• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.83-89
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• 2020

Purpose: This research explores the relationship between Nigerian consumer perception towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its influence on their buying behavior. Research design, data, and methodology: In order to achieve this, a structured three-part questionnaire was developed and distributed to 400 respondents to gather relevant information. The respondents were randomly selected from Lagos and Adamawa, Nigeria. Only 222 questionnaires. were completed and data was later analyzed using administering descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: a) Nigerian consumers have adequate knowledge about CSR; b) Nigerian consumers' awareness of socially responsible practices largely influences their purchasing decisions; c) Nigerian consumers' perceptions of the traditions of socially accountable actions influence their buying behavior. Conclusion: Although the research was targeted at the urban areas of Lagos and Jimeta/Yola in Nigeria, the findings indicate Nigerian consumers generally have a positive perception of CSR. The research offers invaluable contribution to the Nigerian corporates based on which they can reassess their existing CSR policies for better positioning of their company and their products.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.101-110
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• 2020

Purpose: The study investigates the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the real estate sector of the UAE by collecting the opinions of both the real estate companies and different tenants on the execution of CSR. Research design, data, and methodology: Using a sample of 300 different types of UAE real estate consumers and twenty real estate firms, the researchers collected the opinions of targeted subjects by administering two types of questionnaires. The Cronbach's Alpha and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) tests were employed to check the internal consistency and validity of the questionnaires. The selected hypotheses were tested using the Kruskal-Wallis (K-W) hypothesis testing technique. Results: The findings revealed that all types of UAE real estate consumers expressed their discontentment over the implementation of socially responsible actions by the real estate companies. Whereas UAE real estate companies expressed their confidence in the ideal implementation of social actions towards all stakeholders in general and tenants. Conclusion: Even though more than 50 percent of realty customers are dissatisfied with the company's implementation of CSR, a little over 54.80 percent are willing to recommend the company to their family and friends. Implications have been provided for UAE real estate companies who wish to promote their business to all categories of UAE real estate consumers successfully.

• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.127-141
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• 2012

Business firms and consumers exist within a society, and their activities influence a society, because they are not separated from a society. Thus, consumers as well as business firms have been asked to conduct socially responsible actions (i.e., environmentally friendly production and socially friendly activities). Previous researchers have investigated on the relationship between corporate social responsibilities and business performances. For example, researchers have analyzed the effects of corporate social responsibility on consumer's corporate evaluations. The corporate social responsibility is commonly classified into the three dimensions (economic, social, and environmental responsibility). In this paper, we demonstrated that the consumer social responsibility can also be classified into the three dimensions. Previous researchers have shown that the three dimensions of corporate social responsibility influence consumer's corporate evaluation. However, they have not considered the interaction effect of the corporate social responsibility and the consumer social responsibility on consumers' corporate evaluation. Different from the past studies, this study investigated on the interaction effect of consumer social responsibility (economic, social, environmental responsibility) and corporate social responsibility (economic, social, environmental responsibility) on consumer's corporate evaluation. For the study, we collected survey data of 200 consumers and analyzed the interaction effect with ANOVAs. The result showed that the three dimensions of social responsibility to both corporate and consumers influence positively the corporate evaluation. They also showed that the interaction effect of consumer responsibility and corporate responsibility on the corporate evaluation was statistically significant. This implies that it is necessary for corporate to conduct corporate social responsibility differently depending on consumer's activity for consumer social responsibility.

• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.15-32
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• 2012

Previous studies have examined the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate's business performance (especially, consumers' corporate evaluation). According to them, the corporate social responsibility influences the consumers' corporate evaluation. A small and medium sized company as well as a large company is asked to conduct socially responsible actions, however, it is not easy to find a study that focuses on whether the effect of the corporate social responsibility on the consumers' corporate evaluation is different by the size of company. In this paper, we classified the corporate social responsibility into the four dimensions (economic responsibility, legal responsibility, ethical responsibility, philanthropic responsibility), and investigate the differences between a small and medium sized company and a large company in the effects of the four dimensions on the consumers' corporate evaluation. We showed that the each dimension of the corporate social responsibility had an positive effect on the corporate image regardless of the size of company. In addition, we demonstrated that the effects of the four dimensions on the company image were different by the size of company; The legal responsibility and ethical responsibility are more influential to the corporate image of a large company than to that of a small and medium sized company, however, the effects of economic responsibility and philanthropic responsibility are not different by the size of company.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.419-425
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• 2024

As digital communication gains prominence, there is an increasing trend in uncivil behaviors like rude or hateful comments and the empathetic actions towards them, highlighting the need for social efforts to address these issues. As part of these endeavors, we investigated how avatar feedback in a virtual news portal affects users' empathy towards uncivil comments. We defined both posting and empathizing with uncivil comments as antisocial actions. To this end, we posted socially controversial news in a virtual space and provided feedback in two forms when participants selected uncivil comments: text-only feedback and feedback accompanied by an avatar. We then assessed the impact of this feedback on behavioral conformity, guilt, and self-image concern through surveys. Our results showed that avatar-provided feedback significantly influenced participants' social responses more than text-based feedback. Interaction with avatars notably increased participants' behavioral conformity, guilt, and self-image concern. We concluded that avatar-based interactions can positively influence users' social behaviors and attitudes, suggesting their potential in fostering a more civil and responsible digital communication culture.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.177-187
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• 2021

Objectives: This study investigated the different perceptions of customers toward traditional and non-traditional fast-food restaurants regarding restaurant healthfulness, corporate reputation, and the impact of corporate reputation on loyalty intentions through corporate social responsibility (CSR) motive. Methods: An online survey was conducted on U.S. residents who were aware of fast food restaurants' CSR activities. Participants selected one fast food restaurant participating in CSR activities, coded as either traditional (n = 117) or non-traditional (n = 48), and answered questions about the selected restaurant's healthfulness, reputation, CSR motives, and loyalty intentions. The participants' perceptions of healthfulness and corporate reputation of the two types of fast-food restaurants were compared. A mediation path of corporate reputation - CSR motive - loyalty intention was analyzed. Results: Non-traditional fast-food restaurants (5.02 ± 1.26) were perceived to be more healthful than traditional ones (3.93 ± 1.72). The participants perceived that compared to traditional fast-food restaurants, non-traditional ones had a better overall corporate reputation (P = 0.037), were more concerned about their customers (P = 0.029), better workplaces (P = 0.007), more environmentally and socially responsible (P < 0.001), and offered higher quality products and services (P = 0.042). Significant positive correlations were shown between restaurant healthfulness and corporate reputation (P < 0.001 for all reputation items). The suggested mediation path was supported with 95% CIs excluding zero, implying that when fast-food restaurants had a better reputation overall, were customer oriented, good employers, strong companies with a good product and service quality, social and environmental responsibility, the participants were more likely to perceive their CSR activities to be sincere and were hence loyal to that restaurant. Conclusions: Overall, participants were more favorable towards non-traditional fast-food restaurants which had a healthier image and better reputation than traditional ones. Therefore, fast food restaurants need to consider offering healthy food and enhance their image, which would maximize the return on their investment in CSR.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.31
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• pp.27-56
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• 2006

Today's financial institutions usually take environmental issues seriously into consideration as they could not evade lender liability in an increasing number of cases. On the international scene, a brand-new concept of the "Equator Principles" in the New Millenium has driven more and more international banks to adopt these Principles in project financing. Sustainable development has been a key word in understanding new trends of the governments, financial institutions, corporations and civic groups in the 21st century. The Equator Principles are a set of voluntary environmental and social guidelines for sustainable finance. These Principles commit bank officers to avoid financial support to projects that fail to meet these guidelines. The Principles were conceived in 2002 on an initiative of the International Finance Corporation(IFC), and launched in June 2003. Since then, dozens of major banks, accounting for up to 80 percent of project loan market, have adopted the Principles. Accordingly, the Principles have become the de facto standard for all banks and investors on how to deal with potential social and environmental issues of projects to be financed. Compliance with the Equator Principles facilitates for endorsing banks to participate in the syndicated loan and help them to manage the risks associated with large-scale projects. The Equator Principles call for financial institutions to provide loans to projects under the following circumstances: - The risk of the project is categorized in accordance with internal guidelines based upon the environmental and social screening criteria of the IFC. - For Category A and B projects, borrowers or sponsors are required to conduct a Social and Environmental Assessment, the preparation of which must meet certain requirements and satisfactorily address key social and environmental issues. - The Social and Environmental Assessment report should address baseline social and environmental conditions, requirements under host country laws and regulations, sustainable development, and, as appropriate, IFC's Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines, etc. - Based on the Social and Environmental Assessment, Equator banks then make agreements with borrowers on how they mitigate, monitor and manage the risks through a Social and Environmental Management System. Compliance with the plan is included in the covenant clause of loan agreements. If the borrower doesn't comply with the agreed terms, the bank will take corrective actions. The Equator Principles are not a mere declaration of cautious banks but a full commitment of lenders. A violation of the Principles in the process of project financing, which led to an unexpected damage to the affected community, would not give rise to any specific legal remedies other than ordinary lawsuits. So it is more effective for banks to ensure consistent implementation of the Principles and to have them take responsible measures to solve social and environmental issues. Public interests have recently mounted up with respect to environmental issues on the occasion of the Supreme Court's decision (2006Du330) on the fiercely debated reclamation project at Saemangeum. The majority Justices said that the expected environmental damages like probable pollution of water and soil were not believed so serious and that the Administration should continue to implement the project seeking ways to make it more environment friendly. In this case, though the Category A Saemangeum Project was carried out by a government agency, the Supreme Court behaved itself as a signal giver to approve or stop the environment-related project like an Equator bank in project financing. At present, there is no Equator bank in Korea in contrast to three big banks in Japan. Also Korean contractors, which are aggressively bidding for Category A-type projects in South East Asia and Mideast, might find themselves in a disadvantageous position because they are generally ignorant of the environmental assessment associated with project financing. In this regard, Korean banks and overseas project contractors should care for the revised Equator Principles and the latest developments in project financing more seriously. It's because its scope has expanded to the capital cost of US$10 million or more across all industry sectors regardless of developing countries or not. It should be noted that, for a Korean bank, being an Equator bank is more or less burdensome in a short-term period, but it must be conducive to minimizing risks and building up good reputation in the long run.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.5-16
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• 2009

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities have been shown to be potential factors that can improve corporate image and increase the ability of corporations to compete. However, most previous studies related to CSR activities investigated how these activities influence product and corporate evaluation, as well as corporate image. In addition, some researchers treated consumers' perceptions of corporate motives as moderator variables in evaluating the relationship between corporate social responsibilities and consumer response. However, motive-based theories have some weaknesses. Corporate social responsibility activities cause two motives(egoistic vs. altruistic) for consumers, but recently, Vlachos et al. (2008) argued that these motives should be segmented. Thus, it is possible to transform the original theory into a modified theory model (persuasion knowledge model, PKM). Vlachos et al. (2008) segmented corporate social responsibility motives into four types and compared the effects of these motives on customer loyalty. Prior studies have proved that CSR activities with positive motives have positive influences on customer loyalty. However, the psychological reasons underlying this finding have not been determined empirically. Thus, the objectives of this research are twofold. First, we attempt to determine why most customers favor companies that they feel have positive motives for their corporate social responsibility activities. Second, we attempt to measure the effects of consumers' reciprocity when society benefits from corporate social responsibility activities. The following research hypotheses are constructed. H1: Values-driven motives for corporate social responsibility activities have a positive influence on the perceived reciprocity. H2: Stakeholder-driven motives for corporate social responsibility activities have a negative influence on the perceived reciprocity. H3: Egoistic-driven motives for corporate social responsibility activities have a negative influence on perceived reciprocity. H4: Strategic-driven motives for corporate social responsibility activities have a negative influence on perceived reciprocity. H5: Perceived reciprocity for corporate social responsibility activities has a positive influence on consumer loyalty. A single company is selected as a research subject to understand how the motives behind corporate social responsibility influence consumers' perceived reciprocity and customer loyalty. A total sample of 200 respondents was selected for a pilot test. In addition, to ensure a consistent response, we ensured that the respondents were older than 20 years of age. The surveys of 172 respondents (males-82, females-90) were analyzed after 28 invalid questionnaires were excluded. Based on our cutoff criteria, the model fit the data reasonably well. Values-driven motives for corporate social responsibility activities had a positive effect on perceived reciprocity (t = 6.75, p < .001), supporting H1. Morales (2005) also found that consumers appreciate a company's social responsibility efforts and the benefits provided by these efforts to society. Stakeholder-driven motives for corporate social responsibility activities did not affect perceived reciprocity (t = -.049, p > .05). Thus, H2 was rejected. Egoistic-driven motives (t = .3.11, p < .05) and strategic-driven (t = -4.65, p < .05) motives had a negative influence on perceived reciprocity, supporting H3 and H4, respectively. Furthermore, perceived reciprocity had a positive influence on consumer loyalty (t = 4.24, p < .05), supporting H5. Thus, compared with the general public, undergraduate students appear to be more influenced by egoistic-driven motives. We draw the following conclusions from our research findings. First, value-driven attributions have a positive influence on perceived reciprocity. However, stakeholder-driven attributions have no significant effects on perceived reciprocity. Moreover, both egoistic-driven attributions and strategic-driven attributions have a negative influence on perceived reciprocity. Second, when corporate social responsibility activities align with consumers' reciprocity, the efforts directed towards social responsibility activities have a positive influence on customer loyalty. In this study, we examine whether the type of motivation affects consumer responses to CSR, and in particular, we evaluate how CSR motives can influence a key internal factor (perceived reciprocity) and behavioral consumer outcome (customer loyalty). We demonstrate that perceived reciprocity plays a mediating role in the relationship between CSR motivation and customer loyalty. Our study extends the research on consumer CSR-inferred motivations, positing them as a direct indicator of consumer responses. Furthermore, we convincingly identify perceived reciprocity as a sub-process mediating the effect of CSR attributions on customer loyalty. Future research investigating the ultimate behavior and financial impact of CSR should consider that the impacts of CSR also stem from perceived reciprocity. The results of this study also have important managerial implications. First, the central role that reciprocity plays indicates that managers should routinely measure how much their socially responsible actions create perceived reciprocity. Second, understanding how consumers' perceptions of CSR corporate motives relate to perceived reciprocity and customer loyalty can help managers to monitor and enhance these consumer outcomes through marketing initiatives and management of CSR-induced attribution processes. The results of this study will help corporations to understand the relative importance of the four different motivations types in influencing perceived reciprocity.