Altruism or Strategy? A Study of Attributions of Responsibility in Business and its Impact on the Consumer Decision Making Process

ABSTRACT. The principal aim of this paper is to propose a model of consumer decision making based on responsibility criteria, just as to analyze the role of consumers' attributions of business responsibility as determinants of that process. A self-reported study was conducted from a total sample of 454 Spanish consumers. Structural equations modeling with PLS was used to test the sequence between information search, information evaluation and purchase behavior based on responsibility criteria, just as the effect of value, stakeholder, strategic and egoistic-driven motivations attributed to corporate responsibility. Results support a model of responsible consumer decision making and show a different pattern of effects of social and strategic attributions on consumer behavior.JEL Classification: M31Keywords: Public marketing, corporate social responsibility, responsible consumption, consumer decision making process, social orientation, profit orientation, SpainIntroductionOver past decades, responsibility has gained increasing importance within both public and private organizations, it being the subject of much investigation and debate among both researchers and practitioners (Ibrahim et al., 2006). Particularly, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been defined as "a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis" (European Commission, 2001, p. 6). According to this new paradigm of economic functioning, enterprises are more and more convinced that improvement of social settings through their own activity has a great potential to contribute to the objectives pursued. In this sense, all kind of organizations around the world are nowadays concerned for maintaining their reputation and making it clear their involvement with social demands and changes, in order to send a signal to the various stakeholders with whom they interact. From this viewpoint, widely accepted among academics and experts, it is assumed that consumers' demands and expectations have to be satisfied beyond the specific need which originated the relationship with the organization. In words of Baker (2006, pp. 197-198), "distinction between success and failure in competitive markets may be reduced to two basic issues, first, an understanding of marketing needs, and, second, the ability to deliver added value". In consequence, business managers are now aware that issues such as collaboration with social causes, guarantee of fair relationships with stakeholders, fair trade, environmental awareness, work insertion of marginal collectives, and health and safety at work are, among others, new expectations to be fulfilled by enterprises in the satisfaction of consumer expectations (e.g., Vazquez et al., 2011, 2012). Hence, responsible initiatives to influence consumers and differentiate product offerings have become quite common in current marketplaces (Becker-Olsen et al., 2006). In line with this premise, many authors have investigated the implications of responsibility for marketing in organizations, concluding that contribution to social and environmental causes may induce consumer goodwill towards the company (e.g., Brown and Dacin, 1997; Jones, 1997; Handelman and Arnold, 1999; Lorge, 1999; Maignan, 2001), and thus remarking the importance of considering the way that corporate decisions are perceived by the public (Roberts, 1993, 1995, 1996; Mohr et al., 2001; Becker-Olsen et al., 2006; Ellen et al., 2006; Webb et al., 2008; Vlachos et al., 2009). However, previous research have founded important mismatches between the pre-purchase and purchase behaviors of consumers when taking into consideration CSR criteria, in the sense that they seem to be less likely to buy ethical products than their stated intentions in marketplace polls (e.g., Auger et al., 2008; Ehrich and Irving, 2005; Luchs et al., 2010; Gupta and Sen, 2013). …