Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility - Coursework Example

Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility al Affiliation] Table of Contents Introduction 2 Principles of Corporate Social Responsibility 3 Legal compliance principle 3 Adherence to international customary laws principles 3 Lefts principles of respecting related stakeholders 3 Transparency principle 3 Respects for the human principles 3 Contributing to Sustainability 4 Diversity principle 4 Dialogue principle 4 Integrity principle 4 Effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on customers 5 Conclusion 9 References 10 Bibliography 10 List of Figures Figure 1: Value linking chain 7 Figure 2: Service profit chain 8 Figure 3: Pyramid of CSR 9 Figure 4: 3p’s, CSR, and corporate sustainability 9 The respect for the human rights, democracy, and freedom is a primary principle in the business world. It forms a basis framework for the operations of the business and acts as a prerequisite for the success of any business organization. All business organizations follow the UDHRUN that requires every individual, business organization, or economic agent to participate actively towards obeying the human rights. Corporate social responsibility therefore reflects the philosophies and the values that should be embedded in a business organization that encompasses the local communities and the stakeholders and the benefits of science for the good of the public. CSR is therefore responsible to the societal actions and the fundamentals that contribute to sustainable development. CSR became a factor of concern because of poor working conditions and environmental disasters that increased pressure, as there was increased coverage by the media and need for transparency. The organizations have increasingly investigated their resources in order to demonstrate ethical outlook, responsibilities, and their commitments to the public. Research has showed that CSR programs have effect on the consumer’s behaviors and attitudes with respect to a product. CSR program was initiated to regulate the multinational companies not to exploit human resources in the nations that were still developing. It contributes into the business arena through protection of human rights, maintaining labor standards, protection of the environment, protection of consumers and fight against corruptions. This study therefore examines the impacts of consumer perceptions based on CSR with respect to customer behavioral intentions and the attitudes. In addition, the study seeks to examine ways in which customers perceptions affect the service quality-driven attitudes of the customers (SQA). Principles of Corporate Social Responsibility Legal compliance principle Legal compliance principle states that the business should comply with and should understand the entire applicable international, declared, effected regulations, laws, and the local laws in accordance with the fixed and specific procedures. Adherence to international customary laws principles The business should at all costs adhere to the governmental agreements, international laws, declarations, guidelines, executive regulations, and decisions when setting up its practices and the policies that are pertinent to the social responsibility. Lefts principles of respecting related stakeholders The business organization shall acknowledge the diversity and accept the diversity of interests of other related stakeholders including the diversity of both minor and the major business activities and the business products, which may have influence on the related stakeholders (Hunnicutt 2009). Transparency principle Transparency principle states that the business organization shall accurately, comprehensively and clearly state its policies, activities and its decisions that include the potential effects and the known impacts on the environment and society. Moreover, such related in formations will be available to persons that have been affected or the persons that might be affected materially by the business organization (Hunnicutt 2009). Respects for the human principles The business organization will execute the practices and the policies that will result in respecting the human lefts principles based on the universal declaration for human beings. All the operations must be conducted in a way that does not conflict with the basic standards of human rights (Hunnicutt 2009). Contributing to Sustainability The business organization shall venture into activities that contribute to both social development and long term economic development. This shall be done in conjunction with the local communities together with the government agencies and civil societies in order to define the responsibilities and the roles based on social developments (Hunnicutt 2009). Diversity principle The enterprise shall not at all levels discriminate individuals in terms of ethnic origin, gender, race, social group, religion, cultural background, marital status, political opinion, and disability. The enterprise shall recognize the values of individuals based on the intrinsic status of diversity in cultures and show respect for the cultures in all the practices in the business field. The enterprise shall pay attention to the requirements, rights, and cultural integrity based on indigenous people that have been affected by the operation (Hunnicutt 2009). Dialogue principle Dialogue principles help enterprises to ensure that their activities are well adapted in order to meet the local conditions and to help generate required benefits for both the community and the organization. The enterprise should be ready to engage into any dialogue with any relevant stakeholders to find the initiatives that serve to improve the practices and the social responsibility standards (Hunnicutt 2009). Integrity principle Integrity principle helps an enterprise to maintain high level of honesty and fairness in all the dealings that the organization ventures in and should never engage in such vices as bribery and any other form of corruption (Hunnicutt 2009). Effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on customers Corporate social responsibility has contributed positively to many sectors of the economy and corporations tend to provide the best to their businesses by providing holistic environments that is viable for the operation of their businesses. The paper highlights the research areas of the CSR that focuses on the on the consumer behavior. The term corporate social responsibility has elaborated and illustrates that CSR is based on two fundamental principles that constitutes the premises for the thinking and development thus, business organizations operate based on the satisfaction of the society, and the same business organizations operate as societal moral representatives. Organizations after realizing that the basis for any economic developments and the corporation’s main role is geared towards profitability, through selling of services and products that have high demand, CSR therefore includes all the juristic, economic, and philanthropic demands that are required in a society at any given moment. CSR has become a necessity of the corporations because of the growth and the maturity of the trends in SRI (social responsibility investment). Corporate social responsibility has created a basis for the development of ethical consumerism. The corporate therefore puts all these practices in place to prevent boycotts and to help attract the sophisticated customers. The research showed that most of the consumers would prefer to purchase their products from organizations that have good social reputations. Most of the customers tend to avoid purchasing their products from organizations that have bad reputations and majority of the customers would buy from organizations that tend to improve the society and the living standards of individuals. It was noted that any negative image portrayed by the CSR damages the valuation of a product by the consumers while in contrast, positive image by the CSR improves the evaluation of a product by the consumers. CSR therefore creates a platform where the consumers develop intentions of whether to purchase products and services or not. Consumers treat corporate responsibility issues with much concern and expect the corporate to have ethical behavior and the ability to reward actions and to pay reasonable prices for products and services from ethical companies (Timpere 2008). Corporate initiatives addressing environmental and social impacts of a company and stretches beyond regulatory and legal requirements are premised with respect to perceived business case where consumer demands and perceptions accelerate corporate sustainability and responsibility strategies and the influence of corporate social responsibility on consumers are contingent. CSR thus, has an impact on the marketing activities of a product based on product branding, advertisement and eventual decision making by the consumers (Timpere 2008). CSR has a contingent impact on the consumer behaviors. For example, CSR information about an organization’s evaluation can be mediated through customer-company congruence, which is further moderated by the support of the consumers based on the CSR domain. When consumers evaluate the CSR of a company, they identify the mediating role of the perceived organization and its motives on the societal development. Consumers thus, pay for premium attributes for ethical products to a certain point and penalize for the unethical conduct to a much extent. Negative ethical consumerism results into boycotts, which are contingent and influenced by such factors as the possibilities of the boycott to succeed and the associated boycott costs. The initiation of CSR programs was to help the organizations to realize their responsibilities in the society. Some organizations have achieved various goals through CSR while some organizations execute the activities of the CSR for their benefits. For example, to improve the image of the organization, to build a stronger relationship with the governments, to meet their customer expectations and to retain their employees. Some of the corporations have used CSR as a mechanism for the promotion to boost company image and to help attract more customers (Timpere 2008). Research has showed that perception of consumers on a corporate social responsibility has an effect on the way in which consumers respond to various products, customers attitudes towards the products, customers’ identification with particular companies and behavioral intentions of the consumers such as consumer defections and recommendation intentions. CSR helps consumers to evaluate a product both after the purchase and before the purchase and how consumers’ evaluation affects the operation of organizations. The evaluation can make the consumers to reject the offer or to accept the offer and buy the product. If the commodity is bought by the consumer, then he moves into post-purchase state of evaluation and if the product is found to be good then the consumer remains a loyal member to the organization. The loyal customers help to improve on the performance of the company (Gond & Moon 2012). Figure 1: Value linking chain Figure 2: Service profit chain Figure 3: Pyramid of CSR Figure 4: 3p’s, CSR, and corporate sustainability Conclusion This paper has looked at the principles of corporate social responsibility, and the effects of the corporate social responsibility on the consumers. Corporate social responsibilities have played a significance effects on how organizations operate and how they interact with their customers. Consumers have evaluated various organizations by use of CSR and their impacts on the society. References Gond, J.-P., & Moon, J. 2012. Corporate social responsibility. London, Routledge. Hunnicutt, S. 2009. Corporate social responsibility. Detroit, MI, Greenhaven Press. Timpere, A. R. 2008. Corporate social responsibility. New York, Nova Science Publishers. Bibliography Cragg, W., Schwartz, M. S., & Weitzner, D. 2009. Corporate social responsibility. Farnham, England, Ashgate. Haerens, M., & Zott, L. M. 2014. Corporate social responsibility. Read More