BM634 Dissertation: CSR Influence on Consumer Behavior in the UK

This dissertation investigates the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumer behavior within the UK clothing retail sector, focusing on H&M and GAP Inc. The study employs qualitative analysis, utilizing both primary data (collected from a sample of 30 randomly selected customers) and secondary data (from books, articles, and journals) to understand how CSR practices affect consumer buying decisions. The research examines the concept of CSR, its significance for both consumers and organizations, and its impacts on fashion retail organizations. Key findings address research questions related to the definition, importance, and impacts of CSR, along with recommendations for enhancing CSR practices to positively influence consumer behavior. The dissertation concludes by outlining the limitations encountered during the research process and suggesting areas for future study, providing a comprehensive overview of CSR's role in shaping consumer preferences and brand loyalty in the UK clothing retail market.

BM634 DISSERTATION
The influence of corporate social
responsibility on consumer behaviour in
the UK clothing retailing
Tutor name: Dr Palto Datta
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................4
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................5
Background of topic:....................................................................................................................5
Background of the organization:..................................................................................................6
......................................................................................................................................................7

Aim:.............................................................................................................................................7
Objectives:...................................................................................................................................7
Research Questions:.....................................................................................................................7
Rationale of the study:.................................................................................................................7
CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................8
Theme 1: To understand the concept of corporate social responsibility.....................................9
Theme 2: To identify the significance of CSR practices for customers as well as organizations.
....................................................................................................................................................11
Theme 3: To identify impacts of corporate social responsibility over the fashion retail
organizations..............................................................................................................................13
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................16
Research type.............................................................................................................................16
Research approach.....................................................................................................................17
Research philosophy..................................................................................................................18
Data collection...........................................................................................................................19
Sampling....................................................................................................................................20
Data analysis..............................................................................................................................20
Reliability and validity...............................................................................................................21
Research limitations...................................................................................................................22
Ethical consideration..................................................................................................................22
Research design.........................................................................................................................23
CHAPTER 4- DATA ANALYSIS................................................................................................24
CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSION AND LIMITATIONS................................................................35
5.1 CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................35
5.2 LIMITATIONS....................................................................................................................37
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................38
APPENDICES...............................................................................................................................42

ABSTRACT
The completed dissertation analysed the topic i.e. the impacts and influence of corporate social
responsibility over the consumer behaviour in the United Kingdom clothing retailing that has
been evaluated somehow on the basis of taking H&M and GAP Inc. into consideration in certain

areas of the research. Within this dissertation, it has been analysed that the CSR practices
somehow affects the consumers buying behaviour and acted as an important aspect among the
purchasing decisions of the customers. In order to collect appropriate data with the help of
detailed study about the set topic, qualitative analysis has been taken into consideration. The data
has been gathered through the help of primary as well as secondary both methods.
Primary data sampling method involves the data that has been collected by taking sample
size of 30randomly selected customers which represent the total concept, CSR practices
influences, impacts, significance, etc. along with the detailed analysis that has been done in
highly unbiased manner with the help of data collection method. Moreover, the data has also
been gathered through secondary research as well which involves the data collection with the
help of books, articles and journals. At the end of this research, the conclusion and final
limitations of the study that has been faced by the researcher has been shared along with the
future things that needs to be considered while doing further studies by the scholar.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Background of topic:
Corporate-social-responsibility is the practices and the policies which are undertaken by
the companies to have the leading position in the marketplace. This is the responsibility of the
company of performing the actions which are socially good as the company is accountable to its
stakeholders. Basically, the company operating in the ways which helps in encouraging the

society as well as the environment positively. The company adopting the CSR activities helps in
boosting the morale at the workplace as well as enhances the brand image of the company and
society. The CSR is the broad concept which can take many forms by depending on the type of
the organization and the industry (Castro-Ceacero and Ion, 2019). Corporate-social-
responsibility is much important for the community as well as for the company as it helps in
increasing the value. The CSR helps in increasing the sales of the company and this is seen as the
positive effect on the organization as this involves promotions, advertising as well as the social
responsibility.
The company which adopts the CSR has many chances of growing the business because
due to this program they have the opportunity of giving back to the society. It helps the
corporations to enhance the public trust and it makes the company more attractive or unique. The
CSR is much important for the employees as well because this program helps in promoting the
effective and the closer relations among the employees. This program generates the competitive
advantage for the company through creation of the value of consumers. The CSR helps in
improving the perceptions of the consumers for the brand. The CSR influences the consumers
because this has the responsibility for providing the good quality of products to the consumers.
The organization using this program influences the consumers because this will change the
perception of the brand as they will think that the company will provide them the good of the
standard quality (Sileyew, 2019). The consumer behaviour is influenced by the set of the
variables which are the perceived value, trust and the commitment, as this results in increasing
the loyalty as well as the satisfaction among the consumers.
The main aim of Corporate-social-responsibility is to give back the society as well as take part in
the causes of philanthropic and providing the positive social value. The large corporations are
shifting towards adopting the Corporate-social-responsibility for making the difference as well as
building the positive brand for the company. The five main areas of the corporate-social-
responsibility which promotes the sustainability are such as building the reputation, consumer
appeal, helps in attracting the talent and the retention of the employees as well as helps in
building the strong relationship between the client and the community (Zaman and Nadeem,
2019).

Background of the organization:
The two companies which has been used in this research study is the H&M and the Gap
Inc. clothing brands. H&M or Hennes & Mauritz is the Swedish multinational clothing brand
company which is headquartered in the Stockholm. This company has the focus on the fast
fashion clothing for the men, teenagers, women as well as the children's. The H&M company is
operating in 74 countries with having around 5000 stores under wide range of the company
brands. This company is considered as the second largest global retail clothing company as it is
behind the Spain based Inditex (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2019). This organization was founded by the
Erling Persson and it is operated by his son Stefan Persson and the Helena Helmersson. The first
store of this company was opened in the Norway in the year 1964 and the company was listed on
the Stockholm Stock Exchange in the year 1974. The first store of this company which was
opened in another region was in London in the year 1976. This company has continued the
expansion in Europe and started the online retailing in the year 1998 (Tayebi Abolhasani, 2019).
The GAP Inc. is commonly known as the GAP. It is an American worldwide clothing as
well as the retailer of the accessories. This company was founded by the Donald Fisher and
Doris F. Fisher in the year 1969. Gap Inc. is headquartered in the San Francisco, California. This
company has six divisions such as the Banana Republic, Old Navy, Intermix, Hillcity as well as
the Athleta. This company is considered as the largest retailer in the United States and the third
position in the total international locations as it is behind the Inditex and the H&M brand. The
company has its own trademark of its name Gap. Banana Republic brand is the small safari
themed clothing retailer and it was purchased by the Gap in the year 1983, Old Navy brand was
launched in the year 1984 as the value chain (Djogo and Morrison, 2020). GAP company is
operating on the global level as the apparel retail company which is offering the products such as
the clothing, apparels, accessories as well as the personal care products for the women, men as
well as the children.
This company was founded by the simple idea of making the eay for the consumers to find the
pair of the jeans which fits them.
Aim:
To ascertain the influence of the corporate-social-responsibility on the consumer behaviour.

Objectives:
 To understand the concept of Corporate-social-responsibility.
 To determine the importance of Corporate-social-responsibility for the consumers and
organization
 To analyse the impacts of Corporate-social-responsibility on the fashion retail
organizations
 To recommend the effective strategies for enhancing the Corporate-social-responsibility
practices for the consumer behaviour.
Research Questions:
 What is the concept of Corporate-social-responsibility?
 How is Corporate-social-responsibility is important for consumers as well as for
organization?
 What are the impacts of the Corporate-social-responsibility on the organization?
 What are the effective strategies which will enhance the Corporate-social-responsibility
practices for the consumer behaviour?
Rationale of the study:
The topic i.e. the influence of corporate social responsibility over consumer behaviour in
the United Kingdom clothing retailing is important to study as it will help interested personnels
such as management, entrepreneurs and other people in order to understand the path through
which they can create and built a strong brand value among the society. Companies as well as
management workforce are putting great efforts, resources, time and capital in order to make the
best utilization of the CSR practices while applying into practical terms (López-Fernández,
2020). This automatically help the firms to attract more and more potential customers towards
the business activities and share their responsible behaviour among the society in which various
competitors are available. Furthermore, this particular issue is essential to study as such type of
practices assist the firm in order to retain and attract more of the talented candidates who support
the social responsibilities among the society. It also enables the companies to foster more

productive and positive work environment for employees along with enhancing the satisfaction
level and loyalty of customers because they find committed service providers for themselves.
The study that is being conducted over the influence of CSR practices over consumer
behaviour in UK clothing and retail sector is significant for the firms that are operating into
similar industry of United Kingdom (Castro-González and et.al., 2019). Moreover, the
management, directors and competitors also use the information gathered from research in order
to make appropriate decisions which is highly beneficial for expansion and growth of the
companies in fashion retail industry.
CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW
This section illustrates the literature review under which available literature have been
identified that are related to the specific chosen topic as well as the subject area that is related to
the fashion retail industry. In other words, it has been evaluated that it is basically the outcome of
the data that are being gathered from scholarly sources which are related to the topic that is being
chosen for completion of the dissertation. It is basically the complete overview which represents
the results with the help of current information, identification of relevant theories, methods as

well as gaps that are being exists within the examination (Sagapova, Buchtele and Dušek, 2022).
Furthermore, it includes the findings of relevant publications related to recent years in the form
of journals, books and articles. With the help of all such documents, the research is able to
critically evaluating or investigating about the topic in most successful manner. Therefore, this
specific chapter involves the literature review that has properly analysing the necessary
information related to the influence of corporate social responsibilities over the consumer
behaviour in UK clothing retail sector.
Theme 1: To understand the concept of corporate social responsibility
Dal Mas, and et.al., 2022 has stated that Corporate-social-responsibility is the policies or
the practice which are followed by the companies to increase the brand image. The main purpose
of the Corporate-social-responsibility is to give back the society. This author has explained the
corporate-social-responsibility as the activity which the company performs for the positive
impact on the world. This provides many benefits to the company as this will help them in
increasing the sales of the company and helps in creating the customer loyalty. The company
using this programs improves the perceptions of the customers as the consumers think that they
are giving their best for the society. The corporate-social-responsibility is basically the idea that
the company must ensure to consider the social as well as the environmental impacts of the
business decisions.
According to Nyame-Asiamah and Ghulam, (2019), explained that the Corporate-social-
responsibility is much interlinked or has very large impacts on the sales growth of the company.
The organizations using the Corporate-social-responsibility has very high reputation in the
marketplace as by this they attract the large number of the consumers. The Corporate-social-
responsibility when adopted by the companies as due to this, the consumers feels that the
organization are doing right thing and will provide the good quality of products to the consumer
so by this the sales is increased of the organization. The efforts of the CSR efforts helps in
building the good reputation of the company and this will help them to increase the profits.
Zeimers and et.al., (2020) has explained the Corporate-social-responsibility as very broad
term and described the CSR as the practices as well as the policies which are undertaken by the
large companies to have the positive impacts on the society and the overall environment. It is
basically the simple concept of the management in which the companies integrate the social as
well as the environmental issues in the operations of the business. There are many types of the

Corporate-social-responsibility which the business can take into the actions such as the
Environmental Responsibility, Ethical Responsibility, Philanthropic Responsibility as well as
Economic Responsibility. This is the part where the businesses look for the ways and the
strategies for serving better to the society as the whole and by this, the company has the benefit
of increasing the image and the relations with the client and the consumers.
Mostafa, A.M.S. and Shen, J., (2019), has observed that the Corporate-social-
responsibility provides many benefits to the organizations who are following this program. The
Corporate-social-responsibility is the program which is usually adopted by the large corporations
to increase the market share of the company as following the Corporate-social-responsibility
helps the company to increase the sales of the products and the services. The benefits which has
been explained by the author are it helps in the brand recognition, boosts the business reputation
in the positive way. The company when adopting the CSR is able to increase the sales and gains
the customer loyalty among them and this leads to improve the financial performance of the
company. The another important benefit is the company can attract the large pool of the talented
candidates as well as helps in retaining the staff of the organization.
Garcia‐Torea, Fernandez‐Feijoo and De La Cuesta, 2020 has argued that the CSR has one
negative impacts that it costs much high investment while adopting the CSR practices in the
organization. This stops the small scale companies to adopt this because adopting this programs
costs much for them and it is very difficult for the small scale companies to adopt them. Due to
this reason, the large companies who have much revenue and growth will be easily to increase
the reputation of the company. The large companies also faces problems while adopting this as
they have to reorganize the finances for accommodating the changes in the budget. The
companies have to do high investment in this because they have to train the employees for this,
launching of the campaigns as well as collaboration with the external agencies for smooth
working of the programs. The CSR can be defined as the management concept in which the large
corporations or the organization integrate the environmental as well as the social issues and the
problems in the business operations. The key issues of CSR are such as the environmental
management, eco-efficiency, responsible sourcing, employee as well as the community relations,
anti-corruption measures and many more.
Ramesh and et.al., 2019, has stated that there the positive responses of the consumer on
the activities of the CSR which are performed by the companies. It is found that the there is very

huge level of awareness of the corporate-social-responsibility among the consumers for the
social as well as the local community contribution. These activities of the CSR has the very large
positive impacts on the purchasing behaviour of the consumers. The CSR has the ability of
influencing the consumers through the set of the variables like perceived value, trust and the
commitment as this leads to the increase in the satisfaction as well as the loyalty among the
consumers. The consumers want that the company must give back to the society to what they are
taking from them. So, the CSR activities are the integral part for increasing the customers
satisfaction and brand loyalty. As per the views of this, there are different aspects of the CSR
concepts. These are such as the Economic that is the CSR helps in gaining the profits but with
considering the social as well as the environmental responsibilities. Social and environmental
that is the CSR limits the negative as well as the positive impacts on the society as well as the
organizations. Ethical involves that the CSR checks that the company is having the social
obligations for the society, and they have to comply with the ethical standards and the values.
Voluntariness is that the CSR counts the voluntary actions of the company. Stakeholders that is
the CSR considers the interests of the stakeholders goals as well as the Strategy that is CSR is
considered as the part of the management as well as the strategic concept for the organizations.
Theme 2: To identify the significance of CSR practices for customers as well as organizations.
Castro-González and et.al., (2019), has stated that the CSR has different definition for the
consumers as this is the strategy of selling company for attracting the large number of the
customers. The CSR practices are much important for the consumers as this helps them to get
better products which meets their expectations and needs. The main aim of consumers to adopt
the CSR by the business to make them feel that they should also think of the society and not just
of earning the profits. The CSR helps in creating the customer value as there are three forms of
the value to consumers such as the emotional, social as well as the functional. Each of these
forms of the value helps in enhancing and encouraging the overall proposition for the customers.
The consumers feel much importance of CSR for them as this helps them in getting the good
quality and standard products and services by the companies.
Golob, U., and et.al., (2019), has explained that the consumers gets motivated for
purchasing the products from the companies who have adopted the CSR and committed to save
the planet as well as to take care of the society as well. In present era, the consumers have much

importance of CSR and this provides them many benefits for the products and the service they
will be purchasing from the companies. The consumers spend more on the products and services
of the company who is using the CSR programs as they think that the company is socially
responsible and taking care of the society and the community as well. The corporate-social-
responsibility plays the vital role in playing the strategic role for helping the businesses as
making them aware that it is very important for them to adopt this program and ultimately
involving the social responsibilities the company will be able to grow there business as well as
increasing the reputation of the company.
According to Servera-Francés and Piqueras-Tomás, (2019), the Corporate-social-
responsibility has the ability of influencing the consumers as this helps them to increase the
satisfaction as well as the loyalty for the company. The consumers think that it is very important
for the organizations as well because they are taking all the things for running there business
from the society, so they must provide the good quality products to the consumers. CSR helps
the organization to improve the perceptions of their brand in mind of the consumers. It is
considered that the social responsibility and the ethical practices are the main elements for the
success of the company. This provides many benefits to the consumers as well, leads to increase
in brand awareness and recognition and also helps in saving the costs of the company.
According to Anastasiadou, Lindh and Vasse, (2019) organisational performance and
customer experience can be improved by emphasising on CSR initiatives of firm. For sustainable
performance outcomes and competitive advantage CSR can act as differentiating element for the
organisations. The organisations which are very concerned about their carbon footprint as well as
CSR goals used to have positive influence on the customers. In the same context Munro, Arli and
Rundle-Thiele, (2018) stated that if sustainability efforts of organisation are clearly informed to
customers then it used to develop positive perception among them. In response to increasing
competition and price rivalry in clothing retail industry maintaining strong brand perception and
customers is challenging as well as essential aspect. However, when organisations consider
social responsibility as differentiator to their services then it creates a significant impact.
The CSR initiatives of the organisation makes customer believe that organisation is highly
responsible and careful towards society, customer welfare and ethics. Thus a strong positive
perception and trust is built among targeted customers. Contrary to this Ben Youssef and et.al.,
(2018) elucidated that more than customer perception sustainability responsibility is focused