Effects of The Consumer’s Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility on Purchasing Intention

When general business in the society is perceived to be morally degraded, employees of socially responsible corporates value their corporates’ legitimacy and market advantage more highly. Then, under the same condition, consumers may value socially responsible corporates more highly, causing higher purchasing intention for their products. However, this consequence may be offset when the fit of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative with corporate’s characteristics is low. In this article, we will examine the roles of moral degradation and fit of CSR to the corporate image on the effectiveness of CSR. Continued research will ideally suggest that perceived moral degradation and fit of CSR have positive relationships with purchasing intention, with no interaction in between moral degradation and fit.