Consumers' Ethical Orientation and Attitudinal and Behavioral Response to CSR and in South Korea and the US

This study identifies the roles of consumers' ethical orientations and CSR (perceived corporate social responsibility) motives and the dynamics of these two variables on the subsequent consumers' attitudinal and behavioral responses to CSR—perceived corporate authenticity and pro-firm behavioral intentions. To examine the impact of individual consumer's ethical orientations, we measured consumer's ethical orientations such as deontology and consequentialism through a web-based survey conducted in Korea and in the United States. Further to investigate the role of perceived CSR motives, we measured the perception of company's business-oriented motives and society-oriented motives in conducting CSR. Results demonstrate different patterns of ethical orientation impacting consumers' responses across these countries. Specifically, consumer's consequentialist orientation appears to be positively associated with pro-firm behavioral intention in both the Korean and the US studies, but was positively associated with the perception of corporate authenticity only in the Korean study. Further, in the Korean study, perceived business-oriented CSR motive interacts with daeontological orientation in decreasing perception of corporate authenticity, whereas, in the US study, perceived business-oriented CSR motive tends to reduce pro-firm behavioral intentions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed (183 words).