Corporate Social Responsibility: determinants, consumers' preferences and strategic approach

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a corporate strategy involving social, environmental and human rights concerns into business operations. The aim of CSR is to promote sustainable productive processes with lower impact on the environment and natural resources as well as more respectful of all subjects involved by corporate activities. Accordingly, the core of CSR relies on spreading a corporate culture in which company stakeholders become the centre of business strategies. Undoubtedly, consumers play a central role in influencing these strategies by exercising actively their power on the market. Indeed, through their purchases reward companies that meet their expectation and concerns. The general objective of this study is to extend the literature about CSR providing insights both in terms of firm organization and consumer behaviour. Understanding consumers' preferences toward the different CSR initiatives was the approach implemented in the research to achieve these aims. Indeed, the results allow on one hand to comprehend consumer purchase decision toward specific corporate social initiatives and on the other are a mean for companies that want to reshape their organizational processes in order to meet their customers' expectations. Moreover, the research identified common traits able to characterise the ethical consumers by implementing the analysis of personal values.