Sustainability as a Purchase Criterion: The impact of corporate expressed CSR dimensions on young consumers purchase intention

Topic

Companies increasingly rely on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communication to position themselves as responsible actors in society. At the same time, consumers, particularly younger generations, are confronted with a growing volume of CSR-related information that varies in content. This quantitative study investigates how different CSR communication dimensions (environmental, social and ethical) affect young consumers purchase intentions. In addition, the study examines whether environmental awareness moderates the relationship between CSR communication and purchase intention.

Relevance

Understanding how young consumers respond to CSR communication is of both academic and practical relevance. While prior research suggests that CSR can positively influence consumer behavior, it remains unclear whether certain CSR dimensions are more effective than others and how individual characteristics such as environmental awareness shape these effects. Given the increasing importance of sustainability-related communication in corporate strategy, insights into how CSR messages are perceived by younger consumers can help organizations design more effective and credible communication approaches.

Results

The findings indicate that CSR communication significantly increases purchase intention compared to communication without CSR content. However, all CSR dimensions show the same purchase intention in the environmental, social, and ethical CSR conditions. Furthermore, environmental awareness was found to moderate the relationship between CSR communication and purchase intention selectively. While the moderation effect was statistically significant only for ethical CSR communication, regression coefficients remained positive across all CSR dimensions, suggesting a generally strengthening role of environmental awareness.

Implications for Practitioners

CSR as a general signal:
The results suggest that CSR communication can positively influence purchase intentions among young consumers regardless of the specific CSR dimension emphasized. Organizations may therefore benefit from integrating CSR communication broadly rather than prioritizing one dimension exclusively.

Ethical framing matters:
Ethical CSR communication appears particularly effective among young consumers with higher environmental awareness, indicating that moral and value-based messaging may resonate strongly with this audience.

Credibility:
The findings further imply that CSR communication does not need to be overly assertive to be effective, but instead benefits from being perceived as authentic and credible.

Methods

The study employed a between-subjects, vignette-based experimental survey design targeting young consumers aged 18 to 35. Data was collected via an online questionnaire, resulting in a final sample of 182. Purchase intention, environmental awareness, and manipulation checks were assessed using established measurement approaches. Data analysis was conducted using R, including descriptive statistics, non-parametric group comparisons, and moderated multiple regression analyses to test the proposed hypotheses.