Article2015

Social responsibility and its differential effects on the retailers’ portfolio of private label brands

24 citations0/0 files storedInternational Journal of Retail & Distribution Management

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Consumer Market Behavior and Pricing Environmental Sustainability in Business Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification

Abstract

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how social responsibility initiatives can be integrated into different tiers of retailers' private label brands (PLB) and introduces a conceptual model and opposing predictions building on research in social responsibility and evolutionary psychology. The empirical evidence from two studies suggests that retailers should consider the type of PLB (i.e. quality tier) in the introduction of social responsibility initiatives. Design/methodology/approach To investigate opposing predictions, the authors conducted two experiments with presence of social responsibility initiative and PLB quality tier as the factors. The authors present the results from 168 Canadian consumers focussing on two product categories. Findings The findings of two experiments are more consistent with an explanation based on resource synergy beliefs rather than costly signaling theory. Social responsibility initiatives enhanced consumer evaluations of high-quality PLBs, but hurt consumer evaluations of low-tier PLBs. Practical implications Retailers should differentiate the way they accommodate social responsibility initiatives based on the type of their PLBs. Specifically, the beneficial effect of social responsibility initiative only exist for high-tier PLBs. Introducing social responsibility initiatives may hurt preference for low-tier PLBs. Originality/value This paper is the first to propose two theoretical models that address how social responsibility initiatives can affect consumer evaluations of PLBs. The initial empirical evidence is more coherent with resource synergy beliefs explanation rather than costly signaling explanation. These results suggest that social responsibility initiatives have asymmetric effects for different tiers of retailers' PLBs.

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References

2001Does Doing Good Always Lead to Doing Better? Consumer Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility 1997The Company and the Product: Corporate Associations and Consumer Product Responses 2010Going green to be seen: Status, reputation, and conspicuous conservation.2001Do Consumers Expect Companies to be Socially Responsible? The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Buying Behavior 2004Corporate social responsibility and consumers' attributions and brand evaluations in a product–harm crisis 1989The Effect of Price, Brand Name, and Store Name on Buyers' Perceptions of Product Quality: An Integrative Review 1994Extrinsic and Intrinsic Cue Effects on Perceptions of Store Brand Quality 2000The Influence of Cause-Related Marketing on Consumer Choice: Does One Good Turn Deserve Another?

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