The Role of Personal Values and Perceived Social Support in Developing Socially Responsible Consumer Behavior

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a longstanding theme in marketing research. Although plenty of research have been done to examine the influence of CSR activities on consumer behavior, less attention is paid to explore the psychological factors that shape consumer’s socially responsible behavior (SRB). The current research addresses this gap by reviewing and comparing the literature from psychology and marketing streams that moves towards a degree of convergence. It examines the psychological role of personal values and external factors like perceived social support to build pro-social behavior among consumers. The personal values include; self-transcendence and self-enhancement values and perceived social support by social network in shaping consumer’s socially responsible behavior. The study proposed and tested the theoretical model using Structural Equation Model (SEM) technique. Data is collected through self-administered survey from 450 consumers in Pakistan. The study found that higher self-transcendence values leads to higher level of socially responsible behavior among consumers. Whereas self-enhancement values has negative influence on consumers in adopting socially responsible behavior. The social networks including; parents, friends/peers, teachers’ play important role in development of socially responsible behavior among consumers as individuals tend to pay focus on the recommendations of their members in their social networks. The findings of this study provide important recommendations to the corporate policy makers to ensure sustainable organizational performance in today’s competitive business environment.