because they demand more than just a quality product at a low price. However, there is an unresolved paradox concerning the role of CSR in consumers’ purchase behavior. On the one hand, consumers demand more and more CSR information from companies, stressing the importance they place on CSR. On the other hand, research indicates the limited influence of CSR in consumers’ actual behavior (Carrington et al., 2010; Bray et al., 2011; Caruana et al., 2016). This demonstrates the ambiguous role of CSR in consumers’ purchase behavior. Therefore, this research attempts to identify the role of corporate social responsibility in consumers’ behavior when purchasing a pair of jeans. The first objective is to identify factors that influence consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention. Thereafter, the relationship between intention and actual purchase behavior is investigated. The findings of this research are able to provide practical implications for managers that incorporate CSR in their strategies.

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2. Literature Review

This section provides an overview of the relevant literature about corporate social

responsibility, awareness of CSR, and the intention and behavior of consumers. After

an investigation of the relevant literature, hypotheses are developed and a conceptual

framework is presented.

2.1 Corporate Social Responsibility

10 A mixture of economic, social, and political changes during the past two decades contributed to a different role for business in society. Companies were no longer regarded as entities that only existed to sell products and make profits. Six factors account for the acceleration of CSR (Center for Ethical Business Cultures, 2005). These are globalization, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), public opinion, codes and standards, socially responsible investments, and government related initiatives. The globalization of economies made it possible for companies to move activities to other parts of the world. As a result, companies were no longer able to conduct business in the same way as they were used to in their home country. Companies were faced with other standards and cultural differences such as bribery, child labor, human rights protection and more.

11 Carroll’s (1979) definition is also widely adopted (Crane and Matten, 2004) and defines CSR as the responsibility of business to meet the economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic expectations of society. By implementing CSR activities, companies are encouraged to impact a wider range of stakeholders, such as the environment, consumers, employees, and communities (Waddock et al., 2002; Jamali and Mirshak, 2007; Du et al., 2010). Especially in certain industries, such as the apparel industry, the focus of CSR is more about a decrease of the negative impact on stakeholders. By implementing CSR activities, these companies are able to combat the exploitation of sweatshop workers in developing countries and to decrease their negative impact on the environment.

Not only the definition of CSR is somewhat complex, also the dimensions are. Carroll (1979) was one of the first to address the different dimensions of CSR. The dimensions of Carroll’s CSR pyramid consist of economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities of companies. At first, a company needs to be economically responsible by being profitable. At the same time, the legal responsibility of companies is to abide by the law and play by the rules of the game. Thereafter, the ethical responsibility of companies is to do what is right, just and fair. Lastly, the company has a philanthropic responsibility whereby society wants companies to give them something back. Examples are charitable donations or engagements in volunteerism (Caroll, 1979).

12 impact nowadays, 82% of these companies used the GRI guidelines (GRI Official Website). The guidelines are recognized as the most widely used voluntary CSR reporting framework in the world (Mannetti and Becatti, 2009; Nikolaeva and Bicho, 2011). The six dimensions proposed by the GRI are economic, environmental, human rights, labor, social, and product responsibility (GRI, 2011).

13 Although much literature focused on the economic effects of CSR activities, companies also have an ethical or ideological incentive to implement CSR activities (Smith, 2000). By adopting a CSR policy, companies show that they care about the impact of their business on society, the environment and other stakeholders. This is characterized by a shift away from being concerned with a company’s next fiscal year’s financial results to the consideration of the long-term impact on social issues, such as child labor and pollution.

14 2.2 Purchase Criteria

When consumers consider the purchase of a product, several criteria are important. Product attributes are used as the basis for evaluating a product. They serve as indicators to evaluate products, compare them with others, and to assess whether the product is financially worth it (Klein and Dawar, 2004; Lantos, 2011; Akpoyomare, et al., 2012). The criteria that consumers use to evaluate a product are defined as “the standards and specifications used by consumers to compare different products and brands” (Engel et al., 1993, p.51). Not just a single product attribute is considered, but several are taken into consideration. The criteria determine which product a consumer chose over an alternative product.

The identification of important product attributes provides insights for marketing managers about the criteria that influence consumers’ purchase decision (Akpoyomare et al., 2012). The purchase criteria reveal the wants and needs that are relative to that specific product. Besides, it can serve as a basis for a product’s promotion and marketing strategy (Forney, et al., 2005; Bakhshi, 2012). On the basis of important purchase criteria, marketers are able to develop a differentiating strategy that sets their brand apart from competition (Akpoyomare et al., 2012).

15 Several researchers included CSR as a purchase criterion (e.g. Luo and Bhattacharya, 2006; Du et al., 2007; Auger et al., 2008; Matute-Vallejo et al., 2011). Studies found contradictory results regarding the role of CSR as a purchase criterion. Some researchers found that consumers take CSR into consideration when evaluating a product (Brown and Dacin, 1997; Bhattacharya and Sen 2004). Creyer and Ross (1997) found also support for CSR as an important consideration during consumers’ purchase decision. Others found that only a small segment of consumers apply CSR as a purchase criterion (Mohr et al., 2001; Beckman et al., 2001; Lichtenstein et al., 2004; Belk et al., 2005; Bray et al., 2011). This indicates that CSR is not at top of the list of many consumers.

The reason for this is that consumers do not want to give up the traditional purchase criteria and lack CSR knowledge. Criteria such as price, quality and brand familiarity are generally found to be more important purchase criteria (Arkan and Guner, 2013). CSR seems to be far away from being an important criterion in the purchase decision of consumers (Boulstridge and Carrigan, 2000; Marin et al., 2009; Arkan and Guner, 2013). This implies the need for more research into the role of CSR as purchase criterion in consumers’ purchase behavior.

16 influence the purchase intention for socially responsible products. Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:

17 2.3 Importance of CSR

Prior literature has sought to determine the importance consumers place on the CSR activities of companies (Maignan, 2001). The importance of CSR is concerned with CSR in general and is unrelated to a product or brand. Results regarding the importance consumers place on CSR activities are contradictory. Some studies found that consumers perceived that companies’ CSR activities are important (Chu and Lin, 2012), while other research demonstrated that consumers do not care about CSR (Öberseder et al., 2011).

The general perception consumers hold regarding the importance of CSR plays a determining role in the investigation of CSR (Chu and Lin, 2012). How important consumers perceive CSR activities has implications for their purchase intentions. Perceived importance is linked to consumers’ belief that companies implement and execute CSR activities that are significant for a company as a corporate citizen (Shafer et al., 2007). When consumers evaluate a product, the perceived importance of CSR plays a crucial role (Chu and Lin, 2012). Consumers use the perceived importance of CSR as a reference point in their decision-making process. If consumers consider CSR to be important, they expect companies to implement CSR activities (Chu and Lin, 2012). Consumers are found to reward those companies that behave socially responsible if they emphasize the importance of a companies’ CSR behavior. Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:

18 2.4 General CSR Awareness

CSR awareness is concerned with the level of knowledge that consumers possess about CSR. According to a qualitative research on the impact of fair trade concerns on clothing choice, a distinction can be made between general CSR awareness and product CSR awareness (Shaw et al., 2016). Other studies regarding CSR awareness did not make a distinction between these two different types. General CSR awareness is about the background research that consumers conduct to increase their level of knowledge about the topic. This type of CSR awareness is often retrieved indirectly via third-party information. Consumers are able to obtain general CSR awareness by, for example, watching the news or reading a company’s information (Pomering, 2005). Product CSR awareness is very specific and is concerned with the level of CSR of a specific product. One way to obtain product CSR awareness is by reading the label of the product. This type of CSR awareness is mostly obtained directly from the company via the label or marketing programs.

19 Even though the level of CSR awareness was found to be low in general, there is a positive relationship between general CSR awareness and the purchase intention for socially responsible products (Lee and Shin, 2010). If consumers possess more knowledge about the CSR activities of companies, they are able to translate this into favorable actions towards the company. Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:

20 2.5 Purchase Behavior

Prior literature regarding CSR and consumers’ purchase behavior mainly focused on the effects of CSR on purchase intention (e.g. Mohr et al., 2005; Becker-Olsen et al., 2006; Lee and Shin, 2009; Jin and Chen, 2014; Fatma and Rahman, 2015; Butt, 2016). The intention of consumers to buy is a signal of consumers’ readiness to perform in a certain manner. Many researchers did not investigate whether consumers’ purchase intention was translated into actual purchase behavior. According to the theory of planned behavior by Ajzen (1991), there is a positive relationship between consumers’ purchase intention and actual purchase behavior. Researchers found that when consumers indicate that they have an intention to purchase a product with certain characteristics, they will demonstrate a higher actual purchase rate compared to those consumers with a low purchase intention (Brown, 2003). According to some researchers, it is too simple to state that intentions lead to actual purchase behavior because this is regarded as an oversimplification of a complex transition (Fukukawa, 2003; Morwitz et al., 2007; Shah et al., 2012).

21 socially responsible products, a lack or overload of information, purchasing routines, and a lack of transparency (Connell, 2010; Terlau and Hirsch, 2015).

Researchers observed different findings about the relationship of purchase intention and actual purchase behavior, especially in the context of CSR. Surveys, polls and other measures in the literature found dissimilar results about products with CSR characteristics (Devinney et al., 2006). Contradictory findings in these studies were said to be a result of differences in the research design (Auger et al., 2003). Although some literature shows that consumers do not always translate socially responsible purchase intentions into the actual purchase behavior of products with CSR features, according to the much-cited theory of planned behavior there is a positive relationship between purchase intention and actual behavior. Consumers, who intend to buy a socially responsible product, show higher levels of actual purchase behavior than those consumers who show a low intention to buy socially responsible products. Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H4: There is a positive relationship between consumers’ socially responsibly

22 2.6 Product CSR Awareness

In addition to general CSR awareness, product CSR awareness is concerned with the level of CSR awareness of a specific product. This awareness level is important for the effects of CSR activities and the benefits it can deliver to companies. To be able for CSR to have positive effects and for consumers to reward businesses for socially responsible behavior, product CSR awareness is even said to be necessary. (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2004; Pomering and Dolnicar, 2008; Tian et al., 2011). Consumers’ awareness of CSR is found to be a precondition for positive responses (Wigley, 2008; Lee and Shin, 2010). Understanding the level of product CSR awareness by consumers is important to be able to analyze the role CSR plays in consumers’ actual purchase behavior.

Several studies contributed to the concept of CSR awareness by investigating the level of CSR awareness. The actual level of product CSR awareness has not yet been examined to a large extent. Most literature about CSR awareness either assumed awareness or created it with the use of experimental designs (e.g. Brown and Dacin, 1997; Creyer and Ross, 1997; Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001; Auger et al., 2003). This demonstrates the need for investigating the level of product CSR awareness when consumers face real consumption decisions (Pomering and Dolnicar, 2009).

23 awareness, they show positive attitudes to that specific product (Lee and Shin, 2010). Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H5: The relationship between consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention

and consumers’ actual purchase behavior is positively moderated by the level of

24 2.7 Conceptual Framework

As a result of the proposed hypotheses, the following conceptual framework is developed.

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3. Methodology

This section describes the strategy of this research. Information is provided on how

the research is conducted and the target group is described as well. The development

and measures of the questionnaire are explained in the last subsection.

3.1 Research Strategy

This study aims to identify the role of CSR in consumers’ purchase behavior. This is investigated by analyzing CSR as a purchase criterion, the importance of CSR, the level of general CSR awareness, consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention, actual purchase behavior, and the moderating effect of product CSR awareness. This type of research is also referred to as causal research. The conceptual framework is tested according to five hypotheses. After an analysis of the data, conclusions are drawn. The positivist view is applied since this research philosophy makes it able to conduct quantitative research, develop hypotheses based on theories and to either confirm or reject these hypotheses. This fits a deductive approach since hypotheses are deducted from existing literature and theories to reject or confirm the hypotheses after the data analysis. A deductive approach is a highly structured approach that includes the transition from theory to data. Only quantitative data will be gathered for this research to conduct empirical assessments with numerical measurements and analysis (Saunders et al., 2012; Zikmund, 2013).

26 are ‘the importance of CSR’, ‘CSR as a purchase criterion’ and ‘general CSR awareness.’ The dependent variable in the first regression is consumers’ ‘socially responsible purchase intention’. Control variables are included in the analysis as well. Although this research is not particularly interested in the control variables, it is necessary to remove their effects if they are related to the dependent variable. The correlation matrix provides information about the relationship between all the variables. The second analysis is a logistic regression analysis and is conducted because the dependent variable in the second model is measured as a binary variable. This analysis measures the effect of consumers’ ‘socially responsible purchase intention’ on their ‘actual purchase behavior’ with the moderating effect of ‘product CSR awareness’. In this analysis, control variables are included as well.

27 3.2 Target Group

To approach respondents for the questionnaire, individuals had to be selected. This is necessary because it is impossible to collect data from the whole population. The sampling technique in this research was a convenience and non-probability sampling method. Mainly students and young adults were targeted. This generation grew up in a period in which CSR received much attention from the media and government. The upswing in mass and social media led to an increase in positive and negative information about companies’ CSR activities. This information is widely accessible and easily transferred to many consumers. The desire of this generation to make an impact on the world led to an overwhelming demand for CSR. The investigation of this target group is especially interesting because research found that there is significant heterogeneity among consumers’ responses to CSR (Sen and Bhattacharya, 2004).

28 3.3 Context of Research

To be able to determine the purchase intention and actual purchase behavior of consumers in a real-life setting, a product from the apparel industry, a pair of jeans, is chosen as the context of this research. There are many factors that increase the potential for CSR in the apparel industry (Laudal, 2010). An important determinant is the search for cheap production costs in low-wage countries with poor working conditions, thereby broadening and deepening the global sourcing networks (Gereffi and Memedovic, 2003). This is a very important determinant in the battle for the lowest possible production cost. The market structure of the apparel industry also contributes to the CSR related issues. Most apparel companies have a global customer base, which want to be served instantly, thereby putting pressures on the suppliers (Laudal, 2010).

29 Many companies in this industry have been criticized because of socially irresponsible business activities. In 2005, a UNESCO report found that more than 10,000 liters of water are needed to produce one pair of jeans (Chapagain et al., 2005). Especially in the apparel and jeans industry, innovations in the context of CSR can bring advantages to companies, society and other stakeholders. These innovations can contribute to a decrease in the amount of water needed to produce one pair of jeans. In this way, the focus of CSR moved away from activities that contribute to financial results to a broader focus that includes long-term impact.

30 3.4 Questionnaire Design

Respondents were asked to fill in a questionnaire to be able to identify the role of CSR in their purchase behavior. Before they were asked to fill in the questionnaire, they were presented with a short introduction to the research and to the concept of CSR. The survey consisted of seven parts whereby each part had several statements. The questions are about the demographics, CSR background, general and product CSR awareness, importance of CSR, purchase criteria, purchase intention and actual purchase behavior. The question regarding the purchase criteria was asked twice, once before respondents choose a brand they have most recently bought a pair of jeans from and once after they selected a brand. This was done to investigate if there are differences in the importance of purchase criteria between the intention and actual purchase behavior of consumers. A detailed description of the development and measures of the questionnaire is presented in the rest of this section.

Open and closed questions can be part of a survey questionnaire and determine the type of data the researcher is able to collect. Open questions provide the opportunity for respondents to answer in the way they like and are designed for extensive answers. Closed questions consist of some alternatives and provide researchers with specific information (Saunders et al., 2009). This questionnaire only consisted of closed questions, whereby various options were provided to the respondents.

31 research. The wording was adjusted to simple English to avoid difficult English words and misinterpretation.

Table 3.1. Summary of the questionnaire

Part Topic # of

items Scale Reference

1 Demographic questions 5 Differs per question, one answer among

multiple alternatives Developed by author 2 CSR background 2 Differs per question Developed by author

3 Purchase criteria 7 X 2

Seven point Likert scale ranging from 1: not important at all to

7: very important

Adapted from Jin and Kang (2010) Seven point Likert scale ranging from

1: very unlikely to 7: very likely 4 Importance of CSR 4

Seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1: strongly disagree to

7: strongly agree

Adapted from Creyer and Ross (1997) and Chu and Lin (2012)

5 General and product

CSR awareness 5 X 2

Seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1: strongly disagree to

7: strongly agree

Adapted from Shaw et al., (2016)

6 Socially responsible

purchase intention 6

Seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1: strongly disagree to

7: strongly agree

Adapted from the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) guidelines (2001) 7 Actual purchase behavior 1 Choose one of the nine brands Measure used from the ‘Ethical

Demographic questions. The first part of the questionnaire consisted of demographic

questions. Five items were included to explore the respondents’ characteristics. The items that were included are age, gender, nationality, educational level, and if respondents are a student. Each item consisted of a different scale, appropriate for that particular item. These questions wee included because they are able to provide characteristics of the sample and to check if the sample was representative.

The demographic characteristics of the sample can also be included in the regression analysis as control variables. Control variables are variables in which the researcher is not particularly interested but which do have an effect on the dependent variable. The question if respondents are currently registered at a university was included because if the sample has a high percentage of students and this variable is included as a control variable in the regression analysis, the effect of being a student is excluded from consumers’ purchase intention. Also, students have less money to spend on jeans, which can possibly account for a negative relationship between students and their purchase intention for CSR products. Students are relatively young and have in general less money to spend. Control variables are included in the regression analysis if they correlate significantly with the dependent variable.

CSR background. The next part dealt with the respondents’ level of CSR

34 related course show greater interest in the topic than others (Tormo-Carbó et al., 2016). This variable can be included as a control variable in the regression analysis if it shows a significant correlation with the dependent variable.

Purchase criteria. The third part of the questionnaire is included to investigate

if consumers use CSR as a purchase criterion when evaluating a pair of jeans. If respondents were only asked about the importance of CSR as a purchase criterion without presenting other criteria, there is a risk that respondents answer this question in a socially responsible way. To avoid this, other purchase criteria were included to see the relative importance of CSR as a purchase criterion. Only the purchase criterion that determines the importance of a socially responsible brand was included in the analysis.

35 The wording was slightly adapted to make it clearer for the respondents, as was noticed by the pre-testers. As a result, the purchase criteria that were used in this research are ‘comfort’, ‘good fit’, ‘latest fashion’, ‘price’, ‘quality’, ‘socially responsible brand’, and ‘well-known brand’. These purchase criteria are appropriate for the context of this study as well as for the target group. The item that asked respondents to rate the importance of each product criterion is presented twice. This was done to see if the importance of purchase criteria changed when facing a real consumption decision compared to consumers’ intention. The first question is asked before respondents choose a brand from which they have most recently bought a pair of jeans from. In this section, respondents were asked to answer how much they think each of the purchase criteria is important when buying a pair of jeans. Seven purchase criteria were presented and measured on a seven-point Likert scale, whereby one represents ‘not important at all’ and seven ‘very important’. After respondents chose one of the nine brands, they were asked the same question again but differently. Respondents were asked “with keeping the selected brand in mind, please answer how likely you think this brand has each of the following characteristics.” Respondents were asked to rate each of the seven attributes when they evaluated the specific pair of jeans they bought most recently. The scale for this question ranges from one ‘very unlikely’ to seven ‘very likely’.

Importance of CSR. The fourth part of the questionnaire measured

36 and to understand with complex wording and double denial. The items were therefore merged and simplified. Also, they were adapted to this particular study, with jeans as the product for investigation. One reversed item was included, to reduce the acquiescent bias. This bias refers to “a tendency to respond in the affirmative to survey items without regard to substantive content” (Watson, 1992). This usually happens when respondents answer the questions on autopilot, without deliberately considering the question. Each of the four items was measured on a seven-point Likert scale, whereby one represents ‘strongly disagree’ and seven ‘strongly agree’. This variable was computed as an average of the scores on the four items.

CSR awareness. The fifth part investigated the level of CSR awareness by

consumers. One section asked respondents about CSR awareness in general, which consisted of five items. An example of an item is “I read articles about social responsibility”. All items were measured on a seven-point Likert scale, ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. The second section about CSR awareness focused on the CSR awareness of a specific pair of jeans. For this section, again five items were presented with the same scale as the previous section. An example of an item is “when I bought the pair of jeans, I read the label.” This variable was computed as an average of the scores on the five items.

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Socially responsible purchase intention. The sixth part provided a measure for

the socially responsible purchase intention. Six items determined to what extent the respondents agreed or disagreed with the intention to buy a pair of jeans from a socially responsible brand. If respondents scored high on this measure, it implied that they have a high intention to purchase a product from a socially responsible brand. The measures are taken from the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) guidelines (2001). The GRI proposed guidelines on six different dimensions to support companies in their CSR disclosure. The six dimensions are ‘economic’, ‘environmental’, ‘human rights, ‘labor’, ‘social’, and ‘product responsibility’. To measure the socially responsible purchase intention of respondents when purchasing a pair of jeans, questions regarding the environment and people were selected. The ‘people’ dimension consisted of human rights and labor dimensions in the GRI. They were chosen because they are most relevant for this product and because the actual purchase behavior of the respondents will be evaluated according to an environmental and people dimension. In this way, the relationship between purchase intention and actual purchase behavior can be correctly analyzed. All six items measured the socially responsible purchase intention of respondents with a seven-point Likert scale ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. This variable is computed as an average of the scores on the six items.

Actual purchase behavior. In the last part of the questionnaire, respondents

38 the score of the brand they most recently bought, conclusions can be drawn regarding the relationship between the two. More information regarding consumers’ actual purchase behavior is collected via the question about the CSR awareness of the specific pair of jeans.

The website ‘www.goodshoppingguide.com’ scores brands on how socially responsible they are. The companies were scored on several dimensions. Each dimension had several sub dimensions, which provided a clear overview of the scoring. A detailed overview of the level of social responsibility of brands in different industries is presented on the website. For all different types of products, an ‘Ethical Company Index’ is provided that shows the company’s record on several dimensions such as the environment, pollution, animal testing, workers’ rights, and other factors. The brands are clustered per industry, and the dimensions that they use to measure the level of social responsibility are adapted to each specific industry.

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Table 3.2.Selected brands with their score on the Ethical Company Index Ethical Company

Index score Brand

73 ASOS 73 H&M 73 River Island 69 Zara 58 Mango 55 Levi’s 50 Topshop 46 Primark 42 GAP

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4. Findings and Analysis

This section provides the findings of the data gathered via the questionnaire. First, the

sample characteristics are presented. Thereafter, the data analyses are presented and

are related to the hypotheses.

4.1 Data Collection

41 4.2 Sample Characteristics

Demographic characteristics. Of the 151 respondents, the majority is aged between

22 and 25 (60.9%). The second largest age group is aged between 18 and 21 (13.9%). 21 Respondents did not answer this question because it was not mandatory. The majority of the respondents is female (57%). In terms of nationality, the large majority of the respondents is Dutch (92%). Respondents from nine different nationalities completed the questionnaire. Most respondents are currently registered at a university (72.2%). Most respondents indicated that they obtained or are currently enrolled in a master’s (45.7%) or bachelor’s (43%) program. An overview of the respondents’ demographic information can be found in table 4.1below.

Table 4.1. Sample demographic characteristics

42 The demographic characteristics provide a good overview of the composition of the sample and have implications for the generalizability of the results. The sample of this research is an overrepresentation of highly educated, Dutch students aged between 22 and 25. This indicates that the sample is slightly biased towards young, highly educated people. Considering gender, the sample is almost 50/50 which corresponds well to the total population.

CSR background. Of the 151 responses, 88 respondents (58.3%) indicated that

they followed an ethics or CSR related course. Of those 88 respondents, 75% (66) followed this course on a compulsory basis, while 25% (22) followed the course on a voluntary basis. This implies that most respondents are familiar with the topic and possess some knowledge about CSR.

Purchase criteria. Respondents were asked about the importance of seven

different purchase criteria when evaluating a pair of jeans. Respondents indicated that a good fit (M=6.70, SD=0.76) and comfort (M=6.42, SD=0.97) are the most important purchase criteria. Relative to the other criteria, consumers use CSR as purchase criterion the second least often (M=4.26, SD=1.39). CSR can be regarded as a purchase criterion that is neither unimportant nor important. Only the item about CSR as a purchase criterion is used in further analysis because this research is interested in the effect of CSR as purchase criterion on consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention.

Importance of CSR. As a result of the questionnaire, it became apparent that

43

CSR awareness. Of the five channels to gather general information regarding

CSR, most information about CSR in general is retrieved from the news (M=5.11,

SD=1.15) and from friends (M=4.78, SD=1.39). Respondents indicated that they did

web research least often (M=3.32, SD=1.71). When asked about their CSR awareness of the specific product, respondents indicated that they had far way less knowledge about the CSR awareness level of the product (M=2.46, SD=1.23) compared to general CSR awareness (M=4.36, SD=1.06).

Socially responsible purchase intention. Of the six items that measured the

intention of respondents to purchase a pair of jeans, respondents have the highest intention to purchase a pair of jeans from a brand that does not make use of child labor or compulsory labor (M=5.61, SD=1.28). Respondents indicated that they had relatively the lowest intention to purchase a pair of jeans from a brand that invests in training and education of the employees (M=4.20, SD=1.44).

Actual purchase behavior. Of the 139 respondents that choose one of the nine

44 4.3 Factor Analysis

An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to identify groups of items that are strongly correlated and that together explain as much observed covariance as possible. The group of items that is considered to belong together is called a factor. An EFA was conducted because the items from the questionnaire were slightly adjusted from valid questionnaires developed by other researchers. Because of these adaptations, a factor analysis is able to confirm the cohesion between the different variables and their corresponding items (Field, 2005).

A factor analysis with direct oblimin rotation was conducted to facilitate an easy and fast interpretation of the factors. A direct oblimin rotation is chosen over a varimax rotation because the latter can only be conducted if there are no relationships between the factors at all (Field, 2005). From the factor correlation matrix in appendix B, it can be concluded that the factors are correlated. This makes the use of direct oblimin rotation appropriate.

One factor analysis with four factors was conducted to see if the items load well on the corresponding variable, if there are any cross loadings and to reveal if items of the same variable load onto different or latent factors. By conducting one factor analysis with several variables, it is possible to see how the items of each variable relate to other items and variables. This is the essence of a factor analysis and serves as a way to prove the discriminant validity (Field, 2005). The four variables that are included in the factor analysis are purchase intention, product CSR awareness, general CSR awareness and the importance of CSR (N=127).

45 items in the anti-image correlation table show a score that is higher than 0.5, see appendix D. This information indicates that the data is appropriate. The four factors together explain almost 64% of the variance. According to Field (2005), the total variance that is explained by the factors must be above 50%. All the items of each variable load all well onto the same factor. All but two items meet the threshold of 0.5. Each item shows a loading and there are no cross loadings. This implies that the data is appropriate to conduct a factor analysis. If a factor shows an eigenvalue above 1, the factor can be retained (Kaiser, 1960). See appendix E for an overview of the variables, the factor loadings and eigenvalues.

The factor analysis is able to provide information about the validity of the research. The validity of the research deals with the extent to which items in the questionnaire measure what the researcher intends to measure. In this research, it can be concluded from the factor analysis that both the discriminant validity as well as the content validity are acceptable. Together this indicates construct validity. Discriminant validity ensures that items do not show cross loadings, which is not the case in this research. Convergent validity measures the correlation between different items that are based on the same construct (Field, 2013).

47 4.4 Reliability Checks

After the factor analysis was conducted, Cronbach’s Alpha was calculated. This measure is able to determine the internal consistency and reliability of the constructs (Zikmund, 2003). Reliability is about the accuracy, precision and consistency of the measurement. If the research is repeated and there are no differences between the results, a research is said to be reliable. Researchers found that reliability is needed, but that it is not sufficient to establish validity (Saunders et al., 2009). As a rule of thumb, the Cronbach’s Alpha must be 0.70 or higher. The results can be found in table 4.2below.

Table 4.2. Cronbach’s Alpha

Variables Number of items Cronbach’s Alpha

Importance of CSR 4 .809 General CSR awareness 5 .752 Product CSR awareness 5 .858 Purchase intention 6 .893

48 4.5 Descriptive Statistics

After the factor analysis and reliability checks are conducted, a description of the variables provides more information about the variables. The variables are all regarded as sufficient because none of them shows outliers or boxplots with large values. The values of skewness and kurtosis are able to see if the distribution of the scores is approximately normal, see appendix G. All the values for the skewness fall within the range of minus 1.5 and plus 1.5. All the values for kurtosis fall between the range of minus 2.5 and plus 2.5. Tests of normality show whether the variables are normally distributed. Most variables are more or less normally distributed, see appendix H. Also, the boxplots are symmetric with the first and fourth quarter being evenly distributed, as well as the second and third quarter. If a boxplot is symmetric, this also implies that the variable is more or less normally distributed (Field, 2005).

49 from a brand that sores above 60. This implies that these respondents bought a pair of jeans from a brand with high CSR. The group of respondents that scored below 60 is regarded as the reference group for further analysis.

Figure 4.1. Histogram actual purchase behavior

50 An overview of the variables, scales, mean, standard deviation and number of respondents for both regression analyses is provided in table 4.3 and table 4.4. In the first regression analysis, the independent and dependent variables are all measured on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from one to seven. To compute the scale of the variables in further analysis, all items must be reliable according to Cronbach’s Alpha and must load onto same factor. Because this is proven in previous analyses, the mean of all the items that belong to that variable is used as the scale to compute the value of the variable. The dependent variable, actual purchase behavior, and the control variables CSR course, gender and student are measured as binary variables. The number of respondents differs per variable depending on the timing of the question.

Table 4.3. Descriptive statistics: multiple linear regression analysis Variable Variable name Scale Number of items Mean SD N Independent variable 1 Importance of CSR Seven-point Likert scale 4 4.59 1.16 151 Independent variable 2 CSR purchase criterion Seven-point Likert scale 1 4.26 1.39 151 Independent variable 3 CSR awareness general Seven-point Likert scale 5 4.36 1.06 151 Dependent variable Purchase intention Seven-point Likert scale 6 4.89 1.09 151 Control variable 1 CSR course

Binary 0= no 1 = yes

1 0.58 0.50 151 Control variable 2 Age Scale 1 23.87 4.72 130

Control variable 3 Gender

Binary 0= female

1 = male

1 0.43 0.50 151

Control variable 4 Student

Binary 0=no 1=yes

52

Table 4.4. Descriptive statistics: logistic regression analysis

Variable Variable name Scale Number of items Mean SD N Independent variable Purchase intention Seven-point Likert scale 6 4.89 1.09 151 Dependent variable Actual purchase behavior Binary 0=low CSR 1=high CSR 1 0.50 0.50 131 Moderator Product CSR awareness Seven-point Likert scale 5 2.46 1.23 131 Control variable 1 Importance of

4.6 Correlations

The Pearson correlation method is used to measure the correlation between two variables in isolation, without taking the effects of other variables into account. The Pearson correlation method is conducted because the variables are more or less normally distributed. Also, this method is appropriate for dummy variables. Several dummy variables were included, namely the dependent variable and three of the control variables.

54 significantly with the dependent variable. The reference category for age is women and for students it is non-students.

When looking at the correlation between the variables in the second regression analysis, no significant correlation is found between consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention and their actual purchase behavior (r = 0.08). Also, the moderator does not show a significant correlation with the dependent variable (r = -0.11). The correlation between the four variables course, age, gender and student, and the actual purchase behavior are all not significant. This implies that there is no need to include these variables as control variables in the second regression analysis. It is also possible to include the three independent variables of the first regression analysis as control variables in the second analysis. The effects of CSR purchase criterion (r =-0.05), CSR importance (r = -0.07) and general CSR awareness (r = -0.12) on the actual purchase behavior are all not significant. Although they do not show a significant correlation, the variables are taken into account as control variables to be able to account for their effects on consumers’ actual purchase behavior.

4.7 Regression Analyses

Although the correlation matrix provides a good overview of the correlation coefficients between a set of variables, correlations do not prove cause and effect. A regression analysis is able to prove this and to assess the relationship between one or more dependent and independent variables. Due to the complex conceptual framework, the regression analysis had to run twice, see figure 2.1. The first regression is a multiple linear regression analysis with three independent variables. The second regression is a logistic regression analysis with one independent variable and a moderating effect. In both analyses, control variables are included to account for their effects on the dependent variable. The results of the analyses are presented below.

4.7.1 Multiple Linear Regression Analysis

The independent variables in the first regression analysis are CSR purchase criterion, importance of CSR and general CSR awareness. The dependent variable is consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention. The regression analysis is conducted twice, once without control variables and once with. The results can be found below in table 4.5.

4.7.1.1 Model 1

56 The proposed positive effect of CSR as a purchase criterion on consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention in hypothesis 1 was supported and significant (b=0.29, p < 0.001). Hypothesis 2, proposing a positive relationship between CSR importance and purchase intention was supported as well (b=0.32, p < 0 .001). Hypothesis 3, which posed that general CSR awareness would contribute positively to consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention, was not supported (b=0.07,

p > 0 .01).

4.7.1.2 Model 2

In the second model, two control variables were added. Age and student were included as control variables because both variables were significantly correlated with the purchase intention. The number of respondents for this analysis drops from 151 to 130 because only 130 respondents answered the question about age. Again, a significant regression equation was found (F (5,124) =19.702, p <0 .001) with an R² of 0.44.

When the control variables are included in the regression analysis, CSR purchase criterion (b=0.29, p < 0.001) and the importance of CSR (b=0.25,

p < 0.001) again show a positive and significant effect on consumers’ socially

Table 4.5. Results of the multiple linear regression analysis

Socially responsible purchase intention

4.7.2 Logistic Regression Analysis

The second regression analysis is conducted with consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention as independent variable, the actual purchase behavior as dependent variable and product CSR awareness as moderator. Prior to the creation of the interaction term, the independent variables had to be mean centered (Aiken and West, 1991). A logistic regression is conducted because the dependent variable is a binary variable where the value ‘zero’ represents a pair of jeans from a brand with a low score on CSR. The value ‘one’ indicates a pair of jeans from a brand with a high score on CSR.

This regression analysis is conducted three times. Model 1 contains the three control variables only. Model 2 introduces the effect of the socially responsible purchase intention and product CSR awareness. Model 3 examines the interaction effect of socially responsible purchase intention and product CSR awareness as well. The results can be found in table 4.6 below.

4.7.2.1 Model 1

In the first model, three control variables and the dependent variable are included. The three control variables that are included are CSR purchase criterion, importance of CSR and general CSR awareness. The control variables in this model are the independent variables in the linear regression analysis that was conducted earlier. These variables are selected as control variables in this regression analysis to account for their effect on consumers’ actual purchase behavior.

59 which shows a small improvement with the constant model, see appendix K. This implies that the model with control variables is a better model compared to the model without control variables. All three control variables included in the model do not have a significant effect on consumers’ actual purchase behavior.

4.7.2.2 Model 2

The second model adds the independent variable, socially responsible purchase intention, and the moderator, product CSR awareness. The model chi-square has 8 degrees of freedom, a value of 8.884 and is not significant (p>0.05). The Nagelkerke R² is 0.07, which shows a stronger relationship of 7.4% between the predictors and the prediction. The overall correct percentage is improved to 60.3% in this model. When controlling for the three other variables, consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention (b=0.47, p < 0.05) shows a positive effect on actual purchase behavior, which is consistent with hypothesis 4.

4.7.2.3 Model 3

Table 4.6. Results of the logistic regression analysis

Actual purchase behaviorª

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

B S.E. B S. E. B S. E.

Main effect

Socially responsible purchase intention _{.467* .237 .555* .253}

Moderator

Product CSR awareness -.170 .168 -.210 .180

Interaction effect

Socially responsible purchase intention × product CSR awareness .237 .158

Control variables CSR purchase criterion .057 .176 -.010 .196 -.018 .198 Importance of CSR -.129 .184 -.286 .229 -.301 .233 General CSR awareness -.239 .184 -.262 .191 -.327 .198 Model assessment Nagelkerke R² .024 .074 .097

Overall percentage correct 54.2% 60.3% 63.4%

Notes:

ª N = 130

5. Discussion

This section summarizes the findings of the research. The findings are related to the

hypotheses and to the literature. A discussion of the findings contributes to a more

comprehensive understanding of this research.

Prior research found that consumers are more likely to purchase products from socially responsible brands if they value CSR as an important purchase criterion (Mohr et al., 2001; Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001). Hypothesis 1 confirms the positive relationship between CSR as a purchase criterion and the socially responsible purchase intention of consumers. Although it was found that other purchase criteria, such as good fit (M=6.70, SD=0.755) and comfort (M=6.42, SD=0.969) are regarded as more important when evaluating a pair of jeans, consumers do take the CSR activities of brands in consideration to some extent (M=4.26, SD=1.394). It can be concluded that the CSR activities of companies are neither unimportant nor important to consumers who want to purchase a pair of jeans. This is in line with Ehrich and Irwin’s (2005) finding that CSR activities are only one of the many motivations pushing consumers toward a particular brand. The regression analysis found that the more importance consumers place on a socially responsible brand when evaluating a pair of jeans, the higher their intention is to purchase a socially responsible product. This finding demonstrates the positive effect of CSR as a purchase criterion on consumers’ purchase intentions. This finding provides incentives for managers to emphasize the importance of CSR when selecting a product over alternatives.

62 relationship between the two variables and found support for hypothesis 2. Without taking the control variables into account, an increase of one point in the importance of CSR leads to an increase of 0.32 point in consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention. The coefficient (b=0.25) is slightly lower when the three control variables are included in the regression analysis. None of the demographics factors showed a significant effect on consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention. If the control variables are included in the regression, they hardly change the effects of the variables that this research is interested in. If they are not included, only the importance of CSR shows a slightly higher effect on purchase intention because part of the variance is explained by the control variables.

Consumers indicated that they are aware of CSR in general to some extent (M=4.36, SD=1.06). Most CSR information is retrieved from the news (M=5.11,

SD=1.15) and from conversations about CSR with friends (M=4.78, SD=1.39).

Researchers proposed a positive relationship between general CSR awareness and the purchase intention for socially responsible products (Lee and Shin, 2010). This research did not find a significant effect of general CSR awareness on purchase intention when CSR importance and CSR as a purchase criterion are included in the model as well, which does not provide support for hypothesis 3. One reason for this finding can be contributed to the fact that CSR consists of several dimensions, such as the environment, social and human rights. Consumers can be aware of some, but not all of these dimensions. Besides, if consumers lack general CSR awareness this can prevent consumers’ sensitivity to CSR. This has implications for the involvement of CSR while appraising a company and its products (Maignan, 2001; Smith, 2000).

63 responsible, supporting hypothesis 4. This finding supports the theory of planned behavior of Ajzen (1991) because a positive and significant relationship between purchase intention and actual purchase behavior was observed. Although the correlation matrix showed a low and non-significant correlation (r = 0.08), the regression-based analysis provided evidence for a significant and positive relationship between the two variables in the context of CSR (b=0.56*).

Often, researchers found that consumers were unable to translate their purchase intentions into actual purchase behavior in the context of CSR (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001; Belk et al., 2005; Auger and Devinney, 2007; Bray et al., 2011; Carrington et al., 2010; Caruana et al., 2016). These prior findings indicated that consumers did not always act what they preached when it comes to their actual purchase behavior. Reasons for the gap between intention and behavior are the price of socially responsible products, purchase routines, and a lack of transparency (Connell, 2010; Terlau and Hirsch, 2015).

64 Dubbink et al., 2008). An illustration of transparency is the labeling of products and the revelation of names, addresses and other important information about the overseas production factories of global apparel companies on the Internet. As more companies increase transparency, it is becoming a cornerstone of socially responsible business conduct in the apparel industry (Stauffer, 2017).

65

6. Conclusion

This section demonstrates the contributions of this research to existing literature. The

managerial implications can provide practical insights for managers. The last part will

address the limitations and possibilities for future research.

6.1 Theoretical Contributions

The findings of this research contribute to the existing literature about CSR and consumers’ purchase behavior. The findings show that consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention is positively related to actual purchase behavior, as proposed by the planned behavior theory. This relationship is debated in existing literature in the context of CSR, even though most literature did not even take the actual purchase behavior into account when identifying the role of CSR in consumers’ purchase behavior. In prior research, consumers indicated that they had intentions to purchase socially responsible products but in their actual purchase behavior it was less often found that they took CSR into account. The findings of this research indicate that consumers that intended to purchase a socially responsible product translated this into actual behavior. It should be noted that consumers indicated that they are hardly aware of the level of CSR of the pair of jeans they bought. The low level of product CSR awareness undermines the relationship between consumers’ intentions and actual purchase behavior.

67 6.2 Managerial Implications

This research found that if consumers have a high intention to buy a socially responsible pair of jeans, it is more likely that they actually buy a pair of jeans from a brand that is socially responsible. However, consumers are hardly aware of the level of product CSR awareness. This underpins the difficulty in concluding that CSR plays an important role in consumers’ purchase behavior. Although the importance of CSR and CSR as a purchase criterion positively influence consumers’ intention to purchase socially responsible products, the role it plays in their actual purchase behavior needs more investigation. The relationship between CSR awareness and consumers’ purchase behavior was not found to be significant in this research. The low level of product CSR awareness implies ample room for marketing managers to increase the knowledge of consumers about CSR.

68 effects of CSR for the company. Promotion activities about the benefits and importance of CSR increase the socially responsible purchase intention, which in turn has a positive impact on consumers’ actual behavior.

The findings also indicate a positive and significant relation between intention and actual purchase, opposed to what most previous research proposed. This emphasizes the importance of CSR in consumers’ purchase behavior. Consumers do not only have the intention to purchase socially responsible products, they also translate this into actual purchase behavior. By focusing on the CSR dimensions that consumers value as important in their purchase intention, managers are able to develop communication strategies that should lead to a range of advocacy behaviors. These positive effects are not only apparent in consumers’ actual purchase behavior, other results can be positive word of mouth and an increase in reputation.

69 6.3 Limitations and Future Research

This research has of several limitations. First, this research is limited to the apparel industry and jeans specifically. Further research should try to identify the role of CSR in consumers’ purchase behavior for other products in the apparel industry and for other industries. In this way, it can be investigated if the results of this research also hold for other product categories. Prior research already showed that CSR is a more dominant factor in consumers’ purchase behavior in certain product categories compared to others.

Also, future research that includes consumers from a variety of countries and with other demographic characteristics will contribute to the generalizability of the findings. This is especially the case since consumers from all countries, educational levels and ages buy jeans. The sample can be regarded as a limitation because of the non-probability, convenience-sampling technique. Although the sample size was achieved in a fast and inexpensive way, this way of collecting data does not provide the most reliable data. The selection process is biased and therefore, the generalizability to the population is limited.

70 The effects of CSR awareness on consumers’ socially responsible purchase intention and actual purchase behavior were not found to be significant. This does not imply that CSR awareness does not have an effect on other factors. In the correlation matrix, it was seen that general and product CSR awareness are both positively and significantly correlated with CSR importance and CSR as purchase criteria. The causality between these variables is not empirically tested in this research but can serve as material for future research. The future findings are able to provide marketing managers with insightful implications on what the effects are of directing marketing budgets to increase product CSR awareness among consumers. This is especially relevant because marketing managers are able to inform consumers about CSR, thereby increasing their level of CSR awareness.