UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS
“Do MNCs really care about CSR?” A research on the relation between CSR practices of MNCs and consumer purchasing behavior and the effect of consumer’s
moral identity on this.
Master Thesis, MSc. International Business & Management 23rd January, 2017
Vasileios Papagiannis S2911213 Korreweg 32a
9715 AB, Groningen, The Netherlands Tel.: +31683080219
E-mail: v.papagiannis@student.rug.nl or vasilispapa_3@hotmail.com
Words: 9390
Supervisor:
Sanne N. Ponsioen
2 ABSTRACT
This research was designed to test a possible relation between the different perspectives of CSR (altruistic and strategic) and consumers’ purchasing behavior, as well as the possible influence of the moral identity of the consumer. It was hypothesized that consumer purchasing behavior will be higher for a corporation when the type of CSR of that same corporation is altruistic instead of strategic. Further, it was hypothesized that the moral identity would moderate this relation in such a way that the expected relation between CSR and consumer purchasing behavior would be higher for consumers with a strong moral identity as opposed to consumers with a weak moral identity. The hypotheses were examined within a scenario analysis where the altruistic and strategic CSR was manipulated. The effect of different perspectives of CSR on consumer purchasing behavior was not supported. Moreover, the moral identity did not provide any evidence on this relation. Possible explanations of the results were discussed, as well as practical and theoretical implications, strengths, limitations and suggestions for future research.
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AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
By finishing this thesis, another academic chapter is coming to an end. After having done this research for this thesis I had the opportunity to broaden and deepen the scope of my theoretical and practical knowledge.
Nevertheless, I am grateful for the support of some people who helped me and encouraged me during the planning and writing this thesis.
First of all, I would like to express my very great appreciation to my supervisor dr. Sanne N. Ponsioen for her valuable and constructive suggestions and useful critiques during the planning and development of my thesis. Besides my supervisor, I would like to thank my fellow students Elsemiek Douma and Niklas Meyer for supporting me throughout the whole process of the Thesis. Moreover, I would like to acknowledge my two proofreaders Jensen Hughes and Jasper Hidding and thank them for their comments.
Finally, I would like to thank my parents and my brother for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this Thesis. All these accomplishments in my life would not have been possible without their ongoing support.
Thank you.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Introduction ... 5
II. Literature Review ... 9
1. CSR ... 9
1.1 CSR timeframe ... 9
1.2 CSR definition ... 10
1.3 Perspectives of CSR ... 11
2. Consumer Purchasing Behavior ... 13
3. CSR and Consumer purchasing behavior ... 15
4. Moral Identity ... 17
III. Methodology ... 20
1. General Information about Participants and Design... 20
2. Procedure ... 20
3. Measurements and Manipulations ... 22
4. Data Analysis and Results ... 23
IV. Discussion, Implications, and Future Direction ... 25
1. Theoretical Implications ... 25
2. Practical Implications ... 26
3. Strengths, Limitations and Future Research ... 27
4. Conclusion ... 29
REFERENCES ... 30
APPENDICES ... 36
APPENDIX A: Tables ... 36
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I. Introduction
In the beginning of the 21st century, the world still faces many social, economic, and environmental issues that need to be combated on a global scale. There are continents that are rich, while other countries suffer the consequences of poverty such as hunger, inadequate access to water and education, and a lack of protection of the people’s human rights.
Both sides are still suffering from environmental challenges that every actor in this world has been and is trying to combat. While these problems have been present for a long time, it is only in the last few decades that people have become more aware and actively involved of these issues. Most governments have failed to meet the requirements set forth by international organizations to tackle these issues thus, encouraging more companies to participate by taking a more governmental role and try to enhance the local or national needs of the country they operate in (Margolis & Walsh, 2003; Matten & Crane, 2005). This is especially true for multinational corporations (MNCs) that engage in the improvement of education, social safety, public health, and the protection of the human rights in countries that do not have the resources to fund institutional agencies that would monitor and ensure the aforementioned aspects of society (Matten & Crane, 2005). Thus, corporations have become to be seen as more political factors internationally and are judged by academics, NGOs, business people, the media, and governments for their responsibilities in the society and the consequences of their various activities (Néron, 2010).
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the firms to various stakeholders, even if these actions can be harmful for the profits of the corporation (Lantos, 2002). Besides, Lantos (2002) supported that there is strategic CSR that involves the social caring of the firm’s activities in order to further promote the strategic firm’s goals.
Nestlé is a prime example of a company that is spending time and effort for CSR activities, not on the continent that it operates in but in a continent that is in need such as Africa. Nestlé is a Swiss transnational food and drink company founded in 1905 by the Nestle brothers Page, George, Charles, and Henri. In 2006, the company developed a sustainable approach to business which addresses the needs of society while meeting the needs of the shareholders in Central and West African regions by offering modified products for low-income consumers (Payaud, 2014). This program was named Creating Shared Value (CSV), and aimed to provide nutritional value to consumers through products that were infused with micronutrients that helped to address the deficiencies (iron, zinc, iodine, and vitamin A) that were most prevalent among poor consumers (Payaud, 2014). Nestlé invested a lot of time and money on this project, without purposefully maximizing its profits, but instead as part of its CSR practices.
This example of Nestlé shows that the company practice CSR in the highest possible level and confirms the company’s empathy regarding societal and economical issues that poor regions are facing every day. On the other side, there are MNCs that practice less CSR, but without focusing on the deeper problems of each society. This is happening in order to avoid the criticism from the NGOs and the public view. This way can help these MNCs to maximize their profits by being more acceptable in the eyes of their customers (Wood, 2010). The aforementioned examples illustrate the different approaches that MNCs have towards their business ethics and the driving forces that they have in order to engage CSR practices. This results from the fact that while some MNCs are practicing their CSR in the greatest possible level by conducting research and taking actions for people in areas that are in need, others just keep a neutral attitude or are engaged in lower CSR practices in order to maximize their profits without caring about the real needs of their shareholders. Thus, it could be argued that there are firms in which CSR activities are rooted in the entire company and where it is a main part of their strategy, while there are also corporations where the CSR activities are part of the company, but not completely rooted in the organization and is also not a part of their strategy.
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Shin (2010) found that the consumers’ awareness of CSR practices and their purchase purposes are positively linked. Although the current research examines whether CSR may not play an important role in consumers’ purchasing behavior, this research argues that the concept of CSR is becoming a more and more important element of corporations (Carrigan & Atalla, 2001). This paper is trying to find to what extent the consumers are evaluating the CSR that is practiced by companies and whether or not they are willing to purchase a product from that firm.
In addition, whether or not people are affected by certain CSR practices might differ per person. Hence, the moral identity of the person plays a potential role. This research will examine if the moral identity of consumers plays a decisive role on their purchasing decisions. A study of Aquino and Reed (2010), shows that the moral identity of a person can be connected to specific beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Moral identity can be characterized as a root for social identification that individuals use to shape their self-characterizations. Thus, different persons have different moral values that will impact their decisions of which perspectives of CSR that is practiced by a firm is appropriate from their point of view.
Examination of the impact of the CSR practices on consumer purchasing behavior is essential as CSR is predominant in our days and many managers seek to find whether or not CSR is significant for a company. Research finds controversial relations on the effect of CSR practices on consumer purchase behavior. These researches investigated the intention of consumers to support social responsible corporations without taking into account the distinction between the different perspectives of CSR that are practiced, and which are the incentives of the engagement with these practices. It is important to examine if those two different perspectives of CSR practices would have impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions.
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purchase their products. Big corporations will be aware if there are effects, or not, on their customers’ decisions if these corporations practice CSR activities. Furthermore, research on the moral values of the person investigates the different attitudes of the consumers on their purchasing behavior. Managers and marketers of the big corporations will know if there are significant deviations between the CSR that they practice and the different moral attitudes of their consumers. The above leads to the following research question:
“In what way do different perspectives of CSR practices impact the purchasing behavior of consumers? And how does consumer’s moral identity influence this relationship?”
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II. Literature Review
1. CSR
1.1 CSR timeframe
According to Carroll (1999), references to social responsibility developed in the 1930’s and 40’s from Chester Barnard’s article “The Functions of the Executive” (1938), and J.M. Clark’s article “Social Control of Business” (1939). In the study of Carroll (1999), his definitional review of CSR started with literature that was based on references after the 50’s and 60’s. He then moved on to the 70’s until more recent studies that the academics and business professionals were more into discussing the topic of social responsibility within the corporations. His study can be used as a benchmark for CSR as he separated all the different constructs in decades and he gave a clear image of the concepts that existed in each decade (Carroll, 1999).
In the first years CSR was mentioned as social responsibility (Carroll, 1999). Bowen was the first in 1953 that stressed the attitude that businessmen must have in the society and which decisions should be taken in order to be desirable. Thus, he tried to define social responsibility in terms of the goals and beliefs of the society (Bowen, 1953). In the late 60’s, CSR was defined for the first time by the author Keith Davis who mentioned that businessmen were taking decisions guided by their company, and that the company was the trigger behind these responsible decisions (Davis, 1960; Carroll, 1999). In 1967, Davis posed the question: “What does the businessperson owe society?” and his input for CSR definition was so significant for that period of time that Carroll named him the “Father of CSR designation” (Davis, 1967: 45; Schwartz & Carroll, 2003; Carroll, 1999: 271).
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pyramid model of Carroll (1991), Nalband and Kelabi (2014) created a universal model of CSR. They explained why and how CSR should be an element of corporations and what its application universally is. In Figure 1, the universal model is presented.
Figure 1: Corporate social responsibility-universal model (Nalband & Kelabi, 2014).
In the 1980s, academics deepened their research about CSR and tried to find different concepts such as corporate social responsiveness, public policy, CSP, business ethics, and stakeholder theory/management (Carroll, 1999). Later in the 90’s, researchers combined business and society in order to create a clearer definition of CSR. Besides, academics stated that managers have to apply social responsibility before they make decisions in work and think about the direct effect on their colleagues (intrinsic), but also outside of the firm’s environment (extrinsic) (Carroll, 1999; Muller & Kolk, 2010). During the last decades, more explicit definitions of CSR came forward as CSR became an essential element for corporations.
1.2 CSR definition
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which it supports the society in which it exists with contributions of money, time and talent” (p.608). However, this is only one of the many different definitions since the 50’s as he stated (Carroll, 1999; Visser, 2006). It’s obvious that CSR can take various definitions and all contain different contrasting perceptions and actions.
Mc Williams and Siegel (2001) defined CSR as the actions that appear to add some social good beyond the interests of a firm and which are required by the law. In a common way, in the paper of Murillo and Lozano (2006), CSR is characterized by the respect of a company towards the society, how satisfied are the employees of the firm, the trust and confidence that the company inspires towards its clients, environmental respectfulness, and the quality of the managers that operate within the company.
This paper will continue the research with the most used concepts of the environmental and societal concerns, and the relation with the stakeholders such as the customers. Thus, the definition of Murillo and Lozano (2006) will be used as it gives an overall image of the characteristics that a company needs in order to practice CSR activities. Moreover, their definition is relevant with the current research as it is examining the relationship between the perspectives of CSR activities and the consumer’s purchasing behavior.
1.3 Perspectives of CSR
As discussed previously, when companies are thinking of CSR activities, they should think about the needs of the society and the stakeholders, how the firm’s environment meets the needs of the employees, and the respect for the environment (Murillo & Lozano, 2006). Many MNCs are using CSR activities for different reasons having in their strategy motivational drivers that differ from those of other companies.
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CSR” or “window dressing” that applies similar responsibilities but first benefits the interest of company (Lantos, 2001; Kim et al., 2012).
The above categorization implies that different types of CSR have different impacts on consumers’ evaluation of the company (Kim et al., 2012). In this research, the above mentioned two types of CSR will be examined in order to investigate the influence that they have on consumer’s purchase behavior.
Altruistic CSR
According to Lantos (2002), altruistic CSR is corresponding to Carroll’s (1998) philanthropic responsibilities and contains the good contribution of the firms to various public stakeholders, even if these actions of the firms sacrifice a big part of the corporate profitability. The definition that Lantos (2001) gave of “altruistic CSR” is: “fulfilment of an organization’s philanthropic responsibilities, going beyond preventing possible harm to helping alleviate public welfare deficiencies, regardless of whether or not this will benefit the business itself” (Lantos, 2001; Lantos 2002: 206). The role of corporations that are practicing altruistic CSR is to relieve various social hardships that exist in a community such as poverty, limited educational system, illiteracy, human rights, and unemployment, to name only a few (Lantos, 2002).
The example of Nestlé that was mentioned before shows the money and the effort that the company spent. The main aim of the company was to fulfil the needs of people from poor regions, not to maximize its profits (Payaud, 2014). Companies like Nestlé agree to be good keepers of society’s needs and resources (Lantos, 2002). Altruistic corporate behavior means all these external activities that a company practice for the society or the stakeholders and does not have any kind of relationship with the internal firm’s activities (Graff Zivin & Small, 2005).
Strategic CSR
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2001, Lantos, 2002: 206). By fulfilling the needs of stakeholders and achieving high CSR practices for the society, companies not only do that because it is kind and charitable but because it has direct influence on the firm’s profitability (Wood & Jones, 1995). Vaughn (1999) claimed that expenses on strategic CSR activities are long-term investments that will bring economic gains (Jamali, 2007).
Meyer and Rowan (1977) indicated that managers of MNEs are involved in CSR practices because it is assumed to increase the firm’s legitimacy and improve the corporate profitability, even if these kinds of practices can be seen as “window dressing” (Aguilera et al., 2007). A similar study of Lin (2010) about CSR in China found out that the feeling of using CSR as window dressing does not only exist in Chinese firms, but in companies from developed countries as well. Thus, it can be seen that MNEs from developed countries adopt CSR activities not only to achieve a better reputation and public profile, but also to get more governmental regulations (Wood, 2010). Quester and Thompson (2001) argued that strategic CSR is a type of philanthropy that is close related with the profits incentives (Jamali, 2007).
To sum up, there are some companies that are launching strategic CSR practices at superficial level for strategic purposes in order to achieve not only the social responsibility but also high profits at the same time. On the other hand, there are companies that incorporate altruistic CSR into their core company strategy. These altruistic activities of CSR stem from the main strategy of the organization.
2. Consumer Purchasing Behavior
Taking into account the above mentioned, the consumers are an important element for the companies as they have direct impact on companies’ sales. As many scholars state, consumers have the intention to support social responsible corporations (Lee & Shin, 2010; Pomering & Dolnicar, 2009). This means that CSR activities influence the purchasing behavior of consumers.
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The theory of Sheth et al. (1991) identified five consumption values that impact consumers’ purchasing behavior. The five values are functional, social, emotional, value, epistemic, and conditional, all of which are compatible with the components of models introduced by Maslow (1943, 1954) and Maslow et al. (1970) (Sheth et al., 1991).
The first value, functional, is defined as: “The perceived utility acquired from an alternative’s capacity for functional, utilitarian, or physical performance. An alternative acquires functional value through the possession of salient functional, utilitarian, or physical attributes. Functional value is measured on a profile of choice attributes” (Sheth et al., 1991: 160). For instance, the choice to buy a specific car is based on the fuel economy.
The social value is defined as: “The perceived utility acquired from an alternative’s association with one or more specific social groups. An alternative acquires social value through association with positively or negatively stereotyped demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural- ethnic groups. Social value is measured on a profile of choice imagery” (Sheth et al., 1991: 161). For example, visible products such as clothes, accessories, and jewelries, or services that are shared with others have proved the significance of social values in consumers purchasing choices (Rogers, 1962; Sheth et al 1991).
The third value, emotional, is defined as: “The perceived utility acquired from an alternative’s capacity to arouse feelings or affective states. An alternative acquires emotional value when associated with specific feelings or when precipitating or perpetuating those feelings. Emotional value is measured on a profile of feelings associated with the alternative.” (Sheth et al., 1991: 161). Purchasing products that arouse feelings of your childhood can be identified by your emotional values.
Epistemic value is defined as: “The perceived utility acquired from an alternative’s capacity to arouse curiosity, provide novelty, and/or satisfy a desire for knowledge. An alternative acquires epistemic value by questionnaire items referring to curiosity, novelty, and knowledge.” (Sheth et al., 1991: 162). Consumers are often bored or unsatisfied with some products and they are always willing to try something else by adopting new products, which is a characteristic of epistemic value (Rogers & Shoemaker 1971; Sheth et al., 1991).
present for a baby shower) are identified as a conditional value of consumer’s purchase choice. In Figure 2, the five values of Sheth et al. (1991) that influence consumers’ choices are presented.
Figure 2: The five values influencing consumer choice (Sheth et al., 1991: 160). The decision making can be influenced
Various sectors such as economics, marketing and consumer behavior, and sociology have added relevant theory and research to these values (Sheth et al., 1991). The theory of S
al. (1991) about the consumer choice values have been done in order to make clear the consumer choice behavior and to help professionals, scholars and policy makers to identify what are the incentives of specific choices.
3. CSR and Consumer purchasin
Many academics tried to find a close relation between the company’s CSR activities and their impact on consumers’
company” which is socially responsible will be more attractive to the co
“less good company” which overlooks social obligations will be judged by the consumers (Castaldo et al., 2009).
Except for the five values of Sheth et al. (1991) that influence consumers’ choice and human needs that are mentioned in Masl
frequently impact consumers’ decisions. The modern societies are facing global risks of
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are identified as a conditional value of consumer’s purchase choice. In Figure 2, the five values of Sheth et al. (1991) that influence consumers’ choices
The five values influencing consumer choice (Sheth et al., 1991: 160).
The decision making can be influenced by all five of these consumption values. economics, marketing and consumer behavior, and sociology have added relevant theory and research to these values (Sheth et al., 1991). The theory of S
al. (1991) about the consumer choice values have been done in order to make clear the consumer choice behavior and to help professionals, scholars and policy makers to identify what are the incentives of specific choices.
CSR and Consumer purchasing behavior
Many academics tried to find a close relation between the company’s CSR activities ’ purchasing behavior. Most observers support that a “good company” which is socially responsible will be more attractive to the consumers. Hence, a “less good company” which overlooks social obligations will be judged by the consumers
the five values of Sheth et al. (1991) that influence consumers’ choice and human needs that are mentioned in Maslow’s (1943) pyramid, there are also other drivers that frequently impact consumers’ decisions. The modern societies are facing global risks of are identified as a conditional value of consumer’s purchase choice. In Figure 2, the five values of Sheth et al. (1991) that influence consumers’ choices
The five values influencing consumer choice (Sheth et al., 1991: 160).
these consumption values. economics, marketing and consumer behavior, and sociology have added relevant theory and research to these values (Sheth et al., 1991). The theory of Sheth et al. (1991) about the consumer choice values have been done in order to make clear the consumer choice behavior and to help professionals, scholars and policy makers to identify
Many academics tried to find a close relation between the company’s CSR activities purchasing behavior. Most observers support that a “good nsumers. Hence, a “less good company” which overlooks social obligations will be judged by the consumers
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sustainable production and fair trade (Beck, 1989; Strong, 1997). This is why consumers are increasingly involved in issues relating to equitable trading relationships the past decades (Vaughan, 1993; Strong, 1997). Companies are trying to adopt ethical marketing activities knowing that they will affect consumers’ purchasing behavior (Carrigan & Attalla, 2001). Based on Pomering and Dolnicar (2009), consumers who purchase products from responsible businesses will choose the companies that have higher social responsibility.
Dutton and Dukerich (1991) supported that the influence of social problems made by an organization will impact not only the image of the firm itself, but also the profile of the management team. Thus, enterprises and especially MNEs are trying to develop CSR activities in a way to make their image more attractive for consumers, and especially those of high-quality behavior and values for the society (Greening & Turban, 2000). The latter assumed that being an “ethical” company could be more attractive for consumers and could be seen as an asset for companies, while “unethical” companies would have results the other way around. Carrigan and Attalla (2001) examined that some companies could lose their businesses regardless their effort for CSR investments. Bhattacharya and Sen (2004) found a moderate positive correlation between the reputation of a firm and consumers’ behavioral intentions. An older research of Creyer (1997) found that consumers are willing to pay less money to firms that operate unethically in contrast to the price of a similar product made by a firm that operates in a more ethical way. A more recent research of Simmons and Becker-Olsen (2004) suggests that consumers are blaming corporations that are perceived as disingenuous in their social responsibilities (Becker-Olsen et al., 2006). The paper claims that consumers are becoming more responsible for their purchasing behavior and thus, they are taking into consideration the CSR practices of companies when purchasing products or services.
The above mentioned studies highlight those firms with positive CSR activities that have a higher impact on consumers’ evaluation criteria. A research conducted by Aguilera et al. (2007) states that consumers have influential motives for enforcing firms to engage with active CSR. The study of Carrigan and Attalla (2001) found evidence that consumers care about social issues and ethical concerns. People have more trust in companies that are practicing business in an ethical way and therefore these people consume more products from these companies (Castaldo et al., 2009).
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strategic CSR. As consumers are becoming more engaged with CSR activities, their purchasing behavior will be influenced by companies that are practicing these responsible activities that stem from the strategy of those companies. In contrast, companies that practice CSR activities out of the company’s strategy can be viewed as less credible by consumers. More specific, altruistic CSR is rooted in the core strategy of the company and as it is more likely that consumers will find this type of CSR more reliable, they will be willing to reward this company by purchasing more products or services from this altruistic corporation. On the other side, strategic CSR is not completely rooted in an organization and not part of its strategy. This means that consumers knowing this strategy of this organization will be less willing to purchase their products or services from this specific company. According to Lii and Lee (2012) consumers can distinguish the perspectives of CSR that a company practices from the reputation of the company and from the fact that these companies do not have direct benefits from the practices of their CSR activities. Thus, the following hypothesis is formulated:
Hypothesis 1: Consumer purchasing behavior will be higher for a corporation when the type of CSR of that same corporation is altruistic instead of strategic.
4. Moral Identity
Despite the fact that different perspectives of CSR will have different impacts on consumers' purchasing behavior, this is not necessarily relevant for all individuals. The moral identity that characterizes each individual person can be a significant factor in examining the personal impact of CSR on consumers' purchase behavior. People's personality traits are unique and differ from person to person. Thus, not all people will have the same behavior or the same traits of character as do others. The sense of a person of who he or she is, relates to his or her actions (Aquino & Reed, 2002). Individuals all have their own understanding and sense of ethics, and they seek for those activities that relate to their ethics. Based on these personality and ethic traits, every person will formulate his or her own purchasing behaviors in line with these.
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and Hart et al. (1998) described the moral identity as “one kind of self-regulatory mechanism that motivates moral actions” (Aquino & Reed, 2002: 1423). Moreover, Aquino and Reed (2002) proposed that as people embrace other social identities, moral identity can also be a root for social identification that individuals use to shape their self-characterizations. Like other identities, the moral identity of an individual can be related to some attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors (Cheryan & Bodenhausen, 2000; Shih et al., 1999; Aquino & Reed, 2002).
Blasi (1984) argued that while a person can be compassionate as an element of its moral identity, another person may emphasize by being fair and just. Aquino and Reed (2002) argued that people with a strong moral identity are more likely to engage in mature decision making when they face ethical issues. On the other hand, people with less moral identity can be fulfilled with simple decision making (Aquino & Reed, 2002). Consequently, consumers with strong moral identity might take the CSR activities of companies more serious. More specific, the personal characteristics of these consumers with strong moral identity fit better with the altruistic CSR of corporations and therefore higher the chances to consume products or services from these corporations.
Hence, given the fact that the consumer’s purchasing behavior will be higher for a corporation that practices from an altruistic perspective, it is claimed that this effect will be influenced from the moral identity of the consumer. People with a strong moral identity about ethical problems will take into account societal issues and thus, it is expected that these people will embrace the CSR activities of a company when they purchase their products. More specific, high moral identifiers are more sensitive to actions of morality (Aquino & Reed, 2002). Hence, it is expected that when those consumers know that a MNC engages in CSR practices then they will make a more thoughtful decision to buy products from that organization because it is involved in something, such as CSR practices, that the individual values and wants to be identified with (Creyer, 1997; Aquino & Reed, 2002). Thus, this leads to the following hypothesis:
According to the literature mentioned above and the hypotheses, the that is proposed is shown in Figure 3.
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According to the literature mentioned above and the hypotheses, the conceptual model that is proposed is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Conceptual Model
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III. Methodology
1. General Information about Participants and Design
In order to collect the needed data, a scenario analysis was developed. Two different scenarios were constructed and carried out in an online survey. The online survey was developed with the use of Qualtrics software.
The survey was anonymous and the link of the questionnaire had been posted in several platforms of social media such as “Facebook” and “What’s App” groups. The participants had the option to leave the survey any time they wished. The design of the scenario was a 2 (CSR: strategic vs. altruistic) model and was entirely formulated in English. These two different scenarios were distributed randomly to the participants with the use of randomizer tool of Qualtrics.
The altruistic scenario displayed CSR activities that were rooted in the entire company and appeared 56 times. The strategic scenario presented CSR activities that were part of the company but not completely rooted in the entire organization and was presented to 44 participants. Finally, the survey was started by 130 people in total, of whom 100 completed the survey and finished it successfully. More specific, 33 male respondents (33%), 65 female respondents (65%) and 2 of the participants (2%) preferred not state their gender. The average age of the participants was 24 years old (SD= 5.17) with the youngest respondent being 18 years old and the eldest one 49 years old. The participants were coming from 18 different countries.
2. Procedure
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These scenarios can be found in the Appendix part B. In both of the scenarios the participants first read a brief introduction about “Shine & Clean”, a multinational company that produces cleaning products. Cleaning products were selected as product since all the consumers expected to purchase cleaning products on a weekly base. The participants were told that for their purchases there was a significant variety of brands and products available on the shelves in the supermarket. Furthermore, the participants were told that they read about Shine & Clean in an article of a newspaper a few days ago. Then the scenario introduced a manipulation story about the two perspectives of CSR; the altruistic and strategic one.
The altruistic CSR scenario introduced to the participants that Shine & Clean places great importance on sustainability; one factor of the main successes of the company is their CSR program. Then the participants read about company’s strategy, which was to keep the balance between profit and people’s needs, as well as between production and a sustainable environment. Some more examples of the company’s working environment followed including: taking care for the environment by using renewable resources and ecological materials in their cleaning products; the company claims that these products do not damage the environment when absorbed into the ground. Beyond the mentioned above, the participants were informed that Shine & Clean developed a plan to provide vaccines to children in need in Ethiopia, for every cleaning product a customer purchases, one child is provided with a vaccine. Just before the end of the strategic CSR scenario the following sentence was mentioned: “The corporate social responsibility activities are rooted in the entire company and are a main part of the strategy of Shine & Clean”.
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After the participants read the scenario they were asked to specify their willingness to purchase cleaning products from Shine & Clean, taking into account the information they read in the scenario. By this, the dependent variable –consumer purchasing behavior – was tested. Then, questions about the manipulation check of the scenario followed. Lastly, the participants had to answer demographic questions about their age, gender, and nationality. The survey ended with a thankful message to the participants.
3. Measurements and Manipulations
1) The independent variable: perspectives of CSR
The perspectives of CSR were distinguished in two different scenarios and were randomly distributed to the participants. The answers of the participants with the altruistic CSR scenario were coded with 1, while those with the strategic CSR scenario were coded with 0. Those answers created the independent variable.
2) The dependent variable: consumer purchasing behavior
The first question of the survey measured the dependent variable. The question was: “Imagine that you need to buy cleaning products for your household and you are in front of a shelf of a super market ready to decide. Between other brands, you also see series of product from the MNC “Shine & Clean”, the brand that you just read about. How likely is it that you will purchase products from “Shine & Clean”, taking into account the information you read in the newspaper about this company?” The participants had the option to answer in this question on a six-point Likert scale ranging from: 1 for “I will definitely not purchase products from this company” to 6 for “I will definitely purchase products from this company”.
3) The moderator: Moral Identity
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like, they had to answer five questions that were in a table (see Appendix B – Question 3). The participants had the option to answer these questions on a five-point Likert scale ranging from: 1, “Strongly disagree” to 5, “Strongly agree”.
4) Manipulation check perspectives of CSR
The manipulation check was carried out by asking the participants one question regarding the scenario which they just had read. It was the following question: “In the scenario you just read, it became clear that the corporate social responsibility activities are rooted in the entire company and is main part of the strategy of the MNC - “Shine & Clean”. ”This question measured if the participants were aware of the company’s strategy in the altruistic and strategic scenarios respectively. The participants were asked to answer on a 5- point Likert scale from 1, “Strongly disagree” to 5, “Strongly agree”.
4. Data Analysis and Results
Manipulation Check:The manipulation check was analyzed using a one way ANOVA analysis for the altruistic and strategic scenarios. The results of the one-way ANOVA analysis are shown in Table 1 which presents the means and standard deviations, and in Table 2 which presents the results of the one-way analysis of variance. The manipulation check was tested with the question: “In the scenario you just read, it became clear that the corporate social responsibility activities are rooted in the entire company and is main part of the strategy of the MNC - “Shine & Clean””. It was created to examine whether the participants were able to distinguish the condition of altruistic and strategic CSR. The manipulation was significant (F (1.99) = 15.99, p<0.01). The participants in the altruistic CSR scenario thought slightly stronger that Shine & Clean’s CSR activities were rooted in the entire company and were a main part of the company’s strategy (M= 3.80, SD= 0.79) compared to participants from the strategic CSR scenario (M= 3.07, SD= 1.04, p<0.01).
24 Hypotheses Testing
In order to test the hypothesis 1: “Consumer purchasing behavior will be higher for a corporation when the type of CSR of that same corporation is altruistic instead of strategic”, a one-way ANOVA analysis was conducted as statistical method. In Table 3, the correlation, the mean, and the SD of the different scenarios on consumer purchasing behavior are given.
The results are shown in Table 4. The one-way ANOVA analysis did not indicate a strong effect of the type of CSR on the dependent variable – consumer purchasing behavior (F (1.99) = 1.98, p=0.16 >0.01)-. Thus, altruistic organizations do not generate more consumer purchasing behavior (M= 4.16, SD= 0.93) than strategic organizations (M= 3.91, SD= 0.83). The claim that the type of CSR has an influence on consumer purchasing behavior was not supported. Therefore, hypothesis 1 cannot be accepted.
--- Insert Table 3 & 4 about here ---
In order to test the hypothesis 2: “Consumer purchasing behavior will be higher for a corporation when the type of CSR of that same corporation is altruistic instead of strategic and this relationship is moderated by the moral identity so that the effect is more pronounced for consumers with a strong moral identity instead of those with a weak one”, a moderated regression analysis was conducted. In table 5, the coefficients for the type of CSR, the moral identity, and the consumer purchasing behavior are given. The table shows the interaction effect within the type of CSR and the moral identity.
There was not a significant interaction between the type of CSR and moral identity on consumer purchasing behavior, = .80, p=0.35 > 0.001. This means that the moral identity of a person will not impact the relation between type of CSR and consumer purchasing behavior. Therefore, no statistical support for hypothesis 2 was found. Nevertheless, table 5 shows that there is a significant direct effect of moral identity on consumer purchasing behavior, =0.31, p<0.01. The higher one’s moral identity, the more likely one is to purchase the product.
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IV. Discussion, Implications, and Future Direction
This paper aims to answer the following research question: “In what way do different perspectives of CSR practices impact the purchasing behavior of consumers? And how does consumer’s moral identity influence this relationship?” It was assumed that consumers’ purchasing behavior will be higher for a corporation when the type of CSR of that same corporation is altruistic instead of strategic. Moreover, this relationship was predicted to be higher for consumers with strong moral identity as opposed to those with a weak moral identity. In order to test the hypotheses, the quantitative analysis was conducted using a one-way ANOVA and a moderated regression analysis. The different perspectives of CSR did not predict the consumers’ purchasing behavior. Hence, this study did not find enough evidence to accept hypothesis 1. Furthermore, the influence of consumers’ moral identity on the relationship between the perspectives of CSR and consumer’s purchasing behavior was not found to be significant. Therefore, the second hypothesis can also not be accepted. The remaining part of this research will discuss the theoretical implications and practical implications while strengths, limitations, and suggestions for future research will be added in the end.
1. Theoretical Implications
26
What has not been examined before was the impact of consumers’ moral identity on their purchasing behavior. From the results it was found that the higher one’s moral identity, the more likely one is to purchase the product from a company that practices CSR activities. Thus, one could argue that companies that are practicing altruistic CSR could have the same attention from consumers with those companies that are practicing strategic CSR. This indicates that people with high moral identity would purchase from a company that practices CSR regardless the perspective of the CSR that the company practices, but only if it is engaged in CSR actions.
2. Practical Implications
Except from the theoretical implications, this research provides several practical implications. The consumers are an important factor for the CSR. On the question whether the respondents consider CSR as an important feature for a company, the majority of the respondents answered that they agree. Although the results of this study do not show significant evidence when consumers take the CSR – either strategic or altruistic – as purchasing criterion, respondents’ agreement on the importance of CSR as a feature of companies indicates that companies need to take into account that customers are considering the practiced CSR of a company when they purchase products. Thus, corporations need to become more active when they are thinking about CSR and if they want their CSR activities to have greater results in the society.
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Another factor companies must take into account when they practice CSR activities are the non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Arenas et al. (2009) confirmed that stakeholders like NGOs are significant players for CSR. Consumers, but also other stakeholders trust NGOs such as Greenpeace, and pay attention to the issues that they publish for various subjects such as the environment or child abuse. When an NGO publishes an issue that has a negative effect on the image of a company, then most of the consumers will be affected by that news when they purchase their products or services. Therefore, companies should keep high reputation and should be involved in social responsibility activities, which in turn ensures their positive status. Jamali and Keshishian (2009) claimed that NGOs have been more active in the last years and are collaborating with businesses that practice CSR in order to achieve common goals. This is a good public image for a corporation to show its CSR practices that are aligned and supported by NGOs.
3. Strengths, Limitations and Future Research
The strength of this research relies on the fact that the participants of this study were coming from 18 different nationalities. Moreover, the average age of the participants was 24 (SD= 5.17) with the youngest respondent being 18 years old and the eldest one 49 years old. Thus, the results can be more reliable as people from a broad range of age groups took part in the research. The variety of nationalities and age within the sample provides more generalized and reliable results.
As in all the studies, this study suffers also from some limitations that should be taken into account. Firstly, a limitation could be in the questionnaire itself. In the demographical questions it only asked for the age, nationality and gender, leaving out of the research the professional status of the respondent. From the professional field it could have been predicted why some answers of some participants could be considered as biased. More specific, people of young age and especially people without academic educational background could be considered inadequate to take part in this research. This is because the scenarios of the research and the questionnaire contain advanced terminology that uneducated people, and especially those who do not have a background in economics, could easily misunderstand or misinterpret.
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households, it is worthwhile to see what the effect could be for different products or even more services. A future research could examine if the perspectives of CSR activities have different impacts on different products and what would be the impact for services. As consumers have different ways of thinking when they purchase material goods and when they purchase immaterial goods, their behavior could be different for services and different for products. In services they could feel less need to spend some more money for companies that are practicing CSR instead of spending money on companies that do not practice CSR, or either they may not care about which perspectives of CSR the companies practice. Thus, it would be interesting for academics and professionals to conduct some research and examine if these aspects have different results on the consumers’ purchasing behavior.
Thirdly, as in many researches, the English language could be a significant factor of biased answers, which could also be seen as a limitation to the current study. Respondents that take part in this research through surveys are expected to have a high level of English skills in order to understand and apply what is needed to be answered. Part of the participants of the current research were native speakers or even had advanced knowledge of the English language, while other participants had limited English knowledge and their responses could bias the results.
A fourth limitation of this study could be the fact that there was only used one question to measure the independent variable about the perspectives of CSR and accordingly one question for the dependent variable about consumer purchasing behavior. This could limit the result of the current research as there were not more questions to be answered and have more reliable and precise answers. Future research could use more questions to measure the independent and dependent variable by asking respondents to write down the reasons that could affect their purchasing behavior as consumers.
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Another issue that could be researched in future study is to give some background of knowledge to the participants before they take the survey. A link with the survey that will be distributed to the participants could have a text that provides some knowledge about the role of CSR in corporations but also the different perspectives of it. Then, the participants will be only able to take the survey after one week in order to have enough time in the between to think about the concepts. The participants will be able to read once the text that giving knowledge about CSR and their answers will be tested in order to keep out respondents that did not pay attention in the given text. Having one week time distance from the day they read the text until the time they reply will give less biased results and more concise responses, as most of the respondents will have already some knowledge of what the research is about and they will have already some knowledge for the concepts.
4. Conclusion
The CSR activities that a company should practice and their impact on consumers’ purchasing behavior have already had a lot of publicity. The goal of this research is to examine a clearer perception in the relationship within CSR and consumer purchasing behavior, by studying if the perspectives of CSR (altruistic and strategic) have a different effect on consumer purchasing behavior. Moreover, this study argued that the moral identity of a person would influence this relationship.
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APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: TablesTable 1: Descriptive Statistics for manipulation check different scenarios Manipulation check question M SD N Altruistic CSR 3.80 0.79 56 Strategic CSR 3.07 1.04 44 Total 3.48 0.97 100
Table 2: One-way ANOVA analysis of Variance manipulation question
Source df MS F Sig.
Between groups 1 13.32 15.99 0.00
Within groups 98 0.83
Total 99
Significance if *p<0.05
Table 3: Descriptive Statistics for different scenarios on consumer purchasing behavior
Scenarios M SD N
Altruistic CSR 4.16 0.93 56
Strategic CSR 3.91 0.83 44
Total 4.05 0.89 100
Table 4: One-way analysis of variance
Source df MS F Sig.
Between groups 1 1.56 1.98 0.16
Within groups 98 0.78
Total 99
37 Table 5: Moderation
Model 1 Model2
Step and variables SE SE
Intercept 4.05** (0.10) 4.04** (0.10) Main effects
Type of CSR 0.10 (0.10) 0.11 (0.10)
Moral Identity 0.31** (0.10) 0.30** (0.10) Two-way interaction
Type of CSR x Moral Identity 0.80 (0.10)
R Square 0.14 0.15
Δ R Square 0.14* 0.01
38 APPENDIX B: Scenarios
Dear participant,
In a few minutes you will take part in a research for my Master Thesis. My research is about “customers and organizations”.
The whole process will take about 5 minutes. First you will have to read a scenario. Secondly, you’re asked to reply to the questions.
Please read carefully the scenario and reply honestly to all the questions without any fear or hesitation as the research is completely anonymous. There are no right or wrong answers so please answer what is more representative and true with you without thinking too much if you answer correct. Just be yourself and please answer all the questions.
Thank you in advance for taking part in this research.
Kind regards,
39 Scenario 1: Altruistic CSR
Imagine you are considering to purchase several cleaning products for your household. There is a significant variety of brands and products available on the shelves in the supermarket. A few days ago, you read an article in the newspaper about ''Shine & Clean'', a multinational company that produces cleaning products.
The article stresses that Shine & Clean places great importance on sustainability; one factor of the main successes of the company is their corporate social responsibility program. The company’s strategy is to keep the balance between profit and people’s needs, as well as between production and a sustainable environment. Additionally, Shine & Clean is taking care for the environment by using renewable resources and ecological materials in their cleaning products; the company claims that these products do not damage the environment when absorbed into the ground. Moreover, as part of their corporate social responsibility program, Shine & Clean developed a plan to provide vaccines to children in need in Ethiopia, for every cleaning product a customer purchases, one child is provided with a vaccine.
Someone could claim that the corporate social responsibility activities are rooted in the entire company and is main part of the strategy of Shine & Clean.
Scenario 2: Strategic CSR
Imagine you are considering to purchase several cleaning products for your household. There is a significant variety of brands and products available on the shelves in the supermarket. A few days ago, you read an article in the newspaper about ''Shine & Clean'', a multinational company that produces cleaning products.
The article stresses that Shine & Clean places great importance on shareholder value; one factor of the main success of the company is the efficiency or cost reduction strategies which leads to profit maximization. The company’s strategy is to engage in social caring activities in order to reach the company's pre-set goals and meet the expectations of the shareholders. Additionally, Shine & Clean is taking part in environmental activities with main aim to ensure a better reputation and public profile of its actions. Moreover, as part of their corporate social responsibility program, Shine & Clean collaborates with NGOs in order to establish a valuable public image as a firm, as well as to stimulate profit maximization.
40 Questions
1. Imagine that you need to buy cleaning products for your household and you are in front of a shelf of a super market ready to decide. Between other brands, you also see series of product from the MNC “Shine & Clean”, the brand that you just read about. How likely is it that you will purchase products from “Shine & Clean”, taking into account the information you read in the newspaper about this company?
1. I will definitely not purchase products from this company 2. I will not purchase products from this company
3. I will probably not purchase products from this company 4. I will probably purchase products from this company 5. I will purchase products from this company
6. I will definitely purchase products from this company
2. In the scenario you just read, it became clear that the corporate social responsibility activities are rooted in the entire company and is main part of the strategy of the MNC - “Shine & Clean”:
1. Strongly disagree 2. Disagree
3. Neither disagree or agree 4. Agree
5. Strongly agree
3. Listed below are some characteristics that may describe you. For a moment, visualize in your mind the kind of person who has these characteristics and imagine how that person would think, feel, and act. When you have a clear image of what this person would be like, answer the following questions.
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4. If you knew that the MNC “Shine & Clean” would increase the price by 10% in the products that you consume in order to enhance its CSR activities more actively, would you be still willing to buy the products from the same company or you would choose the same products from different company in lower prices?
1. I would definitely not purchase from “Shine & Clean” 2. I would not purchase from “Shine & Clean”
3. I would probably not purchase from “Shine & Clean” 4. I would probably purchase from “Shine & Clean” 5. I would purchase from “Shine & Clean”
6. I would definitely purchase from “Shine & Clean”
5. Corporate social responsibility involves the conduct of a business so that it is economically profitable, law abiding, ethical and socially supportive. So, I consider corporate social responsibility as an important feature for a company.
1. Strongly disagree 2. Disagree
3. Neither disagree or agree 4. Agree
5. Strongly agree
6. What is your age? ……….
Items Strongly
disagree Disagree Neutral Agree
Strongly Agree It would make me feel good to be a
person who has these characteristics.
Being someone who has these characteristics is an important part of
who I am.
I would be ashamed to be a person who has these characteristics. Having these characteristics is not really important to me.
42 7. What is your gender?
a) Male b) Female
c) Prefer not to answer
8. What is your nationality? ………..
