*Article* **Consumers' Perspectives and Behaviors towards Corporate Social Responsibility—A Cross-Cultural Study**

**Yi Hsu \* and Thi Hong Gam Bui**

Department of Business Administration, National Formosa University, Huwei Township 632301, Taiwan; graciebui1312@gmail.com

**\*** Correspondence: yihsu214@gmail.com

**Abstract:** This study measured consumers' perspectives and behaviors with respect to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Specifically, we explored the components of CSR, including CSR aimed towards the environment, society, customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders. We also examined the impact of CSR practices on brand attitude and purchase intention. The study surveyed 616 consumers across three locations, with detailed questionnaires in four languages. A total of 564 samples (186 from Vietnam, 189 from Indonesia, and 189 from Taiwan) qualified for data analysis. Additionally, statistics software including LISREL 8.8, STATISTICA 10, and MINITAB 19 were utilized to evaluate our hypotheses and construct a structural model. The results indicated that the consumers across the three areas were not concerned about CSR aimed towards shareholders, while all consumers considered CSR aimed towards themselves. Vietnamese customers prioritized a company's care for its employees, while both Indonesian and Taiwanese consumers concentrated on the environment and society. In addition, suppliers' benefits and rights attracted Indonesians' attention. Furthermore, CSR had a positive significant impact on brand reputation in all three cultures. However, while CSR had a positive influence on customer purchase intention in Indonesia and Taiwan, it did not in Vietnam.

**Keywords:** corporate social responsibility; brand attitude; purchase intention; linear structure relation model; regression model

#### **1. Introduction**

#### *1.1. Research Background*

These days, many companies are attempting to humanize themselves. Specifically, they are endeavoring to behave like humans in order to win customers' hearts. For example, Howard Schultz—the founder of Starbucks—was inspired by his father's adversity. Schultz's father struggled to make ends meet and was underestimated by his employers; moreover, he was seriously injured in the workplace. The hard times experienced by his father prompted Schultz's motivation to genuinely care about his employees' lives and implement corporate social responsibility (CSR). He established a "Transformation Agenda" targeting the firms' employees [1]. Specifically, Starbucks not only remunerates its employees equally but also offers insurance and other benefits to all part time and full time staff. Additionally, Starbucks has implemented numerous initiatives focused on the environment and the community. Regarding the community, Starbucks operates community stores in collaboration with local nonprofit organizations. Through these endeavors, Starbucks has undertaken a host of activities to help the communities in which they are located. With respect to environmental responsibility, Starbucks has tried to reduce its waste by recycling and conserving water and energy. Furthermore, its CSR performance has earned a great deal of support from its customers and, as a result, has contributed to increased profits. After implementing these strategies, Starbucks bounced back financially, and by 2013 had even exceeded its previous revenue.

**Citation:** Hsu, Y.; Bui, T.H.G. Consumers' Perspectives and Behaviors towards Corporate Social Responsibility—A Cross-Cultural Study. *Sustainability* **2022**, *14*, 615. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020615

Academic Editors: María del Carmen Valls Martínez, José-María Montero and Pedro Antonio Martín Cervantes

Received: 4 December 2021 Accepted: 29 December 2021 Published: 6 January 2022

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Recently, CSR has received attention due to its importance to customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, the environment, and society as a whole. The practice of CSR is one of the effective ways by which an enterprise can enhance its reputation [2] and sharpen its competitive edge, which is subsequently reflected in a firm's profitability [3]. These days, in particular, with competition becoming increasingly tougher, CSR should be taken into consideration. Therefore, extensive studies have been conducted to better understand the components of CSR, as well as the correlations between their roles and consumer perspectives with respect to brand and purchase intention. More specifically, CSR practices can enhance consumers' perspectives on a particular brand or company with respect to trust, engagement, contentment, and attachment [4]. In addition, CSR practices have a significant influence on the target audience's attitude towards the company and their purchase intention [5].

In Taiwan, CSR has entered the mainstream, shifting from its use mainly in NGOs and companies in the public sectors to finding utility in private companies. In September 2014, the government imposed compulsory CSR on all companies with capital above TWD 10 billion, as well as food, chemical, and finance enterprises listed on TWSE/TPEx [6]. In 2015, 77% of Taiwan's top companies published CSR reports, compared to an average of 73% of top firms doing the same around the world. Moreover, to ensure that these reports were reliable, many companies hired one of the big four accounting companies to confirm and verify them. Approximately 50% of the CSR reports were verified independently by certification, testing companies, or accounting firms. To date, many Taiwanese companies have committed to addressing CSR, including the Taiwan Business Bank (TBB), BASF, and Taiwan FamilyMart Co., Ltd. CSR strategies do indeed enhance the competitiveness and corporate reputation of a firm. This can be explained by the fact that consumers in this area are aware of CSR and are more likely to support companies that take on social responsibility, even if the price or quality of the products or services provided by these companies do not exceed those of products or services provided by their counterparts. Indonesia was the first country to adopt a compulsory approach to CSR. According to Article 15 of Law 25 2007, all companies must implement CSR [7]. In reality, the lack of clarity on definitions has resulted in the government finding it difficult to enforce CSR. Companies have, nevertheless, deemed the implementation of CSR to be capable of increasing their competitiveness. Therefore, many domestic and multinational companies, such as Unilever Indonesia, Nestle, Coca-Cola, Exxon Mobil, Conoco Phillips, Pertamina, Chevron, Indosat Ooredoo, etc., have voluntarily adopted CSR. In Vietnam, in the 2000s, CSR was introduced by multinational firms [8,9]. These days, many companies, including BIDV, Bitis, and Vinamilk, have voluntarily adopted CSR, and VinGroup has been a rising star. VinGroup donated a large portion of its budget to help alleviate the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In emerging markets such as Vietnam and Indonesia, CSR is not generally taken seriously. In particular, there are no official regulations or accounting standards in accordance with which enterprises are to disclose CSR activities in either country [10,11]. At the same time, sufficient support for issuing global CSR certificates is not provided [11]. In cases where businesses communicate CSR activities, they are likely to announce them in their yearly report or, rarely, in a CSR report or sustainable report; however, the report indicators and methods are inconsistent [12]. Most companies take on CSR superficially and spontaneously due to their altruistic motives and do not put much effort into fulfilling their social responsibility. In order words, these types of enterprises do not engage actively in sustainable growth due to profit motives [13]. On the one hand, the cost of CSR activities is quite high, which outweighs the benefit that they could derive. On the other hand, consumers who operate in the markets pay more attention to the core value of products rather than CSR.

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, which has since then led to a serious economic crisis [14] with more than 276 million cases and 3.3 million deaths (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/, accessed on 22 December 2021). In Taiwan, the COVID-19 pandemic has been controlled

well [15] due to the experience of SARS in 2003 [16,17]. At the beginning of the pandemic, on 27 April 2020, Taiwan had only 429 cases and 6 deaths [15]. As of 26 December 2020, just 783 cases were confirmed on this island due to its efficient quarantine policies [18]. Although Taiwan encountered a severe wave of infections in May 2021 with about 15,000 cases by 15 July 2021 [19], the number of daily cases decreased to approximately 30 in July 2021 [15]. Updated in 22 December 2021, Taiwan recorded only 16,840 total cases, 850 total deaths, 705 total cases per million people, compared to 35,501 total cases per million people globally, 36 deaths per million people compared to 691 deaths per million people globally. In contrast, in Indonesia and Vietnam, the situation is much worse. Indonesia, a country with the fourth highest population, is likely to be severely affected by the pandemic [20]. In November 2020, the death rate from COVID-19 in Indonesia was the highest in Asia (8% in 2020) [21]. On 22 December 2021, Indonesia recorded 4,261,000 total cases, 144,034 total deaths, and 15,340 total cases per million people, 519 total deaths/million of the population (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus**/**, accessed on 22 December 2021). The explanation for this serious situation is that vaccination programs were rolled out slowly and most Indonesian people follow Islam which limits the consumption of goods—including vaccines—to only those that meet halal certification. Regarding Vietnam, the government controlled the COVID-19 pandemic well during 2020 due to effective quarantine policies [22]. Since April 2021, the most serious COVID-19 outbreak in Vietnam saw 1,588,000 total cases, 30,250 total deaths, and 16,105 total cases per million people, and 307 total deaths per million people, as updated on 22 December 2021 (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/, accessed on 22 December 2021). Many enterprises have been struggling, and some have entered bankruptcy [23]. Obviously, a pandemic—such as COVID-19—is an unexpected event and can magnify the cost of CSR activities [24] and also amplify the sensitivity of customers. In this situation, from a company's perspective, whether it should take on its social responsibility or focus on profit has always been a widely debated issue. In addition, to what extent consumers would support companies that perform CSR remains unknown. According to prior research [25], culture affects CSR disclosures. Particularly, in Western countries, where individualism is embraced and the power gap is not high, CSR reports are prevalent. However, in Asian countries, which are comparatively conservative, the CSR disclosure rate is lower.

#### *1.2. Research Purpose*

Based on previous studies [26–28], this research aims to examine the components and their associated weights in different cultures. Although the concept of CSR components has existed for over a decade, they are still worth researching in the current COVID-19 pandemic—a sensitive time. Furthermore, this research proposes and examines how consumers perceive CSR as well as the influence of CSR on their attitude toward brand and consumer intention. We also collected demographic information for statistical analysis to increase the precision of data in this research. To carry out this study, we collected samples from consumers in Taiwan—a developed economy—as well as two developing economies—Indonesia and Vietnam—during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results analyze CSR components and customers' perception towards CSR, as well as gauge how CSR influences brand attitude and purchase intention. In the research, we make comparisons in three areas. Lastly, this research also makes theoretical and practical contributions.
