Corporate social responsibility and consumer's relationship intention

Abstract

Abstract The study of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of marketing has been increasing in the Brazilian scenario. However, for decision making to be effective in organizations, we need to know consumers' relationship intention in view of the social actions developed. The present study seeks to identify which dimensions of CSR influence consumers' purchase and repurchase intention. Our interest was to observe which dimension of CSR stimulates long‐term relationships between consumers and their suppliers, which is the main novelty of this study. We searched the dimensions of CSR in the literature and discuss the consumer relationship intention with the companies. Thereafter, from the constructs adapted for this research, we performed a study with 544 consumers in Brazil. We analyzed the data through structural equations modeling. The results show that of the four dimensions of CSR (philanthropic, legal, organizational, and ethical), only the philanthropic dimension indicated an influence on consumers' relationship intention with socially responsible companies, which suggests that the Brazilian consumer understands CSR to be synonymous with philanthropy. The main contribution of this study is to note that companies that operate in the CSR philanthropic dimension tend to more easily establish long‐term relationships with their consumers.