Corporate Social Responsibility, Consumption Values and Consumers Choice Behaviour

Abstract

The aim of current paper is to identify key consumer variables that determine Croatian consumers’ behaviour in relation to CSR of companies in Croatia and check if these factors and behaviour correspond to CSR activities performed by companies. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) can take various forms. Its emphasis can be on consumers, environment and/ or employees. The major goal of CSR activities, whoever they are aimed at, is to create an image of a company as responsive to the society and based on that, build the competitive advantage.  Research of consumers with respect to CSR has been mainly concentrated on cognitive and affective as well as behavioural factors that influence their buying decisions.  Such research has not been performed in Croatia, where the CSR concept is rather a new phenomenon. In general, Croatian consumers are willing to support companies’ CSR activities by paying a higher price for products with CSR attributes if the area of comparable quality and availability. The results show the influence of social values on consumer attitudes towards CSR, but also the low level of knowledge on the subject as well as trust to companies self-promoting their CSR activities.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, consumers, Croatia