Corporate Social Responsibility Practices, Corporate Identity, and Purchase Intention: A Dual-Process Model

TLDR

The study interprets results within a dual‑process model of corporate identity. The authors evaluated the relationships among CSR practices, corporate identity, and purchase intention across four firms: Microsoft, Nike, Philip Morris, and Wendy’s. Discretionary and moral/ethical CSR practices predict the corporate social values dimension, relational CSR predicts the expertise dimension, and familiarity with CSR shapes identity, which in turn influences purchase intention—predictive patterns varied by company, with Nike and Wendy’s showing both dimensions, Microsoft only expertise, and Philip Morris only social values.

Abstract

The relationships among corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices, corporate identity, and purchase intention were evaluated for 4 corporations: Microsoft, Nike, Philip Morris, and Wendy's. Discretionary CSR practices and moral/ethical CSR practices emerged as significant predictors of the corporate social values dimension of identity. Relational CSR practices, however, contributed mainly to the expertise dimension of corporate identity. Also, familiarity with CSR practices of a corporation had a significant effect on corporate identity, which in turn affected purchase intention. For 2 of the 4 companies, Nike and Wendy's, both corporate expertise and corporate social values were significant predictors of purchase intention. For Microsoft, only the expertise dimension was predictive of purchase intention, whereas for Philip Morris, only the corporate social values dimension was a significant predictor of purchase intention. The results are interpreted within a dual-process model of corporate identity.