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Liburkina L. M.

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How CSR Influences Consumer Behavior: Mechanisms and Moderating Variables
Nashchekina O. M., Tymoshenkov I. V.

Nashchekina, Olga M., and Tymoshenkov, Ihor V. (2025) “How CSR Influences Consumer Behavior: Mechanisms and Moderating Variables.” Business Inform 6:56–56.
https://doi.org/10.32983/2222-4459-2025-6-56-56

Section: Management and Marketing

Article is written in English
Downloads/views: 0

UDC 65.011.1:658.89:366.1

Abstract:
A positive relationship between CSR and financial performance represents a strong motivator for companies to engage in CSR. One potential source of improved financial performance is consumers’ willingness to buy from the company and to prefer it to its competitors that are less advanced in the CSR sphere. Understanding consumer behavior is key to strategically implementing CSR and leveraging it to generate economic benefits and create competitive advantage. In this article, by synthesizing insights from the extensive literature on the impact of CSR on consumer behavior, we show that this impact is indirect and requires consideration of a large number of factors. We propose a multi-stage model that explains the mechanism underlying consumers’ behavioral response to a company’s CSR performance. The stages in the model include: 1) the actual performance of a company in the CSR sphere; 2) the communication of this performance to consumers; 3) the perception of the company’s CSR performance by consumers, 4) the alignment of consumers’ values with what the company does; 5) the formation of consumers’ behavioral intention and 6) actual consumer behavior. Drawing on research findings reported in the literature, we examine each stage in depth and discuss related phenomena that may take place at these stages, such as consumer skepticism, the intention-behavior gap, and implicit and explicit attitudes. In addition, the relationship between CSR and consumer behavior is moderated by a wide spectrum of heterogeneous variables, such as consumer demographics, industry bias, company characteristics, socioeconomic context, brand trust, and others. We demonstrate that some of these variables, for example, brand trust, can also function as mediators, depending on the context and on whether their value changes as a result of CSR performance. We not only summarize the moderating variables identified in the literature but also associate them with different stages in our model. This provides deeper and more granular insight into the pathway between CSR and consumer behavior, allowing for more accurate prediction of the relationship between the two.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility (CSR), CSR performance, consumer behavior, purchase intentions, relationship between CSR and consumer behavior, moderating variables.

Fig.: 1. Tabl.: 1. Bibl.: 40.

Nashchekina Olga M. – Candidate of Sciences (Physics and Mathematics), Associate Professor, Associate Professor, Department of Management, National Technical University «Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute» (2 Kyrpychova Str., Kharkіv, 61002, Ukraine)
Email: [email protected]
Tymoshenkov Ihor V. – Doctor of Sciences (Economics), Professor, Professor, Department of International Business and Consulting, Education and Research Institute «Karazin Institute of International Relations and Travel Business» of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (6 Svobody Square, Kharkiv, 61022, Ukraine)
Email: [email protected]

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