Thesis (M.A.)--Ball State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on May 07, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-70).

The relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and consumer attitudes has been investigated in previous research; however, empirically there is no studies deliberate the role of consumer ethics in order to achieve the CSR, that is, to achieve greater CSR, there is a need to be accompanied with consumer ethics. Therefore, the emergence of consumer ethical behaviour has brought a new perspective to determining the influences of CSR on consumer attitudes. Based on The Theory of Planned Behaviour and Vitell-Hunt theory, this study aims to examine the link between CSR and consumer ethical behaviour, and its influences on consumer attitudes. In order to address the aim, this study explores the relationship between CSR from the philanthropic perspective, and consumers' ethical behaviour. It also determines the extent to which CSR affects brand trust and consumer affective behavioural attitudes. Finally, it examines the role of consumers' ethical behaviour in influencing consumers' attitudes alongside CSR. To address these objectives, this study adopted positivism research philosophy, using a quantitative survey method. The data were collected from consumers who make purchases from the retail sector in the UK. A self-administered questionnaire was developed based on the previous literature. Then, 500 questionnaires were distributed, of which 350 were completed and used for the final analysis. Multivariate analysis was employed, with the questionnaires analysed using a covariance-based structural equation modelling (SEM) approach. The findings reveal that as hypothesized, CSR 'philanthropy' is significantly associated with consumer ethical behaviour; however, this study reveals a negative relationship between them. This study also hypothesized that philanthropic retailers have an influence on (a) consumer affective attitudes and (b) consumer behavioural attitudes. This study does not support the hypothesized relationship between philanthropy and (a) consumer affective attitudes or (b) consumer behavioural attitudes. However, the study identifies a positive relationship between philanthropy and brand trust. Consumers' ethical behaviour is not statistically significantly related to brand trust or consumer affective attitudes. However, the relationship between consumer ethical behaviour and consumer behavioural attitudes is found to be statistically significant. Moreover, the study demonstrates a positive relationship between brand trust and consumer behavioural attitudes, and that consumer affective attitudes mediate this relationship. This study offers a number of theoretical contributions to the literature on CSR and consumer ethics. First, the important contribution lies in the attempt to explore the relationship between CSR and consumers' ethical behaviour. This study unexpectedly, discovers the negative relationship between CSR and consumers' ethical behaviour. The possible explanation is that when consumers perceive the company to behave philanthropically, they are less likely to evaluate themselves as ethical because they may attribute their ethical behaviour to the company's perceived philanthropic behaviours. This study further highlights the positive relationship between consumers' ethical behaviour and their behavioural attitude. The second contribution lies in the relationship between CSR and consumers' responses. In line with previous studies (e.g. Willmott 2003; Hustvedt 2014; Singh et al. 2012), this study concurs that CSR positively affects consumers' brand trust. However, the relationship between CSR and consumers' attitudes is not statistically significant. Instead, this study highlights the important role of brand trust; that is, based on this finding, brand trust is the key driver of both consumers' affective and behaviour attitudes. Third, this study discovers the partially mediating role of consumers' affective attitude on the link between brand trust and behavioural attitude; which seems to be an essential sub-process regulating the effect of brand trust on consumer behavioural attitudes. This study also has practical implications. Firstly, retailers are recommended to effectively communicate their philanthropic activities to consumers in order to enhance their brand trust. It is particularly important that they also aim at influencing consumers' trust in their brand because it is the brand trust that would positively affect their purchasing decision. The final recommendation is that management should focus their CSR communication on the ethical consumer segment because ethical consumers show strong intention to purchase from a socially responsible company.

Researchers and companies are paying increasing attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs and the reaction to them by consumers. Despite such corporate efforts and an expanding literature exploring consumers' response to CSR, it remains unclear how consumers perceive CSR and which "Gestalt" consumers have in mind when considering CSR. Academics and managers lack a tool for measuring consumers' perceptions of CSR (CPCSR). This research explores CPCSR and develops a measurement model. Based on qualitative data from interviews with managers and consumers, the authors develop a conceptualization of CPCSR. Subsequently, model testing and validating occurs on three large quantitative data sets. The conceptualization and the measurement scale can assist companies to assess CPCSR relative to their performance. They also enable managers in identifying shortcomings in CSR engagement and/or communication. Finally, the paper discusses implications for marketing practice and future research.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T14:48:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1667148 bytes, checksum: c7e491fcedcd71da764a127854df5760 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-03 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The present study aimed at understanding the behavior of individuals and groups in society in a context where social rules and/or legal matters are not clearly set: ethical consumption. If in relation to organizations ethical stance has been increasingly demanded by society in general, including rules related to corporate social responsibility, for consumers, the other actor in the process of buying, the demand for a responsible behavior is not yet a reality. We believe that marketing can contribute as a tool in understanding consumer behavior at the moment of deciding to purchase counterfeit products. This will occur by spreading ethical problems (as well as others that are understood by the social responsibility of the consumer) to be considered, leading to the awakening of the individual perception of the existence of the ethical dilemma in purchasing counterfeit videogames, as well as to the awareness of the many consequences for society in general, thus promoting actions that can be taken either by the companies involved in the sectors by the government or by society itself in order to find a balance in this process. Taking the above into consideration, this research is justified and becomes relevant due to the fact that it focused on understanding those issues. The analysis of the ethical behavior of consumers in relation to counterfeit videogames used materialism and ethical consumption (encompassed by the social responsibility of the consumer - SRCons) as references. Based upon this set of issues, the following research goal was proposed: to evaluate the social responsibility of the consumer and the degree of materialism in relation to the consumption of counterfeit videogames. A literature review was conducted where ethics issues were considered from a macro to a micro perspective by relating it to the marketing discipline. Then SRCons were discussed, which explored the possible dimensions of the construct components (altruistic behavior, environmentally sustainable behavior, activist behavior or engaged consumer, and ethical behavior or honest consumer). The scope of materialism as a motivator of behavior was also studied, since this construct is negatively related to collective as well as to ethical behavior. A brief background of the videogame market and its domestic supply chain was described in order to clarify its dynamics and therefore finally treat the case of counterfeit in the market of videogames. This process culminated in a proposal for a reinterpretation of that phenomenon based on the constructs of SRCons and Materialism. To enable the measurement of these constructs previously known and applied scales were used. The sample consisted of 225 consumers of videogames. Overall, the results indicated that SRCons and materialism do not influence consumer behavior in relation to counterfeit videogames, either in their intention, practice or in favorability. However, ethical behavior or honest consumer was the only dimension that slightly influenced it (statistically significant). At last a few considerations were woven, which answered the research problem and established objectives, containing the main results and their practical and theoretical implications, and recommendations for possible future research concerning the topic were made. / Nesta dissertação, o principal interesse esteve na compreensão do comportamento de indivíduos e grupos na sociedade num contexto em que as normas sociais e/ou legais ainda não estão claramente configuradas: o consumo ético. Se em relação às organizações tem sido cada vez mais cobrada uma postura ética pela sociedade em geral, inclusive com normas relativas à responsabilidade social corporativa, em relação aos consumidores, o outro ator do processo de compra, a exigência por um comportamento responsável ainda não é uma realidade. Acreditamos que o marketing pode contribuir como uma ferramenta na compreensão do comportamento do consumidor no momento de sua decisão de compra por produtos piratas. Isso ocorrerá difundindo os problemas éticos (bem como outros que também são compreendidos pela responsabilidade social do consumidor - RSCons) a serem considerados, levando o sujeito ao despertar da percepção da existência do dilema ético no consumo de jogos de videogames piratas, bem como a conscientização das inúmeras consequências para a sociedade em geral, fomentando assim ações que possam ser tomadas seja por parte das empresas envolvidas no setor, seja pelo governo ou mesmo pela própria sociedade no sentido de se buscar equilíbrio neste processo. Assim, essa pesquisa se justifica e se torna relevante à medida que procurou compreender tais questões. Para essa pesquisa, a análise deste comportamento ético do consumidor em relação à pirataria, tomou como referencial o materialismo e o consumo ético (abarcado pela responsabilidade social do consumidor). Como base neste conjunto de questões, se propôs o seguinte objetivo de pesquisa: avaliar o comportamento de responsabilidade social do consumidor e o seu grau de materialismo em sua relação com o consumo de jogos de vídeogame piratas. Foi desenvolvida uma revisão de literatura onde foi tratada a questão da ética, partindo de uma perspectiva macro para uma micro relacionando-a com a disciplina marketing. Depois, abordamos a responsabilidade social do consumidor, na qual são exploradas as possíveis dimensões componentes do construto (comportamento altruísta, comportamento ambientalmente sustentável, comportamento ativista ou engajado do consumidor e comportamento ético ou honesto do consumidor). Ainda pesquisamos o materialismo como motivador de um comportamento, à medida que esse construto se relaciona negativamente ao comportamento coletivo e, consequentemente, ao ético. Realizou-se também uma breve contextualização do mercado de videogames domésticos e sua cadeia logística no sentido de clarificar seu funcionamento para, por último, tratarmos do processo da pirataria no mercado de jogos de vídeogames. Este processo culminou em uma proposta de reinterpretação do fenômeno a partir dos construtos da Responsabilidade Social do Consumidor (RSCons) e Materialismo. Para viabilizar a mensuração destes construtos, foram aplicadas escalas já conhecidas e aplicadas anteriormente. A amostra foi composta por 225 consumidores de jogos de videogames. De maneira geral, os resultados indicam que a responsabilidade social do consumidor e o materialismo não influenciam o comportamento de pirataria de jogos de videogames, seja na intenção, na prática ou na favorabilidade, sendo comportamento ético ou honesto do consumidor a única dimensão que o influenciou sutilmente, de forma estatisticamente significativa. No final, foram tecidas as devidas considerações, que devem preencher o problema da pesquisa e os objetivos estabelecidos, contendo os principais resultados encontrados bem como suas implicações práticas e teóricas, além de recomendações para possíveis pesquisas futuras.