*1.3. Research Structure*

Section 1 introduces CSR generally and particularly in Taiwan, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It also briefly mentions the purpose of this research and the study structure. Section 2 is the literature review—it defines CSR components, namely, CSR towards the environment, society, customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders. It also investigates CSR's effects on customers' attitudes toward brands and their purchase intention. In this section, a model including nine hypotheses is also described. In Section 3, the sampling technique and the research methodology are demonstrated. Specifically, we show the way to distribute, collect, and analyze data. Section 4 presents the hypotheses testing results extracted from analyzing the data collected. Moreover, the results of the statistical analyses show the similarities and differences in the three locations. Section 5 includes the conclusion, discussion, limitations, and further studies.

#### **2. Literature Review**

#### *2.1. CSR*

The concept of CSR dates back to a long time ago. Especially, after World War II, CSR was adopted and gradually became prevalent [29]. Nowadays, CSR has received a great deal of attention from the public. Many companies issue CSR reports as a means of communicating their CSR performance. Public and company awareness leads to the growth of CSR initiatives [30]. There are many standards used as social reporting frameworks. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has become commonly used for reporting sustainability [31] since GRI reports are used to judge improvement year by year, and also facilitates making comparisons with their rivals [32]. It provides three standards, including economic, environmental, and social metrics [33]. The ESG metrics are based on three aspects (environmental, social, and governance); ESG disclosures can also help companies become more reliable and transparent and, then, improve their reputation [34]. Furthermore, ISO 26,000 is not certifiable but offers guidance on socially responsible practices to organizations as well as the public sector [35]. One of the most valuable frameworks is the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), which correlates firms' strategies and activities with human rights, labor, environment, and anticorruption principles [30]. Regarding employees, Social Accountability International's SA8000 standard and FLA Workplace Code guide on maintaining social practices in the workplace [36].

Although many previous theories and models have studied CSR, to date, there is a scarcity of research models that examine how CSR affects brand attitude and purchase intention. In addition, previous research was conducted on just one specific area and did not examine the interrelations in areas that have different legal, economic, cultural, and social conditions. Moreover, previous research was carried out in normal situations. However, this study is conducted in a crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, in which the cost of CSR activities [24] and the sensitivity of customers are prone to be high. Therefore, this study proposed the influence of CSR on purchase intention in Vietnam and Indonesia—emerging economies—and Taiwan—a developed economy.

Since the 1950s, there have been many definitions of CSR. In the study, CSR is defined as a set of principles that a company adopts voluntarily beyond legal requirements to be accountable toward the environment, society, customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders [26,27]. Therefore, it improves quality of life and also contributes to sustainable development. According to [28], CSR is a seven-dimensional construct, which includes the environment, society, community, customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders. However, we realize that there are some overlaps between the two domains—community and society—and we integrate the two domains into one. Therefore, in this study, CSR includes six subdomains.

#### 2.1.1. CSR towards the Environment

Environmental sustainability and green business management have received a great deal of attention. The environment domain plays a crucially important role in CSR and environmental conservation is a duty of corporations and can be a strategic instruction for how enterprises achieve sustainable development [34]. CSR towards the environment is the combination of the awareness of environmental management and the philosophy of corporate operation to alleviate the effect of manufacturing on the environment [37]. CSR towards the environment has been mentioned widely but lacks quantitative data to evaluate the outcomes, while many frameworks, such as ESG, involve environmental criteria to gauge how well a company serves the environment. CSR towards the environment can be considered as enterprises minimizing energy consumption, using ecofriendly and

sustainable materials, and having proper waste management. Moreover, these companies engage in constant efforts to preserve the environment, as well as invest in research and development related to environment protection [28,38,39]. This study assumes the existence of the positive relationship of CSR towards the environment and overall CSR. As a result, the following first hypothesis is developed:
