ISSN 2348-3857

Consumers’ Responses to CSR

Activities in India: The Linkage
between Increased Awareness
and Purchase Intention
Mahesh Kumar
‡•‡ƒ”…Š…Š‘Žƒ”ǡ‡’ƒ”–‡–‘ˆ—•‹‡••†‹‹•–”ƒ–‹‘
University of Rajasthan, Jaipur (Rajasthan)

Abstract
This study explores the relationship between consumer awareness of CSR activities and their purchase
intentions. This study employs a questionnaire survey involving Indian consumers. For the analysis,
measurement scales for CSR activities and consumers’ purchase intention scales are respectively
†‡˜‡Ž‘’‡†Ǥ ”‘–Š‡”‡•—Ž–•‹–‹•ˆ‘—†–Šƒ––Š‡”‡‹•ƒ•‹‰‹ϔ‹…ƒ–’‘•‹–‹˜‡”‡Žƒ–‹‘•Š‹’„‡–™‡‡–Š‡•‡–™‘
’ƒ”ƒ‡–‡”•ǤŠ‹••–—†›ϔ‹†•‘—–ƒ•ƒ…–‹˜‹–‹‡•…‘”’‘”ƒ–‡•‘…‹ƒŽ…‘–”‹„—–‹‘ƒ†Ž‘…ƒŽ…‘—‹–›
contribution affect consumers’ purchase intention while corporate environmental protection and
contribution have no effects on consumers’ purchase intention.
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Consumer Awareness, Purchase Intention
Introduction •–—†‡–•ǡ•—ˆϐ‹…‹‡–•–ƒ–‹‘ƒ”›ƒ†‘’’‘”–—‹–‹‡•
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is often for extra-curricular activities.
referred to as Business Responsibility and an 2. Provide computers and free training for
organization’s response on environmental, social students in rural areas: The company can
and economic issues. Positive actions that reduce donate computers to schools in rural areas and
the negative impact of an organization on these also provide free of cost computer training to
issues can be seen as a way of managing risk. the students, so that they can learn and enhance
Corporate reputation, Governance and Ethics are their IT skills.
Headline issues associated with CSR that have ͵Ǥ
‡– ƒˆϐ‹Ž‹ƒ–‡† ™‹–Š ƒ 
ǣ Join hands
made the news headlines in the last few years. with an NGO and help them out by providing
Today, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) monetary funds and the likes. The employees of
has become an integral part of companies. CSR the company can also join the NGO on various
activities are various initiatives taken up by the activities it conducts for the area it is targeting.
companies to give back to the society that helped 4. Free medical camps for the backward
them reach the stage they are in. There are regions:Š‡…‘’ƒ›…ƒ–‹‡Ǧ—’™‹–Šƒ’”‘Ž‹ϐ‹…
myriad CSR activities conducted by corporates, hospital and provide free health check-ups in
are the mains: ”—”ƒŽ ƒ”‡ƒ•Ǥ ‘‡–‹‡• ‹– …‘—Ž† „‡ ˆ‘” •’‡…‹ϐ‹…
1. Adopt a school in a village: —‡ –‘ –Š‡ medical purposes, like polio vaccination in
inherent lack of quality primary education in the children, cervical cancer vaccinations in women,
rural areas, the company could adopt a school –‡•–‹‰ˆ‘”ƒŽƒ”‹ƒȀ†‡‰—‡Ȁ•™‹‡ϐŽ—ǡ‡–…Ǥ
‹ ƒ ˜‹ŽŽƒ‰‡ ƒ† ‡’Ž‘› “—ƒŽ‹ϐ‹‡† –‡ƒ…Š‡”• ™‹–Š 5. Blood Donation Camps: Blood donation
high backgrounds in their subjects. They can camps are one of the best ways to give back to
also provide for good sanitation, uniforms for the the society, and the company can organize one

Research Reinforcement Year 3, Vol. I May 2015 - Oct. 2015 71

ISSN 2348-3857
and invite the general public to donate blood
alongside the employees.
6. Donation of Sports Equipment in Schools:
‹–Š –Š‡ ‹…”‡ƒ•‹‰ ƒ™ƒ”‡‡•• ‘ˆ ϐ‹–‡•• ƒ†
athletics, and the ever growing adoration for
found three emerging alternatives of CSR i.e.
conception of responsibility, global corporate
citizenship, stakeholder management practices.
Moon (2004), paper examined the role
of government in driving corporate social
•’‘”–• ‹ †‹ƒǡ †‘ƒ–‹‰ “—ƒŽ‹–› ϐ‹–‡•• ƒ†
sports equipment would not only persuade the
students to adopt a more healthy lifestyle, but
ƒŽ•‘ƒ†˜‘…ƒ–‡–Š‡…‘’ƒ›ƒ•ƒŠ‡ƒŽ–Šƒ†ϐ‹–‡••
promoting institution.
7. Adult Literacy Programmes: This is an
activity used by Tata Consultancy Services. India
has so many able adults who are unemployed
because they are illiterate and haven’t received
proper education, so this is an initiative that can
increase the employment rate of the country and
bring down the poverty levels.
8. International Scholarships for students
from backward regions: For students of brilliant
ƒ…ƒ†‡‹… …ƒŽ‹„‡” „—– ‘ ‡ƒ• –‘ ˆ—Žϐ‹ŽŽ –Š‡‹”
potential abroad, the company can provide to
fund for the student’s tuition fee, accommodation
fee and day to day living expenses, thereby
providing deserving people with an opportunity
they would have otherwise been devoid of.
9. Food Camp: The Company can invite the
general public to donate as much as food as they
want to in a food camp, which will later be given
to, say an orphanage or distributed in a village.
10. Donation to Orphanage: The employees
can donate handsome amount of money, new
clothes, toys etc to an orphanage. They can also
be required to visit the orphanages and spend
quality time with the children there periodically,
like say once a month.
Review of Literature
Windsor (2001), article examined the future
of Corporate Social Responsibility or the
relationship between business and society in
Ž‘‰ ”—Ǥ Š‡ ”‡•‡ƒ”…Š‡” –”‹‡† –‘ ϐ‹† ‘—– –Šƒ–
whether the organization and society will come
closer to each other in future or not and what will
be the changing phase of CSR. With the help
of history or past trend of CSR, Caroll’s model
analysis and in global context, the researcher
72 Research Reinforcement> Year 3, Vol. I May 2015 - Oct. 2015
responsibility among the corporate. The study
explained that the drivers of CSR are related
with business and society. Business includes
its reputation, corporation itself, employee’s
relation knowledge, goals etc. further, the study
cleared that government is driver of CSR by
making this relationship true and fair through
making through making policies and regulations.
The study also embarked other’s country’s
situation that how their government entered into
businesses for driving CSR.
Vaaland, Heide (2008), paper based on a case
study methodology. The paper purpose was to
handle the CSR critical incidents and utilize this
experience in enforcing the CSR activities. The
study concluded that CSR should be managed
by handling unexpected incidents, long term
reduction of gap between stakeholders and their
expectations and company performance and
ϐ‹ƒŽŽ› ƒ‹–ƒ‹‹‰ ”‡Žƒ–‹‘•Š‹’ ™‹–Š •‘…‹‡–›
through interplay between actor, resources and
activities.
Shah, Bhaskar (2010), has taken a case study of
public sector undertaking i.e. Bharat Petroleum
Corporation Ltd. in their research work. The
research has discussed that there is a broad
relationship between the organization and
society. Organization has its existence only with
the society. Organization used the resources/
inputs of the society like material and human etc.
In reverse, the organization provides services
to the society. From the case study of the BPCL,
it was found that company has taken a lot of
initiatives in order to serve the society.
Hartman (2011), article “Corporate social
Responsibility in the food sector” in European
review of agriculture economics journal, analyzed
the importance of CSR in food sector, particularly
those companies which have high brand. CSR is
an important part of these companies. But SME’s
are less capable in discharging their obligation

towards society. Further, the research found
that food sector always tries to improve the
controlling and discharging its services towards
consumers. Consumers also prefer those brands
‘” ˆ‘‘† ϐ‹”• ™Š‹…Š ‰‹˜‡ ’”‡ˆ‡”‡…‡ –‘ 
activities and provide good product and services.
Bansal, Parida, Kumar (2012), paper entit-
led “Emerging trends of Corporate Social
Responsibility in India” in KAIM Journal of
Management and Research analyzed 30 com-
panies of 11 sectors listed in the Bombay Stock
Exchange with the help of their annual reports.
Some of these sectors were Transport Equipment
sector, Finance and Metal Mining sector, IT &
Power, Capital goods, Telecom, Housing, FMCG,
Oil & Gas and Cipla. The paper considered
the nature and areas of society in which the
companies are investing. By considering all those
areas it was concluded in the paper that today
…‘’ƒ‹‡• ƒ”‡ ‘– ™‘”‹‰ ‘Ž› –‘ ‡ƒ” ’”‘ϐ‹–
but also have realized the importance of being
social friendly. So, on the basis of the paper it can
be said that social responsibility has now started
taking a turn in the new direction.
The Economic Times (11 Jan.2013), news
Š‹‰ŠŽ‹‰Š–‡†ƒ„‘—––Š‡…‘’ƒ›‡ŽŽǯ••–”ƒ–‡‰›‘ˆ
motivating its employees in initializing CSR. The
news discussed that company’s employees are
the power that forced the company to do more
for the society. Company with its employees
has engaged in social responsibility activities
in the areas of education, environment and
‡’Ž‘›‡‡ǯ• ™‡Žˆƒ”‡Ǥ ‡•‹†‡ ‡ŽŽ ‘’ƒ›ǡ –Š‡
news also discussed about other companies like
Maruti and Godrej that these companies also
provide induction training to its employees for
preparing them for community services. Maruti
Company run a program named e- parivartan for
a group of employees to make them aware about
community problem and their solution.
‹‰‹ϐ‹…ƒ…‡‘ˆ–Š‡–—†›
ISSN 2348-3857
(CSR) in general without inquiring into con-
sumers’ understanding of this notion. As Sen
and Bhattacharya (2001) pointed out, there is
little known about the effects of CSR activities on
consumers despite increasing emphasis on CSR
in the marketplace.
Objective
This paper aims to examine the relationship
between consumers’ awareness of CSR activities
and their purchase intentions.
Research Methodology
This study was conducted in the period bet-
ween the 1st February and 31st May 2015.
A randomly selected sample of 250 Indian
consumers participated in this study. A total of
250 questionnaires were distributed and 233
were returned. Eighteen questionnaires were
not fully answered and were thus excluded
from the analysis. Thus, a total of 215 samples,
…‘•–‹–—–‹‰ƒͺ͸Ψ”‡–—”‡†”ƒ–‹‘ǡ™‡”‡ƒ’’Ž‹‡†
in this study. The average age of the respondents
in this sample was 39 (mean = 39, minimum=
ͳͺǡ ƒš‹—α ͸ͶȌǤ ͷͲǤ͹Ψ ‘ˆ –Š‡ •ƒ’Ž‡ ™ƒ•
ˆ‡ƒŽ‡ȋαͳͲͻȌǤ‘‰–Š‡”‡•’‘†‡–•ǡʹʹǤ͵Ψ
‰”ƒ†—ƒ–‡†Š‹‰Š•…Š‘‘ŽǡͷͶǤͻΨ”‡…‡‹˜‡†—‹˜‡”•‹–›
‡†—…ƒ–‹‘ǡƒ†ʹʹǤͺΨ™‡”‡—‹˜‡”•‹–›‰”ƒ†—ƒ–‡•
or above.
Hypothesis
Ho: Š‡”‡ ‹• ƒ •‹‰‹ϐ‹…ƒ– ”‡Žƒ–‹‘•Š‹’ „‡–™‡‡
increased awareness and purchase intention of
consumers’ towards CSR activities.
Ha:Š‡”‡‹•ƒ‘•‹‰‹ϐ‹…ƒ–”‡Žƒ–‹‘•Š‹’„‡–™‡‡
increased awareness and purchase intention of
consumers’ towards CSR activities.
Research Instrument
I developed measures of (1) consumers’ aware-
ness of corporate social responsibility activities
and (2) consumers’ purchase intention, res-
pectively. For the measurement items of con-
sumers’ awareness of CSR activities (M= 4.92,
Previous studies mainly focused on limited ǤǤ α ͳǤ͵Ͷǡ Ƚ α ǤͻͳȌǡ  ƒ†‘’–‡† –Š‡ ϐ‹˜‡ ‹–‡•
aspects of corporate social responsibility, such as from Maignan (2001) and added four items. A
community involvement or corporate giving or total of nine items were thus employed with
have considered corporate social responsibility a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not

Research Reinforcement Year 3, Vol. I May 2015 - Oct. 2015 73

ISSN 2348-3857
at all) to 7 (extremely well). The nine items
include local economic development, consumer
protection, social welfare, donations, education,
environmental protection, culture activities, local
community development, and local community
involvement.
Data Analysis and Interpretation
For analysis purposes, I categorized the items
of corporate social responsibility activities as
follows: (1) corporate social contribution (local
economic development, consumer protection,
social welfare, donations, and education),
corporate environmental contribution (environ-
mental protection), and corporate local comm-
unity contribution (culture activities, local co-
mmunity development and local community
involvement). For a reliability test, Cronbach’s
alpha was applied and the range of the alpha
value was from .87 to .94. For the measurement
items of consumers’ purchase intentions (M=
intentions. This implies that consumers seek
“good” CSR activities, and they intend to buy
products from “good” companies.
More importantly, this study revealed that
consumers’ understanding of CSR activities
affects their purchase intentions. Thus, it is
worthwhile to explore a broader range of CSR
dimensions and activities, and to investigate the
relationship between consumers’ awareness
of CSR activities and their buying behavior.
In addition, given the international scope of
corporate activities today, it is important for
many businesses to understand whether CSR
activities are perceived in the same manner
across borders.
References
1. Beri, G.C. (2010). Marketing Research (3rd ed.),
ƒ–ƒ…‰”ƒ™‹ŽŽǡ‡™‡ŽŠ‹Ǥ
2. Kothari, C.R. (2005). Research Methodology:
Methods and Techniques (2nd ed.). New Age
ͶǤͺʹǡ ǤǤ α ͳǤ͵ͷǡ Ƚ α ǤͻͶȌǡ ™‡ ƒ†‘’–‡† –Š‡ ϐ‹˜‡
items from Maignan’s work with a 7-point Likert
•…ƒŽ‡”ƒ‰‹‰ˆ”‘ͳȋ†‡ϐ‹‹–‡Ž›™‘—Ž†‘–Ȍ–‘͹
ȋ†‡ϐ‹‹–‡Ž› ™‘—Ž†ȌǤ Š‡ ˆ‘ŽŽ‘™‹‰ ‹• ƒ ‡šƒ’Ž‡
of one of the developed items: ‘I would purchase
products from a socially responsible company’.
The study analysis revealed that there is a
positive relationship between the consumers’
awareness of CSR activities and consumers’
purchase intentions (t = 13.61, df = 213, p < .001).
Among corporate social responsibility activities
corporate social contributions (t = 6.53, df = 213,
p < .001) and local community contribution (t =
͵Ǥͷ͵ǡ†ˆαʹͳ͵ǡ’δǤͲͲͳȌ•‹‰‹ϐ‹…ƒ–Ž›‹ϐŽ—‡…‡†
consumers’ purchase intentions while corporate
‡˜‹”‘‡–ƒŽ…‘–”‹„—–‹‘ȋ–αΫǤͶͻǡ†ˆαʹͳ͵ǡ’
δǤͲͲͳȌ†‹†‘–•‹‰‹ϐ‹…ƒ–Ž›‹ϐŽ—‡…‡…‘•—‡”•ǯ
purchase intentions.
Conclusion
This study found that consumers’ awareness of
CSR activities and their purchase intentions are
linked positively. Interestingly, a higher awareness
level of corporate social contribution and local
community contribution, as CSR activities, had
more positive effects on consumers’ purchase
74 Research Reinforcement> Year 3, Vol. I May 2015 - Oct. 2015
–‡”ƒ–‹‘ƒŽ˜–Ǥ–†Ǥ‡™‡ŽŠ‹Ǥ
3. Krishanaswamy, K.N., Sivakumar, Appa Iyer and
Mathirajan, M. (2009). Management Research
Methodology. ‡ƒ”•‘†—…ƒ–‹‘ǡ‡™‡ŽŠ‹Ǥ
4. Madan, Pankaj, Paliwal, Vageesh and Bhardwaj,
Rahul (2011). Research Methodology. Global
‹•‹‘—„Ž‹•Š‹‰‘—•‡ǡ‡™‡ŽŠ‹Ǥ
5. Bansal, Harbajan. Parida, Vinu & Pankaj
Kumar (2012). Emerging trends of Corporate
Social Responsibility in India. KAIM Journal of
Management. Vol.4. No. 1-2.
6. Chaturvedi, Anumeha. (2013). Companies
Give Employees A Nudge for Corporate Social
Responsibility. The Economic Times (11 Jan.
2013).
7. Hartmann, Monika (2011). Corporate Social
Responsibility in the Food Sector. European
Review of Agriculture Research. Vol.38. No.3. Pp.
297-324.
8. Maignan, I. (2001). Consumers’ Perceptions of
Corporate Social Responsibilities: A Cross-cultural
Comparison. Journal of Business Ethics, 30(1),
57–72.
9. Moon. Jermy (2004). Government As A Driver
of Corporate Social Responsibility: A U.K.
Comparative Perspective. International Centre
for Corporate Social Responsibility.No.20.

10. Sen, S., & Bhattacharya, C. (2001). Does Doing
Good Always Lead to Doing Better? Consumer
Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility?
Journal of Marketing Research, 38(2), 225–243.
11. Shah, Shashank & Sudhir Bhaskar (2010).
Corporate Social Responsibility in an Indian
Public Sector Organization: A Case Study of
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. Journal of
Human Values. Vol. 16. No. 2.Pp. 143-156.
12. Vaaland, Terjre., & Morton, Heide. (2008).
Managing Corporate social Responsibility: Lessons
Research Reinforcement Year 3, Vol. I May 2015 - Oct. 2015 75
ISSN 2348-3857
from the Oil Industry. Corporate communications:
An international journal.Vol. No.Pp. 212-225.
ͳ͵Ǥ ‹†•‘”ǡ—ƒ‡ȋʹͲͲͳȌǤThe Future of Corporate
Social Responsibility. International Journal of
Organizational Analysis.Vol. 9. No.3. Pp. 225–
256.
14. www.indiacsr.in
15. www.economictimes.com
16. www.karmayog.org/CSR