مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد مسئولیت اجتماعی شرکت ها و نگرش های برند – الزویر ۲۰۱۹

It is important to understand the relative importance of business ethics and social responsibility in determining brand attitudes. However, there has been a failure in prior research to differentiate between attitudes toward business ethics and CSR. This research reviews customer-brand research related to business ethics and social responsibility and conducts a study to evaluate customer attitudes. Four scenarios offer variations in company behaviors related to positive and negative conduct of customer social responsibility and business ethics. Study findings from a panel of 351 respondents provide new insights related to a customer’s expectations and perceptions of company CSR and business ethics behavior. We conclude that although CSR attitudes remain important, customers value business ethics as a critical behavior in their perceptions of brand attitudes.

Introduction

The relationship between ethics and social responsibility in customer-brand relationships is important in understanding brand attitudes (Kumar & Reinartz, 2016). Many types of brands and brand relationships have been associated with customer-company identification (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003). Research results are often conflicting and incomplete on how consumers define business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Ethics is often defined as “doing good” and interrelated with CSR (Schwartz & Carroll, 2008). Moreover, researchers have not differentiated attitudes toward business ethics and CSR, especially in the development of scales to measure these two constructs. Most consumer research blends business ethics and CSR together (Brunk, 2012), whereas consumer ethics scales typically measure personal ethical perspectives about firm behavior related to both business ethics and CSR (Vitell & Muncy, 2005). While academic research often combines business ethics and CSR as one overlapping concept, Weller (2017) discovered that in practice the concepts are socially negotiated, contextual with different meanings and relationships. While Weller’s (2017) research involved senior managers, there have been no studies to determine if CSR and business ethics are viewed as different constructs by customers. This research addresses this gap in knowledge by investigating customer brand attitudes related to business ethics and CSR. A number of complementary frameworks appear to be in competition for preeminence including corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics and stakeholder management (Schwartz & Carroll, 2008). Social responsibility has been defined as corporate social performance, stakeholder theory and even business ethics theory (Carroll, 1999). Therefore, the academic community has often combined the constructs of business ethics and CSR. Business ethics is often limited to philosophical theories related to right or wrong decisions. A survey of definitions found rules, standards and moral principles were mentioned most often for business ethics (Lewis, 1985). Ethical brands have been explored from the perspective of social responsibility issues such as sustainability, fair trade, or helping to improve customer welfare. Studies have explored brands being positioned using ethical attributes (Peloza, White, & Shang, 2013; White, MacDonnell, & Ellard, 2012). In addition, studies have specifically addressed the effects of CSR on corporate reputation and brand equity (Hsu, 2012). However, research has not clearly defined the difference between business ethics and CSR. For example, White et al. (2012) defines ethical brands as fair trade while Sierra, Iglesias, Markovic, and Singh (2017) assess ethical brand image using social responsibility indicators. For example, statements such as environmentally responsible, beneficial to the welfare of society, socially responsible brand, and creates new jobs are used. These inconsistencies are typical of many studies that treat business ethics and CSR as one and the same.