Abstract

A number of companies are involved in various social responsibility programs aimed at increasing consumer trust in their services and improve overall image of the firm. This phenomenon is prevalent in developed world but is still new in emerging economies. In a developing country like Pakistan, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is affected by various factors. The purpose of this mixed method study is to examine key antecedents to consumer responses to CSR to determine a link between CSR activity and consumers’ responses to such actions. After a qualitative study, a pre-tested structured questionnaire was administered to 224 respondents. The constructs were validated using confirmatory factor analysis and regression analysis was conducted to test hypotheses. It was found that purchase intention was impacted by perceived CSR which was positively influenced by awareness while trust played a pivotal role as a mediator between CSR and purchase intention. Surprisingly, religiosity was not significantly related to CSR. The study was conducted using a hypothetical company; however more insight might be gained if the company name was used since certain consumer patterns are brand specific.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.