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Executive Summary
A survey of 240 people examined consumer attitudes towards corporate philanthropy with the intention of finding a correlation between consumer choice and corporate philanthropy. As a comparison of substitutes, Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola were used. The effect that demographics had on consumer attitudes and the relationship between ‘strategic philanthropy’ and consumer demand were also investigated. In addition to this, the extent to which consumers place price above CSR attributes and how these attributes affected brand loyalty between substitutes was also measured.经过240人的调查研究消费者对企业慈善与寻找消费者的选择和企业慈善事业之间的态度有相关性的联系。用其他替代品比较，可口可乐和百事可乐的情况来分析下，该人口统计数据对消费者的态度和“战略性慈善事业'和消费需求之间的关系的影响进行了研究。除了这个以外，得到的结果是消费者所在的地方价格高于企业社会责任属性，以及这些属性影响到的替代品之间的品牌的忠诚度的程度也进行了测定和研究。
The results of this study show a relationship between ‘strategic philanthropy’ and consumer demand,with 80% of consumers paying close attention to CSR initiatives when deciding on whether or not to purchase Coca-Cola or Pepsi Cola. Furthermore, 64% of consumers were willing to pay more than 0% extra for either Coca-Cola or Pepsi Cola given that they contribute to a cause that they feel strongly about. A relationship was found between demographics and propensity to switch preferences when comparing positive and negative CSR reputations on firms, with 66.7% of postgraduate participants willing to switch while more than 71% among A-level participants not willing to switch. Finally, once adjusted to account educational level it was found that demand for CSR attributes transcends brand loyalty between substitutes.这项研究的结果表明， “战略慈善”和消费者的需求中有80 ％的消费者对是否购买可口可乐或百事可乐作出决定时，密切关注企业社会责任的举措之间的关系。此外， 64 ％的消费者愿意支付超过10％额外费用，无论是可口可乐还是百事可乐因。他们要为一个事业作出更大贡献使自己感到强烈的影响。关系是人口和倾向之间存在对公司比较正面和负面的社会责任声誉何时切换的喜好，具有研究生愿意参加A级参与者不愿意在B之间切换，而切换到超过71 ％的66.7％。最后，一旦调整，以考虑教育水平发现，对企业社会责任的需求属性超越了替代品之间的品牌忠诚度。
1. Introduction
Research has shown that consumers increasingly expect corporations to contribute towards the welfare of society and indeed, increasing awareness of socially responsible initiatives has been shown to have a positive impact on consumer attitudes; 46% of consumers stated that they would switch brands to a socially responsible company (Smith and Alcorn, 1991). In today’s society corporations have been shown to embrace social initiatives but the extent to which consumers are persuaded by such initiatives remains relatively unexplored. Past research has used a variety of different definitions for ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’(CSR) which has led to disparity in results. This study will explore consumer attitudes towards CSR initiatives and the extent to which such initiatives influence purchasing behaviour between substitutes. In particular, this study will investigate the impacts that strategic philanthropy, brand loyalty and demographics have on consumer demand.
2. Literature Review
a. Corporate Social Responsibility and Consumers
Historically it had been argued that businesses ultimately produce the greatest social good in their pursuit of profit through the invisible hand of the market (Adam Smith, 1863). It has since been suggested that conditions hindering the invisible hand are evident throughout modern markets; imperfect competition along with a lack of consumer information are just some of the factors limiting socially responsible behaviour (Mohr et al, 2001).
Defining Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not straightforward; descriptions range from ‘corporate philanthropy’ to ‘a synonym for business ethics’ (McWilliams et al, 2006).
Henceforth the concept of CSR will refer to Porter and Kramer‘s (2002) definition of‘corporate philanthropy’ as any kind of charitable activity that has a definable theme, objective or approach with a connection (however vague or tenuous) to a firm’s business. Indeed, a socially responsible consumer has been defined as “a consumer who takes into account the public consequences of his or her private consumption or who attempts to use his or her purchasing power to bring about social change” (Webster, 1975 p.188).
Research studies have shown increasing consumer expectations regarding corporate behaviour; consumers now expect businesses to go beyond profit seeking motives and contribute to society’s welfare (Dawkins, 2003, Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001). It has been proposed that socially responsible initiatives contribute towards building brand equity(Hoeffler and Keller, 2002). In addition to this, employing CSR-focused marketing can be viewed as a market differentiating strategy (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001) that can lead to increased customer loyalty and ‘trust’ along with significant post-purchase benefits(Bhattacharya and Sen, 2004).
Corporate Social Responsibility: Consumer Attitudes towards Corporate Philanthropy Richard Woolley Dissertation
Demand from socially responsible consumers may increase in line with increasing promotion of a firm’s socially responsible activities; research by Sen and Bhattacharya (2001) suggests that consumers sensitive to the particular cause supported by a corporation (such as environmentalism) are more likely to react positively towards that corporation.
Notably, “most consumers do not understand the ethical dimensions of the products that they purchase” (Auger et al, 2003, p. 299) but experimental studies have shown that once consumers acknowledge a firm’s socially responsible initiatives their evaluation of that firm(and its products) increases (Brown and Dacin, 1997). Furthermore, it has been established that certain demographics are “increasingly likely to make consumption choices based on social grounds” (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001, p 121). A national telephone study by Smith and Alcorn (1991) found that 46% of respondents were likely to switch brands to a company that donates to non-profit organizations and 30% sometimes buy products based on the charitable causes that the manufacturer supports.
Porter and Kramer (2002) believe that strategic philanthropy1 at its most sophisticated can be responsible for enhancing the reputation of a company by linking the admirable qualities of the supported cause to its corporate identity. Moreover, it is believed that concentrating charitable donations and funding on a popular cause through a ‘deliberate selection process’may have a greater impact than generalised CSR (Porter and Kramer, 2002).
The 1999 Cone/Roper Cause Related Trends Report examined the impact of strategic philanthropy each year since 1993 and found that over 80% of those surveyed had a more positive image of a firm given that it supported a cause that they cared about. In addition to this, the report went on to state that given that two goods are perfect substitutes (parity in goods provided by socially responsible corporations. Studies conducted at
Marymount University (1999) reported that 75 percent of consumers would avoid shopping at a store if it was known that their goods were produced under poor social conditions.
Furthermore, it was found that the same consumers would be willing to pay $1 more for a$20 item given that the item was produced under ‘good conditions’. These studies show that consumers are willing to pay more for goods produced in a socially responsible manner. Indeed, the University of Maryland (2000) found that approximately 75 percent of consumers would pay an additional $5 at least on a $20 item if it was known that the item was not manufactured in a sweatshop. A survey conducted by Creyer and Ross (1997) measured the attitudes of the parents of elementary school children towards ethical and unethical business behaviour. It was found that respondents expected companies to conduct business in an ethical manner and importantly, respondents stated that they would pay higher prices forproducts from an ethical company.
It has been suggested that income has a significant impact on demand for products from firmswith a good reputation for CSR; low-income shoppers are seen to be more price sensitivethan affluent shoppers. This means that affluent consumers are more willing (and able) to pay
a higher price for said products (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001).
b. Previous Research
As previously mentioned, defining CSR is no easy task and the definition of CSR varies fromstudy to study. This lack of consistency has been recognized as ‘hampering our ability tounderstand the implications of CSR activity’ (McWilliams et al, 2006, p 8).#p#分页标题#e#
According to Mohr et al (2001), the majority of research regarding consumer response to
CSR fails to take into account the problem of consumer awareness. Indeed, past studies havebeen criticised for assuming awareness, or creating awareness through use of examplesbefore measuring consumer response. Consumer attitudes towards CSR initiatives can onlybe measured once consumers are made aware of such initiatives (Maignan and Ferrell, 2001).
Furthermore, it has been suggested that informed consumers are more likely to be in favourof socially responsible firms as information can be described as one of the central inputs ofrational choice (Schuler and Cording, 2006). Indeed, it has been proposed that “increasinglevels of information can lead to increasingly efficient consumer perceptions of productquality and purchasing preferences” (Dolnicar S & Pomering A, 2007, p 3).It has been argued that methods of measuring consumer attitudes do not incorporate a tradeoffdecision between ethical features and traditional features of products. Furthermore, suchsurveys do not attempt to establish the extent to which consumers would sacrifice for thesetrade-offs (Auger et al, 2003).
A potential difficulty when researching consumer attitudes towards CSR would be consumeraversion; a study by Schultz and Morsing (2003) reported that in some case consumersactually felt that incorporating CSR initiatives into marketing communication was distasteful.Indeed, firms that advertise their social philanthropy have been described as shamelesslyexploitative yet simultaneously a great contribution towards society (Drumwright, 1997).
From the explored literature it can be said that there is limited research into the subject ofconsumer preference regarding substitutes and corporate philanthropy. It has been establishedthat the efficient measurement of consumer attitudes towards corporate philanthropy requiresthat the respondents are made aware of such social initiatives prior to being questioned. Thecentral intention of this study is to therefore gain a greater understanding of consumerattitudes towards CSR initiatives by using the case of two substitutes.
The objectives of the study are as follows;
- To measure the extent to which brand loyal consumers are affected by CSR initiativesbetween two substitutes.
- To determine consumer attitudes towards firms that employ CSR initiatives and theextent to which demographics affect this.
- To identify the extent to which consumers place price above CSR attributes whendeciding whether to purchase or not.
- To examine the relationship between ‘strategic philanthropy’ in the form of causerelatedmarketing and consumer demand.
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