Environmental CSR and the Purchase Declarations of Generation Z Consumers

Abstract

Activities in the area of corporate social responsibility are more and more widely and willingly undertaken not only by large companies but also those in the SME sector. A very important part of these activities is environmental protection. Therefore, the question of how these activities are evaluated by their beneficiaries should be asked. One important group of recipients of CSR initiatives are consumers. We considered the opinions of young people from Generation Z to be particularly important because this generation is just entering the consumer market and thus will influence its formation for many years to come. We conducted a survey on a sample of 344 respondents from Generation Z to check whether the environmental CSR initiatives are perceived and appreciated by Generation Z consumers. The survey was expanded to include the influence of the gender factor and the type of education of the people surveyed (technical, business and humanities education). The results of this study indicate that young people (from Generation Z) declare the need to care about the environment and pay attention as consumers to pro-environmental activities implemented as part of CSR. Evaluations of these activities differ between genders. Also, the education profile matters in the perception of environmental CSR initiatives.