Consumer Responses to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in China

With the development of multinational companies (MNCs), corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a very important component of corporate activities. However, the commitment to CSR in China has been very low. Chinese consumers are becoming less willing to accept different treatment from MNCs, but there has been a little study of CSR problems in the Chinese market or the response of Chinese consumer. This study provides preliminary evidence that consumer response about the CSR behavior of multinational corporation is determined by three factors, perceived CSR, trust of CSR, and awareness of CSR, and addresses how these different factors influence Chinese consumer response in terms of Corporate Evaluation and Purchase Intention. Additionally, this work analyzes the relationship between consumer demographics and consumer response to CSR. The results show that trust of CSR and awareness of CSR has a significant influence on Chinese consumer response. Perceived CSR has a significant influence on Chinese consumer response to corporate evaluation but not on Purchase Intention. In addition, the data did not reveal a relationship between consumer demographics and consumer response to CSR.