Introduction

As Continued technological advancement renders increasingly frequent worldwide communication and collaboration, more and more corporate organisations are conducting business on a world scale and the market economy is undergoing globalisation. Therefore, corporate decisions and actions have a profound influence on a country’s economy, social development and the interest of stakeholders, making it necessary for corporations to fulfil corporate social responsibility (CSR), a topic that is receiving growing attention worldwide (Foote, Gaffney, & Evans, 2010; Kanji & Chopra, 2010; Matute-Vallejo, Bravo, & Pina, 2011). CSR is associated with corporate reputation, corporate image, corporate financial performance, and interaction among stakeholders (e.g. stockholders, employees, and consumers) (Barnea & Rubin, 2010; Bhattacharya & Sen, 2004; Galbreath & Shum, 2012; He & Lai, 2012; Keh & Xie, 2009; Yuen, Thai, & Wong, 2016). Moreover, undertaking CSR as an indispensable business activity or marketing strategy can crucially affect a firm’s sustainability (Green & Peloza, 2014; Marin, Rubio, & Maya, 2012; Porter & Kramer, 2006). The stakeholder theory asserts that consumers are the primary stakeholders in a firm, the largest source of a firm’s income, and a major factor in its development (Freeman, 1984). Thus, failing to adequately address consumer perceptions may negatively influence a firm’s growth, and this underlines the need to elucidate the relationship between a firm and its consumers. Although the relationship between CSR and consumer behaviour has been extensively studied, literature gaps remain to be filled. First, because of the limited availability of CSR data, many previous studies have acquired such data from databases (e.g. Kinder, Lyndenberg, and Domini) or have used experimental designs to analyze data (Klein & Dawar, 2004; Oberseder, Schlegelmilch, Murphy, & Gruber, 2014; Sen, Bhattacharya, & Korschun, 2006). However, the results of such studies may not adequately reflect consumer perceptions of firms’ CSR participation. This limitation can be resolved by administering a questionnaire to collect primary data about consumer attitudes toward firms’ CSR initiatives. Second, research on CSR within specific industries is scarce. Griffin and Mahon (1997) conducted a meta-analysis of 51 CSR studies and concluded that none had focused on one specific industry. The researchers argued that investigations into CSR across industries are limited because internal and external environments, social issues, and the specificity of stakeholders vary in different industries.