Much research has been done around the interest of consumers in CSR. The results are very clear. When asked, the consumers say they care and are willing to consider CSR before purchasing something, however they don’t. Most of the times, they pick their products without asking themselves if the company who they are buying from is socially responsible or not. Why do consumers pretend to care? This paradox calls for a better understanding of the limited role CSR plays in purchase decisions in these days (Öberseder 2011). People recognize what is the right thing to do and if they feel altruistic and responsible for the world they live in, buying from companies with positive CSR associations should appear as the “right thing to do” for consumers. And this is also what research states (Janssen and Vanhamme 2015).
Consumer behavior is driven by different beliefs. First of all behavioral beliefs, that consist of a set of beliefs about the outcomes of performing a certain behavior and the evaluation of those outcomes(Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980), can shape consumers' attitude towards their behavior.
In this category we must consider the extent by which consumers are concerned about a specific CSR- related issue; their perceptions of what is not responsible and their perception on the quality; the price sensitivity, meaning the amount of money they are willing to spend for a certain cause and the type of benefit they expect to get (Janssen and Vanhamme 2015).
What also affects the consumers behavior is the level of skepticism and cynicism toward CSR, the background information about this practice (Janssen and Vanhamme 2015). Do they think that CSR serves only the company’s purposes or that it really affects the world positively?
Normative beliefs also influence consumers to adopt a socially responsible behaviour. People take more or less into consideration, therefore are influenced, by an individual or group whose beliefs are important to them (Ajzen nand Fishbein, 1980).
Consumers perceived behavioral control are determined by their perception of the availability of information or resources and by their assessment of the importance of those information or resources to perform a given behavior (Mathieson, 1991).Therefore, the lack of information on CSR or the lack of socially responsible products will affect the consumers behaviour.
Inertia, also plays a big role in consumer behavior. People pretend not to have enough information about CSR, but in the reality they intentionally avoid it (Janssen and Vanhamme 2015).
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
IF CSR SHOULD LEAD TO A "BETTER WORLD"
WHY DOESN'T IT SELL WELL?
