Strategic CSR communication : an emerging field / Suzanne C. Beckmann, Mette Morsing & Lucia Reisch -- Corporate social responsibility is a management fashion. So what? / Eric Guthey, Roy Langer and Mette Morsing -- Corporate social responsiveness and public opinion / Steen Vallentin -- Business news and the definition of business and society / Peter Kjær -- Stealth marketing communications : is it ethical? / Roy Langer -- Stakeholder communication strategies / Mette Morsing & Majken Schultz -- Consumers' perceptions of and responses to CSR : so little is known so far / Suzanne C. Beckmann -- Communicating CSR to consumers : an empirical study / Lucia A. Reisch -- The uncertainties of strategic CSR communication : business-NGO relations / Susse Georg -- Communicating CSR issues in supply chains : experiences from Asia / Mette Andersen -- Investor relations and CSR communication : conversing with the forgotten stakeholder / Kai Hockerts -- Reporting consistently on CSR--choosing appropriate discourse strategies / Anne Ellerup Nielsen & Christa Thomsen
Research addressing the relationships between corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and consumers-asstakeholders' perceptions, attitudes and behaviours is dispersed over a range of topics, subsumed under different marketing concepts, and in general surprisingly under-researched given the centrality of CSR in both the normative management literature and public discourse. This paper gives an overview of the past two decades of research on consumers, marketing and CSR, taking the classical consumer decision-making model as frame of classification. The analysis reveals a significant methodology factor and a serious lack of knowledge concerning the consequences of strategic CSR activities.
Executive summary 1. This report contains the main results of a survey of food-related lifestyle in Spain, based on a representative sample of 1000 Spanish households. 2. Generally speaking, Spanish food consumers are very interested in shopping for food and cooking. Compared with other European food consumers, however, they are also very conservative, both in their choice and use of food. 3. Spanish food consumers can be divided into five segments, which differ both in the way they use food and in the importance it has for their attainment of central life values. The segments can only to a small extent be described by means of demographic characteristics. 4. The adventurous food consumers constitute 20% of the population. These are involved food consumers who like both shopping for food and cooking, and who are constantly on the lookout for new products and recipes. They attach a lot of importance to the social role of food. 5. The conservative food consumers constitute 26% of the population. Security is an important purchasing motive for these food consumers, which is reflected in the fact that they only buy familiar products, and cook and eat food traditionally. Apart from this, they are not particularly interested in either shopping cooking. 6. The uninvolved food consumers constitute 16% of the population. These food consumers are neither interested in shopping, cooking, nor the quality of the food they eat, and food is not an important element in their lives. The most important purchasing criterion for these food consumers is that food should be easy to cook. 7. The rational food consumers constitute 26% of the population. These are highly involved food consumers who are both price conscious and check product information when they go shopping, and who generally attach a lot of importance to food quality. They have a practical-rational attitude to cooking and eating, while at the same time stressing the social importance of food. 8. The enthusiastic food consumers constitute 12% of the population. These food consumers have the strongest purchasing motives of all the segments. They put a lot of energy into shopping and cooking, both of which are highly planned. These food consumers go after high quality natural product keep a watchful eye on prices. 9. The enthusiastic food consumers, followed by the rational food consumers, care most about ecology, animal welfare and genetic engineering in connection with food. Including political considerations in purchasing decisions is most widespread among the uninvolved food consumers, however.
This study examined the difference between environmental attitudes of university students in England, Denmark, and the United States. The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between attitudes toward technology, politics, and economics, the primary elements of the dominant social paradigm (DSP), and environmental attitudes. Specifically, as beliefs in the elements of the DSP increase, the perception of the existence of environmental problems decreases. As a result of this decrease, perceived changes necessary to alleviate environmental problems also decreases. The results also indicate that there is a direct relationship between the DSP and perceived change. The policy implications of this result suggest that what is needed is not only increased concern for the environment, but also, education about the DSP and its effect on the environment. Individuals may then break the cycles of technological advance, increased consumption, and reform politics, all of which appear to be complicit in environmental decline.
In: Analyzing the Cultural Diversity of Consumers in the Global Marketplace; Advances in Marketing, Customer Relationship Management, and E-Services, p. 126-145