Author Faculty (Discipline)

Business

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2017

Journal

US-China Education Review B

Volume Number

7

Issue Number

5

Page Numbers

236-247

ISSN

2161-6248

Embargo Period

9-18-2017

ANZSRC / FoR Code

130203 Economics, Business and Management Curriculum and Pedagogy| 150203 Financial Institutions (incl. Banking)

Reportable Items (HERDC/ERA)

C1

Peer Review

Before publication

Abstract

The aim of this research is how CSR activities can influence the purchasing behaviour of consumers when it comes to financial institutions. Whilst there have been significant amounts of literature written on CSR there is still a gap in understanding how CSR activities influence consumers perception. This gap is particularly evident in the financial services sector given they are the largest contributors to CSR in Australia (ACCSR, 2011). In addressing the research problem, the study focusses on understanding the most influential CSR initiatives, understanding how the influence of CSR initiatives can change depending on situational context and then delves further to understand how demographic attributes can alter perception. Bhattacharya and Sen’s (2004) framework was used to frame the questionnaire that was answered by 1014 respondents, showing to be sufficiently representative of the Australian population. The outcomes of this research were used to develop a comprehensive framework for Australian Financial Institutions to use when developing their CSR strategy. It was clear that across all investment types and situational contexts, Community Support was the most influential form of CSR across the sample. Whilst this was the case, the level of influence differed across demographic groups and changed to varying degrees based on situational context dependent on the respondent. Community Support’s influence as a CSR initiative was clearly ahead of others presented to the respondents followed by Employee Support and Environment Support dependent on the investment method and the situational context.

Link to publisher version (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.17265/2161-6248/2017.05.003

Comments

Used by permission: David Publishing and the authors.

At the time of writing Lisa Barnes was affiliated with the University of Newcastle.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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