Consumer perceptions of the requirements and consequences of corporate social responsibility

Dissertation for receiving a master's degree in business management (international marketing orientation)

Abstract

The social responsibility of the organization deals with the relationship between the organization and the society, and specifically, this concept examines the effects of the activities of companies on the people of the society.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the consumer's perceptions of the requirements and consequences of the social responsibility of the organization, which Paksho production group is chosen as a research example. In this research, the variables of perceived financial performance and the perceived quality of ethical statements are considered as requirements for the implementation of social responsibility of the organization. Social responsibility affects various aspects of consumer perceptions. In this research, we have considered 4 perceptual dimensions: consumer loyalty, consumer trust, perceived risk, and perceived image of the company.

In this research, quantitative methods, questionnaire setting, and sampling were used. The statistical population of the research was the consumers of cleaning products in the city of Tehran, and the sample size was estimated to be 384 people using the Jersey-Morgan table. Cronbach's alpha was used to measure the reliability of the questionnaire, and the alpha of the questionnaire was 0.867, which shows that the data collection tool has the necessary stability and reliability over time.

The research method of the present study is descriptive, correlation (structural equation type) and path analysis. The results indicate that the organization's financial performance has no effect on consumer perceptions of social responsibility, and consumers tend to include social responsibility in their activities in any financial situation. On the other hand, it was found that social responsibility affects the loyalty, trust and perceived risk of consumers and brings higher levels of trust and loyalty to the company.

Keywords: organizational social responsibility, consumer perception, stakeholders, ethical statements, social identity theory, legitimacy theory.

1-1. Introduction

Consumer behavior includes various psychological and social processes that occur before and after activities related to purchase and There is consumption. Several factors affect consumer behavior (both in the buying process and consumption). The most important of these factors are: cultural-social and group factors, psychological and individual factors, situational factors and factors related to the marketing mix (Rosta, Ebrahimi and Venus, 2015, p. 117). is Among these factors, perception has a significant role and influence on consumer behavior. Perception[1] is a process during which a person creates a meaningful image of the world through the selection, organization and interpretation of information (Rusta, Ebrahimi and Venus, 2015, p. 122).

The consumer is very important for the organization. The concept of marketing implies the opinion that: industry is the process of customer satisfaction, not the process of producing goods. An industry starts with the consumer and their needs, not with franchises and sales skills. Also, an organization can continue to survive when it can meet the needs and demands of the consumer with a correct and comprehensive understanding from its opposite side (customer), which shows the importance of studying the consumer (Si Mowen, Saleh Ardestani, 1381, p. 20).

The basic definition of the organization's social responsibility given by its founder is: "The organization's effects on society". In other words, the manager must see all his activities in the rules and conditions of the society and be responsible for the effects of his activities in the society system (Carroll & Buchholts, 2005). After many decades have passed in the literature of the organization's social responsibility, a definition agreed upon by experts has not yet been provided (Kakabadse & Rozuel, 2007). By reviewing the literature on the concept of the social responsibility of the organization, it can be said that one of the reasons for the lack of consensus is the development and expansion of the concepts related to the social responsibility of the organization and the growth of new concepts that have caused a kind of chaos and overlap and reduced the transparency of the concept (Godfrey & Hatch, 2007).This confusion has continued until Valand and Heide believe that organizational social responsibility is a fuzzy category that is often defined interchangeably with other concepts such as business ethics, organizational citizenship, organizational governance, accountability and organizational sustainability (Valand & Heide, 2005). However, all the definitions of corporate social responsibility have a simple message, which is: "Business is not separate from the context of society" (Holme & Watts, 2000). From this point of view, organizations have obligations and responsibilities towards the society, whose activities, outputs and results must be consistent with their social responsibility and commitment (Valand & Heide, 2005).

Social responsibility with its entry brings a framework of moral governance, based on which, organizations carry out activities that improve the state of society and avoid doing things that worsen the state of society. Therefore, it can be said that social responsibility is the commitment of decision makers to take actions that, in addition to protecting their own interests, also improve the well-being of the society. Organizations should strive to improve the social welfare accepted by the majority of society by allocating financial resources (Khalili Iraqi, 1384). Finally, social accountability refers to the ability and capacity of the organization to act and act on the demands and expectations of society (Robbins & Coulter, 2007).

One of the main features of social responsibility is that all interested parties should be taken into consideration. The concept of stakeholders - groups of people who somehow influence the organization and its activities or are affected by the organization's actions - differs in different organizations (Robbins & Coulter, 2007). With the increase of social responsibility in the organization, more attention is paid to satisfying the demands of the interested parties in the organization, and the stakeholders provide the possibility of the organization's survival in the long term, which leads to cost savings and synergy (Group of Iranian Experts, 2016, p. 12). Transcendent organizations, as responsible organizations, adopt ethical approaches by clarifying and providing appropriate accountability for their performance to ensure the satisfaction of all their stakeholders (Mashbaki and Bakhtiari, 2010, p. 2).

1-2. Statement of the research problem

In the last few years, there has been a new leap regarding the desire for social responsibility and ethical performance among academic societies and various types of commercial, governmental and non-governmental organizations (Secchi, 2009). The volume of theoretical and practical studies on the issue of social responsibility of the organization and the importance of this issue has increased so much that some experts have claimed that a new model in management is emerging, the main axis of which is the responsibility of the organization towards multiple stakeholders. (Valand & Heide, 2005).

Organizations have to apply ethical and practical requirements so that they can advance their goals by acting in the direction of the desired behavior, norms and demands of the stakeholders. While previous researchers have stated that the long-term survival of the organization is guaranteed when the organization reacts to the interests of the stakeholders and pays less attention to the effects of the organization's social responsibility measures on consumers and their perceptions of the organization, "Fukakawa[3]" emphasizes the importance of the perceptions of the stakeholders regarding the company's pursuit of ethical standards and social responsibility of the organization and draws the organization's attention to its external stakeholders (including society) (Stanaland et al, 2011).

In order for organizations to be able to maintain or improve their position in society in a way that makes them continue to survive and succeed, it is necessary to pay due attention to their social responsibility. It is obvious that if they do not engage in this act and ignore their social responsibility, the society will somehow limit their scope of activity. In simpler words, if organizations do not fulfill their social responsibility, the government, by making decisions and passing laws, somehow forces organizations to fulfill this responsibility. Moreover, if organizations voluntarily take steps towards social responsibility, they will have a favorable image in society (Ahmedreza Ghasemi, 2014, p. 15). "Peter Drucker[4]" says in this regard: "In order to maintain full legitimacy and remain as a private institution, private organizations must accept that they also have a public role and duty" (Alwani, 2014, p. 418).