Do you bother with the Social Image of a Tea Brand while loading your Trolley?
Keywords:
CSR, FMCG, tea, brand equity, purchase intentionAbstract
The consumer based empirical study was aimed to evaluate the proposition that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, if implemented appropriately, may bolster the brand equity of tea brands by influencing purchase intention of the consumers. Data were collected using a questionnaire based survey among 322 respondents residing in Kolkata, the populous Indian metropolis. The respondents ranked and rated the cognitive social outlooks that might influence the purchase decision of selected tea brands and the involvement of CSR components in enhancing the brand equity was analysed. Besides favouring flavour and taste, the respondents exhibited loyalty for the brands which campaign for the cause of social awareness. They were conscious about pricing although they could relate it with the quality of the brand. They seemed to associate themselves with their preferred brand and its social objectives and expressed a clear imagery about it. Differential involvement of the CSR components in influencing the brand image of the tea brands was perceived by the respondents. The findings demarcate the possible line of thoughts for CSR initiatives by concerned entrepreneurs for promoting the global beverage brands in the oriental metropolis. The observation challenges the customary ideology about the so called low involvement Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) brands and widens the vista of emotional attachment of the consumers for preferred tea brands. The study is first of its kind to fathom the impact of CSR on consumers with relation to making of purchase decision for tea brands.
References
Aaker, D.A. (1991). Managing Brand Equity: Capitalizing on the value of a brand name. Free Press, New York, NY.
Armitage, C.J. & Conner, M. (2001). Efficacy of the Theory of Planned Behaviour: A Meta-Analytic Review. British Journal of Social Psychology, 40 (4), 471-499.
Arya, N. (2013). Indian Tea Scenario. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 3(7), 1-10.
Asshidin, N.H.N., Abidin, N. & Borhan, H.B. (2016). Perceived quality and emotional value that influence consumer’s purchase intention towards American and local products. Procedia Economics and Finance, 35, 639-643.
Balmer, J.M.T., Powell, S.M., & Greyser, S.A. (2011). Explicating Ethical Corporate Marketing. Insights from the BP Deepwater Horizon Catastrophe: The Ethical Brand that Exploded and then Imploded. Journal of Business Ethics, 102(1), 1-14.
Boehe, D.M. & Cruz, L.B., (2010). Corporate social responsibility, product differentiation strategy and export performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 91(2), 325-346.
Boutsouki, C., Zotos, Y., & Masouti, Z., (2008). Consumer behaviour towards own label: monitoring the Greek experience. Agricultural Economics Review, 9(1), 81-92.
Cappelli, P., Singh, H., Singh, J. & Useem, M. (2010). The India way: lessons for the US. Academy of Management Perspectives, May, 6-24.
Carroll, A.B. (1979). A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate social performance. Academy of Management Review, 4, 497–505.
Chahoud, T., Emmerling, J., Kolb, D., Kubina, I., Repinski, G. & Schläger, C. (2007). Corporate social and environmental responsibility in India – assessing the UN Global Compac’s role. Studies No. 26, German Development Institute/Deutsches Institute für Entwicklungspolitik, Bonn.
Chang, T., & Wildt, A.R. (1994). Price, product information, and purchase intention: An empirical study. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 22(1), 16-27.
Dahlsrud, A. (2008). How Corporate Social Responsibility is Defined: an Analysis of 37 Definitions. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 15(1), 1-13.
Dawar, N., & Pillutla, M.M. (2000). Impact of Product- Harm Crises on Brand Equity: The Moderating Role of Consumer Expectations. Journal of Marketing Research, 37, 215–226.
D’Amato, A., Henderson, S., & Sue, F. (2009). Corporate social responsibility and sustainable business. A guide to leadership task and functions. North Carolina: Center for Creative Leadership, CCL Press.
Farquhar, P.H., Han J.Y., & Ijiri, Y. 1991. Recognizing and measuring brand assets. Marketing Science Institute, Cambridge, MA.
Fagerland, M.W., & Sandvik, L., 2009. The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test under scrutiny. Statistics in Medicine, 28, 1487-1497.
Hah, K., & Freeman, S. (2014). Multinational enterprise subsidiaries and their CSR: A conceptual framework of the management of CSR in smaller emerging economies. Journal of Business Ethics, 122(1), 125-136.
Hanssens, D.M., Leonard, J.P. & Randall, L.S. (2001), Market Response Models, 2d ed. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Hausman, A., & Siekpe, J. (2009). The effect of web interface features on consumer online purchase intentions. Journal of Business Research, 62(1), 5–13.
He, Y., & Lai, K.K. (2014). The effect of corporate social responsibility on brand loyalty: the mediating role of brand image. Total Quality Management, 25(3), 249–263.
Hoeffler, S., & Keller, K.L. (2002). Building brand equity through corporate societal marketing. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 21(1), 78-89.
Keller, K.L. (2008). Strategic brand management building, measuring, and managing brand equity (3rd. ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Klein, J., & Dawar, N. (2004). Corporate social responsibility and consumers’ attributions and brand evaluations in a product-harm crisis. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 21, 203-217.
Lee, K. H., & Shin, D. (2010). Consumers’ responses to CSR activities: The linkage between increased awareness and purchase intention. Public Relations Review, 36(2), 193-195.
Lichtenstein, D. R., Drumwright, M.E., & Braig, B.M. (2000). Perceptions of corporate giving on customer – corporation identification: Beneficial effects for customer, corporation, and Non-profit. Working paper, College of Business Administration, University of Colorado, Boulder.
Lodish, L.M., & Mela, C.F. (2007). If Brands Are Built over Years, Why Are They Managed over Quarters? Harvard Business Review, 85(7-8), 104-112.
Lombart C. & Louis D. (2014). A study of the impact of corporate social responsibility and price image on retailer personality and consumers’ reactions-satisfaction, trust and loyalty to the retailer, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 21 (4), 630-642.
Magnini, V.P., Karande, K., Singal, M., & Kim, D. (2013). The effect of brand popularity statements on consumers’ purchase intentions: The role of instrumental attitudes toward the act. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 34, 160–168
Marin, L., Ruiz, S. & Rubio, A. (2009). The role of identity salience in the effects of corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 84, 65–78.
Mazumdar, T., & Monroe, K.B. (1990). The effects of buyers' intentions to learn price information on price encoding. Journal of Retailing, 66(1), 15-32.
Medina, V., Tóth, R., Daróczi, M., & Bak, A. (2015). Correlation analysis of brands in the Hungarian new tractor Market. Hungarian Agricultural Engineering 27, 35-37.
Mishra, H.G., Sinha, P.K., Singh, S., & Koul, S. (2013). Impact of consumer social responsibility and brand social responsibility image on brand loyalty. International Journal of Management and Business Research, 3(4), 297-309.
Mishra, P., Bakshi, M., & Singh, R. (2016). Impact of consumption emotions on WOM in movie consumption: Empirical evidence from emerging markets. Australasian Marketing Journal 24, 59-67.
Mohan, B.C., & Sequeira, A.H. (2016). The impact of customer-based brand equity on the operational performance of FMCG companies in India. IIMB Management Review, 28, 13-19.
Mukherjee, A., Satija, D., Goyal, T.M., Mantrala, M.K., & Zou, S. (2012). Are Indian consumers brand conscious? Insights for global retailers. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing Logistics 24(3), 482-499.
Marin L., Ruiz, S. & Rubio, A. (2009). The role of identity salience in the effects of corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior. Journal of Business Research, 84 (1), 65-78.
Nasruddin, E., & Bustami, R. (2007). The yin and yang of CSR ethical branding. Asian Academy of Management Journal, 12(2), 83-100.
Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. (1994). Psychometric theory. New Jersey, NJ: McGrawn Hill.
Osborne, J.W. (2015). What is Rotating in Exploratory Factor Analysis? Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 20(2), 1-7.
Park, B.I.I. & Ghauri, P.N. (2015). Determinants influencing CSR practices in small and medium sized MNE subsidiaries: A stakeholder perspective. Journal of World Business, 50(1), 192-204.
Park, C.W., MacInnis, D.J., Priester, J., Eisingerich, A.B. & Iacobucci, D. (2010). Brand Attachment and Brand Attitude Strength: Conceptual and Empirical Differentiation of Two Critical Brand Equity Drivers. Journal of Marketing, 74, 1-17.
Pérez, A. & Del Bosque I.R. (2015). An integrative framework to understand how CSR affects customer loyalty through identification, emotions and satisfaction. Journal of Business Ethics, 129(3), 571-584.
Planken, B., Sahu, S. & Nickerson, C. (2010). Corporate social responsibility communication in the Indian context. Journal of Indian Business Research, 2(1), 10-22.
Popoli, P. (2011). Linking CSR strategy and brand image: Different approaches in local and global markets. Marketing Theory, 11(4), 419–433.
Raghubir, P., & Corfman, K. (1999). When do price promotions affect pretrial brand evaluations? Journal of Marketing Research, 36(2), 211-222.
Ray, J.J. (1982). The Construct Validity of Balanced Likert Scales. The Journal of Social Psychology, 118(1), 141-142.
Richardson, P. S., Dick, A. S. & Jain, A.K. (1994). Extrinsic and Extrinsic Cue Effect on Perceptions of Store Brand Quality. Journal of Marketing Research, 58 (4), 28-36.
Rishi, B. (2013). Determinants of Brand Trust for FMCG Products with Special Reference to Shampoos Category. Asia-Pacific Journal of Management Research and Innovation, 9(2), 221–227.
Rust, R.T., Zeithaml, V.A., & Lemon, K.N. (2004). Customer- Centered Brand Management. Harvard Business Revie, 82(9), 110-118.
Saha, P. (2007). Indian corporate responsibility: Asian giant on an ethical crash course”, Ethical Corporation, 26-29 April, available at: www.ethicalcorp.com/content. asp? Content ID= 4992 (accessed 22 April 2009).
Salmones, M.G., Crespo, A.H., & Bosque, I.R. (2005). Influence of corporate social responsibility on loyalty and valuation of services. Journal of Business Ethics, 61, 369–385.
Schuler, D.A., & Cording, M. (2006). A corporate social performance-corporate financial performance behavioral model for consumers. Academy of Management Review, 31, 540-558.
Sen, S. & Bhattacharya, C. B. (2001). Does doing good always lead to doing better? Consumer reactions to corporate social responsibility. Journal of Marketing Research, 38(2), 225–243.
Silverstein, M., & Sayre, K. (2009). The Female Economy. Harvard Business Review, 87, 46-53.
Sinha, P.K., Banerjee, A. & Uniyal, D.P. (2002). Deciding where to buy: store choice behaviour of Indian shoppers. Vikalpa, 27(2), 13-27.
Smith, N.C. (2009). Consumers as drivers of corporate social responsibility. In, A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon & D. S. Siegel (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, pp. 281-302.
Svensson, E. (2001). Guidelines to statistical evaluation of data from rating scales and questionnaires. Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 33, 47- 48.
Tan, L.P., Johnstone, M., & Yang, L. (2016). Barriers to green consumption behaviours: The roles of consumers’ green perceptions. Australasian Marketing Journal, 24(4), 288-299.
Tanveer, T., & Lodhi, R.N. (2016). The Effect of Brand Equity on Customer Satisfaction: An Empirical Study based on David Aaker's Brand Equity Model. The IUP Journal of Brand Management, 13(3), 43-54.
Thite, M. (2012). The growing global footprint of Indian multinationals- An interview with KM Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group. Journal of Indian Business Research, 5(2), 144-151.
Visser, W. (2008). Corporate social responsibility in developing countries. In, The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility, pp. 473-479.
Wongpitch, S., Minakan, N., Powpaka, S., & Laohavichien, T. (2016). Effect of corporate social responsibility motives on purchase intention model: An extension. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 37(1), 30–37.
