Chinese Consumers’ Perceptionof Corporate Social Responsibility (Csr)

In recent years, increasing number of customers and businessmen start to concern about the ethical issues in businesses. Although the main purpose of business is to make profits, the social influence of it also appears to be focused by a large proportion of customers and businessmen. Corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is closely connected with this concentration, was put forward in 1953 with the meaning of interacting social, environmental, and economic considerations into the decision-making structures and processes of business (Industry Canada, 2013). Although criticized, there is a business case for CSR because it could enhance customers’ loyalty, improve

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the concept of businesses considering economic, social and environmental benefits for all their stakeholders. Friedman’s position on CSR appears very negative, his argument is the only social responsibility businesses have is to exploit their capabilities to increase profits, therefore implying businesses solely aim to increase profits while disregarding social and environmental factors (Friedman, 1970). I disagree with this view because I believe businesses are required to undertake social responsibilities, such as recycling and using fair trade ingredients, to provide customer satisfaction and create a good public image. If customers were not satisfied with the products or services, they purchase or thought they were buying from an unethical company this could decrease demand and profits. Therefore, CSR is important to businesses because businesses need customers to survive and a method of retaining or gaining customers is to be socially responsible.

A study on the negative impact of CSR on both firms and consumers supported with research and evidence.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is something that affects all companies and should be an active factor in the company’s decision making. It is something all corporations need to care about. CSR is when business’ or corporations take part in an initiative or campaign for a cause that will benefit society and/or in some way make the world a better place (Taylor, 2015). Initially, Corporate Social Responsibility started to take shape around the 1950’s, but some say that it dates all the way back to the 1800s, the idea of CSR was seen (Carroll, 2007). One may think that because it is dated so long ago, it doesn’t have an important impact today nevertheless, it is proven that Corporate Social Responsibility is a pathway for entities to self benefit as they are in the process of benefitting society.

In the Canadian economy, corporate social responsibility is a significant aspect of most business transactions. This is due to the importance placed upon it by society, in particular the demands of Canadian citizens. In every economy around the world, these demands are different and thus reflected in the creation of government policies that require corporate social responsibility to be considered. It is not only these policies, but the consumer demands for CSR that determine the significance of CSR within companies. Therefore, although a great importance is placed upon CSR in Canada, especially here at Macewan, this is not always the case in other locations around the world.

Carroll defines corporate social responsibility (CSR) encompasses the economic, legal, ethical and discretionary (philanthropic) expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time. “Several authors have pointed to Walmart as an important emerging private actor in the transformation of lawmaking in the CSR field, referring to it as a ‘global legislator.’ They highlight how Walmart is able to use its contractual relationships to regulate behaviour among its suppliers around the globe with respect to product quality, working conditions for the suppliers’ employees, and ethical conduct” (Cedilla Torres). Walmart has a strong philanthropic responsibility,

In this paper, the cultural dimensions of Hofstede were set up as a framework to analyze the behavior of firms in different societies. Besides, the authors developed a set of propositions related to propensity of consumers to punish CSR according to Hofstede cultural dimensions. In this process, approaches were put forward to adjust CSR practices in response to differing cultural attitudes. CSR was taken in the extant literature which was categorized into four broad and distinct sections.

In a fiercely competitive economy, good social reputations are companies’ biggest asset. Copious recent research established direct correlations between companies’ social responsibility and consumer purchasing behaviours.

At the moment, social responsibility appears to gain a higher importance, enabling “businesses to gain legitimacy among their constituents” (Maignan and Ferrell 2004, p.4). From a marketing perspective,

In business and marketing world, with an incessant competition, to find what customers need is one of the most key things that a company needs to identify. However, customers in the market are different in both physics and mental. Thus, customer segmentation is needed in order to create and focus the firms’ suitable strategies. Nowadays, ethical consumption is getting more interested by some customers. With a rising concern of ethical customers, it is important for the firm to understand these customers and develop strategies to serve their need (Peattie, 2001). As supported by Pedersen and Neergaard (2006), the firms have to adjust themselves in coherent with customer ethical consumption as more people are expected the firm to act ethically (Creyer & Ross Jr, 1997). As a result of serving these needs, firms’ ethical behaviour perceived by customers could produce a positive image to company as well as sales (Mohr et al., 2001). Also, as revealed by Becker-Olsen (2006), 80% of respondents in the study said that firm should engage in CSR activities, and believe that it will benefit the firm. Moreover, as reveal in many studies which will be discussed in the literature review chapters, more people is showing intention to ethically consume as a reward to the positive behaviours of firms, and will avoid any product that unethically produced. However, the ethical intention doesn’t always transform into actual behaviour. As revealed by Brey et al.

In 2002, Environics International presented another study (the CSR Monitor) showing that about a third of consumers reward ethical firms and punish the unethical ones (Papafloratos, 2009). More recently, the 2010 Corporate Social Responsibility Perceptions Survey stated that more than 75% of consumers believe it is crucial for companies to be socially responsible and 55% of them are more likely to buy a product associated with a certain cause than when choosing between similar products (Burson Marsteller, 2010).

One notable example of an organization that adopts significant CSR initiatives from a developed country is Starbucks which is an American multinational corporation. On the other hand, a considerable example of a company with significant CSR from a developing country is China Mobile which is still in its global expansion stage. The China mobile company is a Chinese multinational corporation. The two different companies offer an effective platform for comparing the CSR understanding and initiatives of different organizations from the developed world and from developing countries. What makes the examples even more effective is the fact that the two companies are different stages of development in the global business environment. This makes it

Mohr, L. A., Webb, D. J., & Harris, K. E. (2001). Do Consumers Expect Companies to be Socially Responsible? The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Buying Behavior. Journal Of Consumer Affairs, 35(1), 45.

The need of well defining CSR is central to many developing countries that are exponentially growing in demand and offer. China is certainly one of the most researched country when it comes to business and social practices for an innumerous number of reasons. Being a world leader in manufacturing, China is now influencing the Western world and therefore it appears fundamental to understand how the country is moving towards Western concepts such as CSR. Although the world demand for business best practices and ‘green’ policies has been promptly addressed by Chinese authorities and manager, it is important to explain that CSR is somehow a rooted concept in traditional Chinese culture (Liu, 1995). Confucianism

This project is going to access the quality of Chinese companies’ CSR reports. In particular, to access the balance between good and bad information in the reports suggested by G4 guidelines. China has its unique cultural background which strongly effects the understanding and adoption of CSR concepts. The Chinese concept of Face (Mianzi) under the impression management can be used to explain the balance of CSR reports in China. Previous studies provide many good theories in this area, this study is going to build on them and provide empirical evidence to existing literature in order to better understand Chinese companies’ CSR disclosure and their reports.