DOES CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) STILL PAY OFF? INFLUENCES OF THREE CUSTOMERS' PERCEIVED CSR DIMENSINOS ON BEHAVIORAL INTENTION.

• Author: Jeon, Sua

INTRODUCTION

As competition across brands appears to be much more intense than ever before, firms use every means available to survive and compete in the intensive global marketplace. Given the considerable research on the various forms of relationships between brands and consumers, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has gained more interest over the past four decades (Puriwat & Tripopsakul, 2021). Many firms have strategically carried out CSR initiatives to enhance their corporate reputation and boost sales revenues. As such, CSR has been realized as one of the most vital strategic commitments to strengthen brand image, and it eventually leads to increased consumers' purchase intentions (Lee & Lee, 2018). Park, Lee, and Kim (2014) also suggested that companies invest more significant resources into CSR initiatives as an essential component of a company's marketing strategy.

Carroll (1991, p. 43) emphasized the benefits of CSR, stating, "there is a natural fit between the idea of CSR and an organization's stakeholders." Among the various stakeholder groups, consumers have emerged as significant stakeholders for the company's CSR initiatives (Jeon et al., 2020). However, CSR is defined based on managers' perceptions of a socially responsible company (Ahn & Jeon, 2019). The focus of prior research was the link between CSR and company performance. Thus, investigating how consumers perceive and respond to a company's CSR initiatives is essential for researchers and practitioners to gain competitive advantages among competitors (Jeon et al., 2020).

Although many firms integrate CSR practices into their business strategies, the effectiveness and efficiency of using the combination of CSR initiatives in today's marketplaces are in question. First, the concept of CSR is challenging to define due to its broad, hierarchical, and multidisciplinary nature. Thus, there is no consensus on what CSR means in theory and practice (Yeo et al., 2018). Secondly, many consumers are becoming skeptical about CSR communication and doubt firms' authenticity on CSR initiatives. In addition, today's consumers are socially aware and more active on socio-political issues, in turn, place demand on the firms to be accountable for their responsibility in society (Manfredi-Sanchez, 2019).

Consequently, it is in the interest of firms to support what consumers are committed to to build a strong relationship through a positive brand reputation. In recent years, with the increase in criticism of CSR, corporate activism has been on the rise with increasing popularity in CSR investigation (Carroll & Brown, 2018). Corporate activism is defined as a company's willingness to take a stand on social, political, economic, and environmental issues to create societal change by influencing the attitudes and behaviors of actors in its institutional environment (Eilert & Cherup, 2020, p. 461). From this point, several research questions are raised: Do firms' CSR practices play a significant role in consumers' perception and decision making? How much do consumers care about the CSR initiatives addressed by firms? In addition, each firm may have different forms of CSR. Then what practices are effective for consumers' perceptions of a company and its CSR?

Although CSR-related constructs have been widely researched over the past four decades (Yeo et al., 2018), empirical studies attempted to compare different CSR initiatives are limited (Chen et al., 2018). Thus, the current research examines the relationship between CSR activities and consumers' behavioral intentions. More specifically, the objectives of this study are: (1) to identify the types of CSR initiatives affecting consumers' brand preference and behavioral intention, (2) to investigate the hypothesized relationships between the types of CSR initiatives, brand preference, and behavioral intention. Drawing upon the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), the proposed model suggests that several types of CSR would have different impacts on consumers' attitudes toward the brand and behavioral intention. This study benefits both marketing practitioners and academics by examining the model of CSR, which encompasses three different dimensions (i.e., corporate philanthropy, environmental initiative, and corporate activism - social justice) and the relationship with consumers.

Given the significant growth and importance of corporate branding, comprehending the impact of CSR on consumers' behavior can empower marketing practitioners and researchers. It enhances the understanding of unique and distinctive consumer behavior and devises effective marketing strategies, including relevant communication and specific marketing direction.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Over the decades, dozens of different definitions and conceptualizations of CSR have been proposed and set forth (Carroll & Brown, 2018, p. 46). According to Chandler (2019), measurement of CSR can be challenging because different firms have developed various strategies to measure CSR initiatives. Many scholars have proposed CSR as a multi-dimensional concept encompassing diverse types of directions for business firms. One of the most widely accepted multi-dimensional models of CSR is Carroll's model. Carroll (1979, 1991) set out the first classifications of CSR in terms of economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary (philanthropic) expectations and asserted that firms are obligated to make money, abide by laws, expected to behave ethically, and aspire to give to charitable causes (Burns, 2019). Further, Crowther and Aras (2008) have defined CSR as the business procedures and practices, including the beneficial initiatives for society encompassing an extensive range of tactics and strategies like giving charity, incorporating ethical practices, and considering environmental efforts.

Numerous studies confirmed that CSR activities are positively associated with consumers' responses, such as behavioral intentions (Aro et al., 2018; Hult et al., 2018; Wongpitch et al., 2016). Khan et al. (2021) have discussed that some firms adopt CSR to strengthen their brand image, building a positive and good reputation among their stakeholders. In addition, it was found that CSR can enhance the bottom line for firms (Kaul & Luo, 2018) and is more likely to improve customer retention and promote positive attitudes towards the firm (Ha, 2017).

Considering Carroll's CSR model and Crowther and Aras's classification, this study determines three customers' perceived CSR dimensions - corporate philanthropy, environmental initiative, and social activism (social justice).

Corporate Philanthropy

Corporate philanthropy is defined as corporate actions in response to society's expectation that businesses be good corporate citizens (Carroll & Shabana, 2010, p. 96). One of the most influential and effective strategic tools of CSR used by firms is corporate philanthropy which is one key factor of a company's discretionary responsibilities (Dennis et al., 2011) and can be a new way of corporate branding. For instance, expenditures on corporate charitable donation under cause-related marketing strategy have grown dramatically in the past decade. According to Giving USA Foundation, individuals, endowments, foundations, and corporations gave an estimated $471.4 billion to U.S. charities in 2020, even under the global pandemic and ensuing economic crisis. Remarkably, giving by firms increased by 17% to an estimated $88.6 billion, reaching its highest-ever dollar amount (Giving USA Foundation, 2020).

For the past decades, there has been much attention to corporate philanthropy activities and their effect on consumer behavior (Han et al., 2019). Given the increased attention on cause-related branding, several researchers have examined the links between corporate philanthropy and such outcomes as financial profit and company reputation (Agyemang & Ansong, 2017; Jeffery et al., 2017; Lev et al., 2010). Also, it was addressed that carefully designed corporate philanthropy activities enable firms to attract and retain customers, leading to increased brand loyalty (Carlson, 2019; Lev et al., 2010). In addition, consumers tend to develop positive responses toward the firm that performs corporate philanthropy activities (Shah & Khan, 2021). Hu et al. (2021) noted that firms involved in corporate philanthropy positively impact their product market competitiveness compared to their rivals. Recently, it has been reported that consumers' evaluations of firms are heavily influenced by firms' philanthropy engagement (Langan & Kumar, 2019). However, it has been noted that corporate philanthropy remains unexplored in the marketing literature (Mehwish et al., 2021) since it focused primarily on its relation to firms' financial performance.

Environmental Initiative

Firms are motivated to adopt CSR activities and sustainability to handle social and environmental challenges (Wijethilake & Lama, 2019). Considering Elasrag (2015), CSR is an idea whereby firms integrate environmental and social concerns into their business practices, strategies, and decisions. As consumers have recognized the importance of protecting our environment, environmentalism has become a significant issue in the marketplace. Increasingly aware of the seriousness of environmental problems, customers are becoming more ecologically conscious, seeking to purchase eco-friendly products and services, and preferring firms that favor environmental practices (Han et al., 2009). According to NielsenIQ (2018), the majority (73%) of consumers would change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment, and almost half (46%) would switch to firms that are selling environmentally friendly products. With the increasing demand for environmentally friendly products, it is estimated the market share of green products will reach 25% of store sales by 2021.

Environmental...