4.4 Construct Validity

CSR is a very relevant and important piece of any company’s marketing equation. In the past, it was not even a consideration but with the education and affluence of today’s consumer, a company must address CSR on some level if it expects to be successful in the future. When looking at CSR, the product lifecycle and its components are more relevant than ever before. An organizations true commitment to follow through on CSR and product lifecycle can truly affect the company’s success and reputation. Some consumer might be swayed by product certification logos as they represent corporate CSR and can instill brand trust to certain consumers. As today’s consumer and marketplace is demanding and knowledgeable; an organization is wise to listen as they speak with their wallets and step up its CSR program.

Several researches have explored the connection between CSR and purchase intention. Creyer and Ross (1997) found that the ethical behaviour of companies in considered by consumers during purchase decision. Mohr et al. (2001) also supported this assumption and suggested that there is a ‘substantial market segment’ paying attention to companies’ CSR practices. A research developed by Prabu et al. (2005) obtained similar findings and added that Social Responsibility has as well a positive effect on corporate identity.

For example, the products from Apple have very strong product strengths; however, there are still many potential functional and health issues associated with their products . So, the Apple may have a moderate rating for the product concerns. In the process to calculate the CSR ratings, Apple will yield a positive score on the product category since its product strengths are over the product concerns. The same rationale applies to all other five categories. Consequently, the higher CSR ratings are, the more socially responsible firms are.

One of MAB’s greatest competitive advantages is its CSR strategy. This can be explained and has been shownthrough existing literature. First, research shows that a CSR strategy is linked to improved image and reputation. It has also been shown that consumers are more likely to switch to products that are associated with a good cause. Furthermore, being a good corporate citizen encourages consumers to become brand ambassadors and engage in supportof the bsuiness, such as word-of-mouth marketing. Other advantages that MAB may gain from its CSR strategy include becoming an attractive workplace and investment as a result of strong stakeholder relationships. By implementing a CSR strategy, the company is protecting its reputation and building brand

Unfortunately many corporations do not give back to the community in which they do business in. Also in different cultures, CSR is viewed differently both on a cognitive and emotional level. The data is taken from surveys and marketing research conducted with corporations and other organizations.

Microsoft, Walt Disney, Google, BMW, Daimler, Sony, Intel, Volkswagen, Apple and Nestle are probably big company names that many have heard of. They are without doubt the sole powerhouses of their individual markets holding a big market share for themselves. But, despite the fact that they have that common factor, another thing that they have in common is that these 10 companies are the top ten companies with the highest CSR reputation in the world (SOURCE). CSR the acronym for Corporate Social Responsibility is currently a new business model that many businesses are starting to adapt. Throughout time, things improve and so do peoples expectations; CSR is a new model that incorporates things that people are more concerned with nowadays compared to the past. By requiring companies to spend more of their money on social responsibilities, CSR provides an opportunity for the companies to benefit more than just themselves in many different ways, but the question still lies at the point of to what extent does CSR benefits the companies themselves (SOURCE). There have been a lacking measurement in the actual benefits of CSR and companies are doubting whether or not CSR actually benefits company performance. Despite that though, there must be a reason as to why these powerhouses are incorporating CSR as their main business model and that reason would most definitely be that CSR benefits company performance in so many ways, both externally and internally, that no other business model

McDonald’s is the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries across 35,000 outlets. This company has joined the CSR program and be more socially responsible such as doing charity,promoting healthy eating and improving sporting opportunities in some local school. Some people believe that this attempt is beneficial for such a firm. Therefore, I partly agree with this statement.

Lou and Bhattacharya (2009) maintain that CSR creates a level of ‘Moral Capital’, which then translates into ‘Relational wealth’ with different stakeholders. This is based on brand faith and credibility with costumers, affective commitment among employees and regulators, trust among suppliers and higher attractiveness for investors in general. Consequently it is important for organizations, to understand that CSR initiatives need to be communicated and transmitted to its group of interest. As Blomqvist and Posner (2004 cited in Comfort et al. 2007, pp.584) propose:

This information can, therefore, conclude that adopting a level of Social responsibility can help a business to attract consumers by differentiation from its competitors, a consequence of this can help to improve the business brand name and image.

Today a big part of customer satisfaction is depending on values which company stands for; and businesses are changing in to values-based business. In a values- based business, values which are co created among CSR, drive the sustain competition for the company in the market. (Enquist et al. 2008) (Edvardson & Enquist 2008) for a company wanting to get financial profits through values, a new strategy should be applied to enjoy the benefits of CSR value making. and CSR would be a part of the business model being integrated with the business strategy. Corporate responsibility is better understood as one dimension of corporate strategy (Enqusit et al. 2008) with this approach CSR is not only charity rather a part of the business model for a values-based business. But even “philanthropy is still a competitive advantage when it is in a proactive way”. (Edvardson & Enquist 2008) companies these days embed their CSR experiences and reports as a highlighted means for advertisement and creating a good image of themselves in public even though sometimes image making of CSR is being missused and companies reputations are not always on the basis of true CRM practices.

The authors of the case study, “The relationship among corporate social responsibility, service quality, corporate image and purchase intentions,” focused on the effects of corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior. Fishbein and Ajzen, stated that purchase intentions used as an indicator customer consumption behavior; Schiffman and Kanuk, believed that purchase intentions measured the possibility of consumer purchase of a certain product; Zeithaml and Sirohi, also stated that purchase intention is based off, want to purchase, considering a purchase, customer loyalty, and recommend products to the masses (Huang, Yen, Liu & Huang, 2014). The method of the study was based off questionnaires distributed to 400 and 331 were used. This study explores the relationship between CSR and purchase intension, the hypothesis tested by the authors was, “CSR has a significant positive effect on purchase intention (Huang,Yen, Liu & Huang, 2014).” Which came out to be the hypothesis was supported.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become imperative on business convention nowadays. “Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large” (Holme and Watts, 2000). The term CSR was appeared in the 1950s, but until 1989, Ben and Jerry’s was the first company which truly publish a social responsibility report (Coles, 2012). In recent years, numerous organizations evaluate firms on their CSR performance since the society is concerned about the CSR ranking. Consequently, business managers in various countries may treat CSR as an inevitable priority (Porter & Kramer, 2006). Nevertheless, CSR is still a controversial issue in the world. Some businesses are struggling to balance corporate and social aims due to the growing societal attention in CSR. This essay will compare and contrast arguments in favour of and against CSR from the perspective of firms.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship of the consumer perceptions about the branding of organizations that invest in social responsibility and the consumer behaviour regarding loyalty and willingness in paying a premium price. Reviewing the literature about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Corporate Social Performance and Corporate Financial Performance, some questions arise: do consumers understand the efforts made by businesses regarding their social and ethical campaigns? And if so, are consumers willing to pay a higher price for the products and services resulting from these social and ethical campaigns? Are consumers loyal

A lot of work has been done in Western countries to identify an organization’s behaviour regarding consumer purchasing decisions. However, not many studies have been conducted in emerging markets, such as India. CSR activities should enhance a corporation's image.

With the changing of world, sustainable development is one of a core conversation of currency, and fulfilling Corporate Social Responsibility is the best way to establish corporation image. By linking CSR and brand, companies have numerous advantages, including strengthening of the company 's brand image or its products and services, which contributes to achievement of good business results, making loyal customers, increasing their satisfaction, retaining good reputation, increasing of demand for products(Dunia, Milica 2014). For instance, CSR is significant for food enterprises particularly, McDonald´s as an example of corporation which is persistent in keeping the fundamental principles of safe, reassuring, quality namely, cleanliness and valuable products and service. The service that