Title: Consumer perception of corporate social responsibility: points of view from Portuguese undergraduate students

Authors: Sandra Gomes; Pedro Graça

Addresses: Portuguese Institute of Marketing Management (IPAM), Universidade Europeia, Rua Manuel Pinto de Azevedo, 748, 4100-320 Porto, Portugal ' Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Porto (FCNAUP), Portugal

Abstract: One of the main purposes of this paper is analysing the perception of Portuguese consumers - namely undergraduate students in Oporto - regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR). Considering consumer perceptions on CSR dimensions are limited to a national contingency, this research provides some results that bridge the research gap on the subject in Portugal. For this purpose, exploratory interviews have been conducted and such interviews have allowed the elaboration of a questionnaire directed to a sample of 824 students in 22 higher education institutions. Due to the analysis of the main results, it has been concluded that students had some knowledge and a multidimensional vision of CSR. After an exploratory and confirmatory factorial analysis, it has been found that the CSR concept is based on four dimensions: economic, environmental, employees and community. Concerning consumer support of CSR, such consumers prefer avoiding products from socially irresponsible companies to actually be willing to pay more for products from socially responsible ones.

Keywords: consumer perception; consumer support of CSR; CSR; undergraduate students.

DOI: 10.1504/WREMSD.2019.098477

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 2019 Vol.15 No.1/2, pp.76 - 92

Received: 12 Jun 2017
Accepted: 03 Aug 2017
Published online: 25 Mar 2019 *

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