Optimising corporate social responsibility spend a conjoint experiment to determine consumer evaluations of corporate social responsibility strategies

Abstract

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming more prominent due to a number of forces, including an increase in ethical consumerism and government or industry regulation. Business owners are coming to the realisation that CSR investment should be viewed as an opportunity to increase the success of companies rather than as damage control or PR campaign; CSR is becoming a critical factor in the competitive success of companies. Increasing social responsibility can indeed result in benefits, financial and otherwise, not just for society but also for companies. This study aimed to determine:• Consumer preferences regarding the various CSR strategies that companies can pursue and• Whether consumers place higher value on CSR strategies which benefit their own society or strategies which benefit society at large.A convenience sample of South Africans were selected for the study and asked to complete a web-based survey. The study was done in the form of a conjoint value analysis.The study found that:• Consumers do have different levels of preference for the different CSR strategies which businesses can follow.• Consumers prefer a CSR strategy that benefits their own society over a CSR strategy that benefits the society at large.