The effect of product involvement on socially responsible consumer behavior

A Thesis Submitted to Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science.Thesis supervisor: Dr. Jung Ha-Brookshire.Consumers show dissimilar behaviors towards products at their purchase intention considering companies' socially responsible practices, but, this may not be the same for both low and high involvement products while purchasing. Literature review suggests that consumers in the U.S expect companies to be socially responsible in both environmental and social dimensions. This is more critical in apparel industry due to several violations regarding these both dimensions. On the other hand, socially responsible consumers pay more attention to these practices compared to other clusters of consumers including browns. This study sought to investigate the relation between information related to socially responsibility (SRI), consumers' profile (PRFL), and product involvement (INV) on consumers purchase intention. For this study, SRI was considered to have 2 dimensions: present and absent. The PRFL also had two categories, socially responsible and brown. Similarly, INV had two levels of involvement, high and low. A 2X2X2 matrix was designed and each participant was exposed to two of profiles in a random order. The study supports that consumers have concern about clothing products and companies' practices affect their purchase intention. Also, the effect of information related to SRI is associated with consumers' profile. In addition, products' level of involvement is associated with SRI and consumers' profile on their purchase intention. Moreover, this study compliments the former studies by suggesting that not all groups of consumers want to be good citizens by purchasing higher involvement products with SRI. Implications, limitations and scope of further research are also discussed.Includes bibliographical references (pages 63-67)