An exploratory study of consumers' attitude towards unethical corporatepractices and the concept of consumer social responsibility

2014 dissertation for MSc in International Business Management. Selected by academic staff as a good example of a masters level dissertation. This study is an exploration of consumers’ attitudes towards unethical
corporate practices and the concept of consumer social responsibility. The
study among other things evaluated the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR), consumers’ social responsibility (CNSR) and sought to
understand the relationship between both concepts. Having considered
several literatures and mined primary data using structured questionnaires,
it was discovered that consumers view corporate social responsibility as very
important and expects businesses to be ethical, incorporating the interests
of their various stakeholders in their operations. The study further discovered that consumers are aware of business ethics and although may not necessarily know the CSR policy of individual businesses they have dealings with, they have expectations that those businesses will be ethical. On consumer social responsibility however, it was discovered that consumers are yet to fully come to terms with the practice. As a result, it was recommended that more research into consumer social responsibility is needed and that consumers should make more attempt to translate their awareness of ethics into action especially in purchase and consumption.