Consumer perspective on CSR literature review and future research agenda

Corporate social responsibility: a cluster analysis of manufacturing firms in India

Purpose

This paper aims to identify the corporate social responsibility (CSR) patterns of Indian manufacturing firms using a CSR index based on ISO26000 and India’s National Voluntary CSR Guidelines.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 121 manufacturing enterprises in the national capital region (NCR) were surveyed. The questions related to the involvement of CSR in business strategy, involvement in CSR planning, involvement in environmental activities, involvement in social activities, monitoring, evaluation and involvement in CSR, reporting and policy and deployment of CSR. A two-step cluster analysis using log-likelihood measures was used to identify groupings in the data set based on their performance across the seven issues.

Findings

The two distinctive segments identified adopted intermediate CSR activities, and one undertook advanced CSR activities.

Research limitations/implications

This study has several limitations. First, the survey data were drawn exclusively from medium-sized enterprises in the NCR. Second, all the indicators in the CSR index were equally weighted.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature by grouping manufacturers’ CSR activities based on seven dimensions suggested in ISO26000 and India’s National Voluntary Guidelines. The results of this study can help managers, boards and regulators better understand CSR and identify ways to improve it further.

Two decades of workplace ecological behaviour: a systematic literature review

Purpose

This research offered a systematic and comprehensive literature review in analysing current studies on employee ecological behaviour (EEB) strategies and settings to determine various emphasised workplace ecological behaviour areas and contribute a precise mapping for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

This systematic literature review method involved 106 peer-reviewed articles published in reputable academic journals (between 2000 and the first quarter of 2021). This study was confined to a review of empirical papers derived from digital databases encompassing the terms ‘Employee green behaviour’, ‘Green behaviour at workplace’, ‘Employee ecological behaviour’, ‘Employee Pro-environmental behaviour’ and ‘Pro-environmental behaviour at workplace’ in the titles.

Findings

This study identified relevant journal articles (classified as EEB at work) from the current body of knowledge. Notably, much emphasis was identified on EEB over the past two decades. Overall, most studies employing quantitative approaches in both developed and emerging nations. Notably, ecological behaviour application garnered the most significant attention from scholars among the four focus areas in the literature review: (i) EEB concepts, models, or reviews, (ii) EEB application, (iii) EEB determinants and (iv) EEB outcomes.

Practical implications

Significant literature gaps indicate this field to be a relatively novel phenomenon. Thus, rigorous research on the topic proves necessary to develop a holistic understanding of the subject area.

Originality/value

This study expands the current body of knowledge by providing the first comprehensive systematic review on EEB themes, methods, applications, determinants, contextual focus, outcomes and recommending future research agenda.

The impact of CSR on green purchase intention: Empirical evidence from the green building Industries in Taiwan

Introduction

Worldwide supplies are being utilized at a disturbing rate and to a significant degree, the building business has been accountable for this ecological deprivation, particularly because of its elevated level of energy expenditure. Hence, this research paper targets the customers of green building industries in Taiwan and developed a framework based on Carroll’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) model, theory of planned behavior (TPB), and cognitive consistency theory (CCT), to measure the impact of CSR on green purchase intention (GPI). Furthermore, it analyzes the impact of CSR on green word of mouth (GWOM), green attitude (GA), green concern (GC), and green trust (GT). Moreover, it explores the roles of GA, GC, GWOM, and GT on GPI. Finally, to study the mediating roles of GC, GA, and GWOM, with the relationship between CSR and GPI.

Methods

The data for this study was collected from 600 customers of green building businesses located in Taiwan with the help of a convenience sampling technique.

Results

As per the results of this research, CSR was discovered to have a positive impact on GPI, GWOM, GA, GC, and GT. Furthermore, GWOM had a significant impact on GPI. Moreover, GC and GT were in a significant relationship with GPI. Consequently, all the relationships were significant except the relationship between GA and GPI. Furthermore, GT, GWOM, and GC fully mediate the relationship between CSR and GPI. However, GA was not found to significantly mediate the relationship between CSR and GPI.

Discussion

The findings of this study provide practical implications regarding the impact of CSR on GPI and the trending issue of sustainable career development.

Harmonization of Sustainability Reporting Regulation: Analysis of a Contested Arena

This paper presents the case for the sustainability reporting field as a contested arena and examines the behavior and the influence of the various actors, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), and the European Commission, including the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation in influencing the shape of the regulation in the arena. Drawing on the arena concept and documentary analysis, this study explores the dynamic in which each actor is attempting to change the rules within the arena and how this contributes to the harmonization and future direction of sustainability reporting. The findings of this study show that the actions and behavior of the various actors are premeditated and strategically calculated to maintain their influence, relevance, and defend their technical authority in the arena. The findings also suggest that sustainability reporting regulation is still far away from harmonization due to the perceived hegemony in the arena, and diversity in the overarching objective of the various actors and the inability of each actor to renounce its particular perspective and orientation. Insights are provided for policy makers on the urgent need to decide and reclassify the specific rules required in upholding the sustainability reporting arena.

Sustainable Development and Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty in North Cyprus: The Mediating Effect of Customer Identification

This study analyzes the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a multidimensional sustainable development approach on customer loyalty and satisfaction through the mediation of customer identification. CSR is a key concept for banks to attract, retain, satisfy and increase the loyalty of customers. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the proposed relationship. The questionnaire was filled out by 389 banking sector customers. The findings suggested that customer identification mediates the relationship between the economic development dimension of CSR and customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, customer identification did not show a mediating effect between social equity and environmental protection dimension of CSR and customer loyalty and satisfaction. The findings are expected to provide insights into the importance of CSR for the banking industry in order to enhance favorable customer attitudes.

Impression of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities among the human resource professionals at Chennai Region

There is expanding need to build the ability of the in-house ability connected with the working of CSR. The CSR exercises incorporate charitable works and different drives which normally by coordinating the social qualities into functional and business procedures. Lately, we have perceived how ineffectively oversaw advertising have made association challenging to maintain their business. Associations are to endless conclusions because of such inaction. This presents the defense to study or move toward CSR according to an alternate point of view. The result of the exploration has tossed light on specific key regions towards the various partners like the administration, the HR experts, and to the general public overall. The examination finds have fostered a desire to move quickly that the administration needs to follow up on promptly by making an interest in the practical improvement of the local area and the business. The associations can put HR experts who have the ache to investigate the areas of CSR so the organization can bank upon the characteristics of these HR experts to construct a solid association culture inside and which will help the different partners at large.

Customer experience in digital banking: a review and future research directions

Purpose

This study aims to demonstrate digital banking’s influence on customers’ evaluation of service experience and develop a framework identifying the most significant variables of digital banking that influence the financial performance of banks.

Design/methodology/approach

This structured review of literature, guided with the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses framework, takes a digital banking perspective to identify 88 articles published between 2001 and 2021, examining distinct aspects of digital banking and their impact on financial performance.

Findings

Customer experience (CE) is determined by functional clues (functional quality, trust and convenience), mechanic clues (website attributes, website design, perceived usability) and humanic clues (customer complaint handling). The study is furthered to combine CE with the service profit chain model. This study also fills the gap to understand the use of “gamification” in technology-driven banking services to enhance CE. Finally, an integrative framework is proposed to link technology-related factors (digital banking clues and gamification), customer-related factors (CE, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty) and performance-related factors (financial performance).

Practical implications

The study conceptualises a “total” CE framework that banks can use to enhance their online presence. Banking service providers could also analyse their financial results based on digital banking’s impact on customers. Besides, banks can use this framework to strategically place “game-like features” in their digital platforms.

Originality/value

This study attempts to significantly contribute to the digital marketing literature related to CE with banks. It is one of the first studies to determine gamification explicitly in banking literature.

Employee-Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Employee Pro-Environmental Behavior (PEB): The Moderating Role of CSR Skepticism and CSR Authenticity

Despite the substantial attention given to pro-environmental behavior (PEB) by academicians, practitioners, and policymakers, few studies have investigated how employee-perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects employees’ PEB. Moreover, though the concept of PEB has been found to elicit a wide range of positive benefits for employee behaviors and attitudes, it has rarely been applied to the context of the manufacturing sector. Underpinned by the social identity theory (SIT) and the attitude-behavior-context (ABC) theory, the present study investigates the impact of employee-perceived CSR on employees’ PEB through the moderating roles of employee–CSR skepticism and employee–CSR authenticity. The convenience sampling technique was used to select employees from Pakistani manufacturing firms to participate in the study’s survey. Analysis results of data from 235 respondents across 115 manufacturing firms suggest that employee-perceived CSR positively drives employees’ PEB. In addition, the findings offer valuable insights on employee–CSR skepticism and employee–CSR authenticity. Specifically, CSR skepticism weakens the link between perceived CSR and PEB, while CSR authenticity strengthens this link. By providing implications and limitations, the present study discusses that organizations can convey the message of their credible, genuine, and authentic CSR efforts to their employees for social, economic, and environmental wellbeing. The study’s discussions and conclusions are presented.

The impact of stakeholder market orientation on sustainability performance at tourism destinations

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to establish the relationship between stakeholder market orientation (StMO) and sustainability performance (SP) at tourism destinations (TDs).

Design/methodology/approach

Using a quantitative survey, data was collected from 313 tourism business managers, who are the owners or managers of the tourism businesses at the TDs, and was analysed using the partial least square structural equation model.

Findings

Findings indicate that environmental performance is the highest sustainability management practice adhered to at the TDs. Also, community and visitor orientations predicted SP most, with all its hypotheses supported.

Research limitations/implications

This study focuses on the impact of StMO dimensions on SP within the TDs, thereby limiting generalisation to other sectors.

Practical implications

Tourism marketing managers are given the knowledge that StMO strategy is a precondition for effective implementation and adoption of SP strategy.

Social implications

The results have key social implications, in that a sustainability marketing strategy that will assist in the increase acceptance of sustainability programs within the tourism sector has been noted.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is believed to be the first empirical study to test the relationship between StMO dimensions and three SP dimensions. This study will improve the sustainability management of tourism resources in Ghana. It will further aid in meeting some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The Relationship Between Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee-Related Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis

Although there is much research on the relationships of corporate social responsibility and employee-related outcomes, a systematic and quantitative integration of research findings is needed to substantiate and broaden our knowledge. A meta-analysis allows the comparison of the relations of different types of CSR on several different outcomes, for example to learn what type of CSR is most important to employees. From a theoretical perspective, social identity theory is the most prominent theoretical approach in CSR research, so we aim to investigate identification as a mediator of the relationship between CSR and employee-related outcomes in a meta-analytical mediation model. This meta-analysis synthesizes research findings on the relationship between employees' perception of CSR (people, planet, and profit) and employee-related outcomes (identification, engagement, organizational attractiveness, turnover (intentions), OCB, commitment, and job satisfaction), thereby distinguishing attitudes and behavior. A total of 143 studies (N = 89,396) were included in the meta-analysis which was conducted according to the methods by Schmidt and Hunter (except of the meta-analytical structural equation model). Mean effect sizes for the relationship between CSR and employee-related attitudes and behaviors were medium-sized to large. For attitudes, the relationships were stronger than for behavior. For specific types of CSR, average effect sizes were large. Identification mediated the relation between CSR and commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB, respectively. Based on our results, we give recommendations concerning the design of CSR initiatives in a way that benefits employees.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in Islamic banks of Bangladesh

Purpose

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) influences an organization in deciding its ethical approaches in the corporate practices and also important to maintain sustainable development. Islamic banks are capturing almost 40% of the total bank account holders in Bangladesh and contributing to the socio-economic and environmental development of the country through their CSR activities. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of CSR activities of Islamic banks for sustainable development in Bangladesh from the perception of the beneficiaries.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on a questionnaire survey of 200 conveniently selected beneficiaries from five purposively selected Islamic banks in Bangladesh. Respondents’ agreement score for various CSR-related activities has been observed in a five-point Likert scale and, finally, to identify the impact of CSR, exploratory factor analysis has been done.

Findings

Results revealed that respondents are expressing strong agreement for almost all the activities, and they are much satisfied with ongoing CSR activities by Islamic banks, which implies positive attitudes of beneficiaries regarding CSR activities. The results of factor analysis further confirm the perception of respondents toward CSR activities of Islamic banks in terms of social enhancement, education and health, socio-economic well-being and contemporary arts and culture.

Originality/value

The Islamic banks should enhance their CSR activities for socio-economic development, provide more allocation in education programs, increase sponsorship in sports events and assist in flourishing Bangladeshi arts and culture.

CSR Implication and Disclosure in Higher Education: Uncovered Points. Results from a Systematic Literature Review and Agenda for Future Research

This research reviews and analyzes prior corporate social responsibility (CSR) studies centered on its implications and disclosure in higher education institutions (HEIs). Nine major databases were analyzed to review research articles from various business, management, higher education, and accounting journals for the period of 2004–2020. We follow the seven-step systematic review guidelines developed by Fink 2019 and we base our review analysis on fifty-eight journal articles. The systematic literature review results show a significant increase in the number of CSR article publications and the extent and trend of disclosure. The majority of prior research was based on questionnaires to evaluate the HEIs curriculum and focus on the CSR implication process. However, HEIs are still lagging behind in CSR implication and disclosure, and with a long way to go to obtain sustainability goals. From the study, several opportunities for future research emerged. This study can be useful for HEIs policymakers and practitioners to access the usefulness of CSR implications and disclosures in HEIs. In addition, this analysis assists scholars to explore in-depth the uncovered points related to CSR in HEIs context. This is the first systematic review of CSR implications and disclosures that comprehensively covers higher education institutions as a sector and presents a reference for academic literature from 2004 to 2020.

Relationships and impacts of perceived CSR, service quality, customer satisfaction and consumer rights awareness

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to examine the effects of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) on service quality, satisfaction and repurchase intention; second, to investigate the mediating (unique and serial) effects of service quality and satisfaction; and third, to determine the moderating effects of consumer rights awareness (CRA) on the relationship between perceived CSR and consumer responses.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data was collected from a sample of 604 customers of the 4 major mobile telecommunications companies in Nigeria. The partial least squares structural equation modeling approach was used to test the hypothesized model.

Findings

Research findings indicate that perceived CSR has direct and positive effects on service quality, satisfaction and repurchase intention. Also, service quality and satisfaction mediates (uniquely and in sequence) the effect of perceived CSR on repurchase intention. In addition, CRA moderates perceived CSR’s effect on service quality perceptions and repurchase intention.

Practical implications

The findings confirm the complementary relationships between CSR, service quality and satisfaction in influencing consumers’ repurchase intention. Managers should imbibe CSR as an intangible attribute that complements high-quality services, leading to enhanced customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions. The findings also suggest that CRA enhances perceived CSR’s effect on service quality perceptions and repurchase intentions. Thus, managers should take proactive steps to inform consumers of their rights, and also show efforts at protecting the same.

Originality/value

This study has overcome the limitation observed in previous studies by testing the sequential mediating effects of service quality and customer satisfaction in the perceived CSR–consumer response relationships. Also, this study represents a pioneering effort at empirically confirming the role of CRA in enhancing perceived CSR’s influence on consumer responses. In addition, the findings also provide insights on the impact of CSR on consumer behavior from a developing country’s perspective.

CSR reporting: a review of research and agenda for future research

Purpose

This paper aims to provide a systematic review of the published literature on corporate social responsibility reporting (CSRR). Furthermore, it assesses the main limitations reported in previous CSRR studies and offers recommendations for best practice and future research.

Design/methodology/approach

A review protocol was developed to search nine major databases over a decade (2005–2017) using specific keywords. As a result, 221 articles were identified that deal explicitly with CSRR in both developed and developing countries, and a descriptive analysis was undertaken.

Findings

Findings of the review show that scholarly work on CSRR across the globe have increased exponentially. However, there still remain quite a few countries and industries that have been underrepresented in CSRR literature. Moreover, methodological- and sampling-related limitations have been noted by a number of scholars in the area. Based on these results, the review provides directions for future research.

Originality/value

The review provides a categorised bibliography of CSRR research on developed and developing countries from 2005 to 2017, covering a range of journals and countries. The review provides state of the art of the CSRR research and highlights the major loopholes in the current literature. This is a valuable study for academics pursuing research on CSRR as it provides a comprehensive and critical discussion on academic research in the field.

Effects of CSR and CR on Business Confidence in an Emerging Country

Corporate social responsibility has been one of the main pillars of development for companies in developed countries and studies are being conducted for developed countries and the productive sector of the economy. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to analyze the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate reputation (CR), and business confidence in the context of the banking sector in an emerging country (Peru). To test the hypotheses presented in this paper, we sent a survey to 1745 banking executive officers of the branch offices in Peru. These key individuals were selected as the target population of the study because the authors sought to study the management’s perception of CSR and business confidence. From the data obtained from the survey, it has been determined that the strategic consideration of CSR in Peruvian banks directly influences the perception of business confidence. Secondly, it has been demonstrated that the strategic consideration of CSR in Peruvian banks positively influences corporate reputation and, finally, the perception of the importance of the corporate reputation of Peruvian banks and significantly influences the perception of business confidence by the managers. The main contribution of this paper is that it analyzes empirically how business confidence is perceived by managers, who are the main agents involved in implementing CSR actions, based on their opinion of the strategic consideration of CSR and the perception of CR in a context barely investigated, an emerging country.

Future research avenues of cost of quality: a systematic literature review

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the future research suggestions which have been made by several authors with regard to cost of quality (CoQ) and to group them into respective themes.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was based on a systematic literature review (SLR) of 97 peer-reviewed journal articles in the field of CoQ published in well-known academic databases, such as Emerald, Elsevier, SpringerLink, Taylor & Francis, Wiley and Scopus. The time horizon for reviewing the literature was 9 years, particularly in the period between 2010 and 2018. The “Affinity diagram” was applied to group the future research suggestions into logical themes and the “Pareto diagram” to further categorize and prioritize these themes.

Findings

A plethora of future research suggestions identified in the literature are analytically presented. Moreover, the analysis showed that the future research suggestions in the field of CoQ can be grouped under eleven meaningful themes, which are further categorized into two broad categories, meaning the vital and the useful.

Research limitations/implications

This SLR was based on only fully accessed English articles published in international, peer-reviewed journals of the selected publishers. The restricted number of keywords used and the subjectivity in applying the “affinity diagram” are also limitations of this study.

Practical implications

This paper provides insights into the future research perspectives in the field of CoQ. Thus, this analysis can serve as a resource for both researchers and practitioners to further develop this area according to the future research suggestions and the respective themes revealed.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first SLR presenting and analyzing the future research suggestions of CoQ.

A survey on bankers’ perception of corporate social responsibility in India

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the perception of the bankers towards an integrated approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in a strategic way of achieving sustainable growth of the banking sector. The paper additionally provides insights into different CSR initiatives and their implementation process in the context of scheduled commercial banks (SCB) of India.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is exploratory and endorses the qualitative approach of primary research methodology by adopting a non-random stratified sampling method. The localist approach of the face-to-face interview has been applied to collect the data from 26 elite class respondents from 13 SCBs. The interview method was semi-structured and open-ended. The conformity, trustworthiness, credibility, transferability, dependability test of the study have ensured the quality of the data.

Findings

The study reveals that the bankers perceive CSR as a moral obligation for the benefit of the society, beyond the regular banking operations. Further, the study comprehends that the CSR initiatives play a vital role in establishing the bank's image, brand and reputation, as well as, building a strong bond of trust among the employees and the bank management. Besides, CSR activities facilitate to cultivate a better culture by improvising in the quality of customer service for achieving competitive advantages.

Research limitations/implications

The findings of the study represent a significant contribution to CSR theory from the interface of banking and society. Significantly, the results confirm that CSR initiatives play a vital role in building trust and minimise the gap between the employees and the management of the bank. The banks can increase its acceptance in the society and achieve competitive advantage by integrating CSR objectives with the business objectives to strengthen the corporate personality and brand.

Practical implications

The study will help practitioners to develop the social identity of their firm to achieve competitive advantages in long-run. The bankers can channelise their limited resources while planning, designing and the implementation of different CSR activities with the overall goal of the bank in a cost-effective way. The study is confined only to public and private SCBs and limited to the geographical scope of one state in India. Therefore, further exploration may be carried out by considering other banks and geographic regions in India and different cross-cultural settings.

Originality/value

The originality of the study lies with the in-depth analysis and quality check of the data. The results can contribute significant value to the qualitative method of conducting research.

Does being socially responsible buffer reputation loss in a product crisis? The moderating role of lay theory of corporate social responsibility

A company’s emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CSR) signals its concern with benefits for society, whereas a company’s emphasis on corporate ability (CA) signals its expertise in delivering good quality products. Product-harm crises often put companies at serious risk. Would a company’s prior emphasis on CSR versus CA mitigate the potential reputation damage of a product-harm crisis? In an experiment, we found that when a product-harm crisis occurred, having a CSR focus softened the public’s negative evaluation of the focal company, but this protective function of CSR was found only among people who had the lay theory that CSR and CA are compatible. The joint effect of CSR focus and the lay theory was mediated by the tendency to exonerate the focal company for the causal responsibility of the crisis.

The influence of an organisation’s adopted corporate social responsibility constructs on consumers’ intended buying behaviour: a Malaysian perspective

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of adopted corporate social responsibility (CSR) constructs, which include economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities, on the intended buying behaviour of Malaysian consumers. The study also aims to investigate the perceived value of whether the consumers considered an organisation’s CSR initiatives before deciding any purchase of products or services.

Design/methodology/approach

An online Google form survey successfully obtained 295 usable responses through a snowballing and networking approach. Statistical analyses such as Pearson correlation, ANOVA and standard multiple regression were used to examine the correlation and the strength of relationship, as well as the prediction between the CSR attributes and their impact on consumer buying behaviour.

Findings

The results represented a significant positive association between all the four constructs (social, ethical, legal and philanthropic) and consumer intended buying behaviour. These constructs also significantly contributed to the prediction of consumer behaviour towards the CSR initiatives. Conversely, the demographic profile of consumers had no effect on the relationship between CSR and consumer buying behaviour.

Research limitations/implications

Examining basic concepts of CSR awareness and understanding might add to the flavour and rigour of this study, which future research should consider. The positivist approach of the current research could be supplemented with a more interactive qualitative in-depth study investigating why and how consumers behave.

Practical implications

The implication for Malaysian companies is that it is imperative for their long-term survival that a strategic view, rather than just a tactical, reactive or operational view, is taken of their CSR activities. Furthermore, it will help organisations to confidently predict positive intentions towards the sales of goods and services.

Originality/value

The outcome of this study has filled the CSR lacuna in the context of a developing country, as well as adding new insights into the influence and perceived value of CSR on intended consumer buying behaviour. Consumers, irrespective of their age and background, are getting wiser and cautious in purchasing products from companies which are CSR-oriented, in particular, in relation to social, legal, ethical and philanthropic perspectives.

Exploring consumer support for CSR from the perspective of moral legitimacy

Purpose

The primary purpose of this paper is to explore and interpret the perceptions of Malaysian consumers regarding the factors that facilitate their market support for corporate social responsibility (CSR) through the lens of moral legitimacy.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper interprets qualitative data gathered from in-depth interviews with Malaysian consumers. The findings are then mapped to four forms of evaluations for moral legitimacy identified in the literature, towards establishing a conceptual model of consumer support for CSR.

Findings

Overall, six factors were identified as facilitating consumer market support for CSR. Of these, consumers were found to perceive strategic alignment between a firm’s business and its CSR as the most fundamental. In the absence of which, all other considerations are rendered irrelevant. Upon the requirement for alignment being met, the consumers then place emphasis on the manner by which a CSR activity is executed, for deciding whether to support or otherwise.

Practical implications

In contrast to previous reports in the literature concerning Malaysian consumers and CSR, the findings suggest that Malaysian consumers now have increased levels of awareness and maturity with regard to CSR, not unlike that of consumers in the West. Therefore, Malaysian firms will have to stop treating their CSR activities as an add-on, as has been reported previously, and they should endeavour to integrate their CSR into their overall business strategy.

Originality value

This paper offers an important insight about the consumers’ market support for CSR in the context of a developing nation.