Corporate social responsibility: a consumer psychology perspective. (August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sen, Sankar; Du, Shuili; Bhattacharya, CB
• Is Part Of: Current opinion in psychology. Volume 10(2016)
• Page Start: 70
• Page End: 75
• Publication Date: 2016-08
• Subjects: Psychology -- Periodicals; 150.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.12.014
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-250X

Abstract

Highlights: Consumers support brands engaged in CSR through purchase and other pro-company behaviors. These responses are based on reputational effects and changes in product performance perceptions. These responses stem from both self-serving and other-serving motives and are accompanied by emotions. These responses hinge on many CSR-specific, company-specific and consumer-specific contingencies. Abstract : This paper reviews the substantial body of work on corporate social responsibility (CSR), including the synonymous domains of cause-related marketing and ethical consumption, to synthesize the diverse findings on consumer responses to CSR. CSR is capable of engendering a range of company-favoring perceptions and behaviors, driven by both consumers' CSR-related motivations (e.g., consumer–company identification, affective motives) and their CSR-guided product perceptions. As well, the paper documents the plethora of CSR initiative-specific, company-specific, and consumer-specific factors that modulate consumers' reactions to CSR initiatives, and ends with a discussion of some key future research directions.