Authors: Yunshu Xu Kaiyu Yao Supervisor: Lena Zander

Master’s Thesis 15 credits

Specialisation: International Business Department of Business Studies

Uppsala University

Spring Semester of 2022

Date of Submission: 2022-06-01

How does CSI influence consumer buying behaviour? The mediating role of corporate image and the moderating role of consumers’ demographic factors.

Abstract

Given the increasingly complex nature of contemporary companies, the risk of

corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) behaviours is increasing; it is important for

organisations to prevent incidences of CSI to maintain competitive advantage. This

study investigates the impact of CSI behaviour on both corporate image and consumer

buying behaviour.

Adopting a quantitative research approach, 241 valid questionnaires using the Luckin

Coffee financial fraud case as primary data were collected and analysed using SPSS to

determine the effects of CSI on corporate image and consumer buying behaviour, along

with the role of consumers’ genders and educational- and income levels in terms of the

influence of CSI on corporate image.

The findings show that CSI has a negative effect on both corporate image and consumer

buying behaviour, and corporate image partially mediates the process by which CSI

influences consumer buying behaviour. Gender, educational- and income levels all play

a moderating role in the process of CSI influencing corporate image. This thesis

complements the research dimension on CSI’s effects on consumer buying behaviour,

filling the research gap on CSI in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and

provides relevant insights in order to encourage companies to avoid CSI and thus

achieve sustainable development.

Keywords: Corporate social irresponsibility, corporate image, consumer buying

behaviour.

Table of contents

Abstract .......................................................................................................................... 1

1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1

1.1 Research background ................................................................................... 1

1.2 Problem statement ........................................................................................ 2

1.3 Research purpose .......................................................................................... 3

2 Literature review ..................................................................................................... 4

2.1 Theoretical background ................................................................................ 4

2.1.1 Corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility .......................... 4

2.1.2 Corporate image and consumer buying behaviour ............................ 6

2.2 Development of hypotheses ......................................................................... 8

2.2.1 Effect of CSI behaviour on consumer buying behaviour ................... 8

2.2.2 Linkage between CSI, corporate image, and consumer buying

behaviour........................................................................................................ 9

2.2.3 Demographic factors ........................................................................ 11

2.3 Research model .......................................................................................... 14

3 Methodology ......................................................................................................... 16

3.1 Research design .......................................................................................... 16

3.2 Questionnaire design .................................................................................. 16

3.3 Sampling and data collection ..................................................................... 19

3.4 Measurement .............................................................................................. 20

3.4.1 Independent and dependent variables .............................................. 20

3.4.2 Control variable ............................................................................... 21

3.5 Data analysis ............................................................................................... 23

3.6 Common method variance control ............................................................. 23

3.7 Questionnaire ethics ................................................................................... 24

3.8 Sample information description ................................................................. 24

4 Results ................................................................................................................... 26

4.1 Exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis ................................... 26

4.2 Correlation analysis .................................................................................... 27

4.3 Regression analysis .................................................................................... 28

5 Discussion ............................................................................................................. 33

5.1 The impact of CSI on consumer buying behaviour and corporate image .. 33

5.2 The mediation role of corporate image ...................................................... 34

5.3 The moderating role of demographic factors ............................................. 35

6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 37

6.1 Main findings and contribution of this research study ............................... 37

6.2 Managerial implications ............................................................................. 39

6.3 Limitations and future research directions ................................................. 40

Reference List .............................................................................................................. 42

Appendix 1: Questionnaire in English ......................................................................... 56

Appendix 2: Questionnaire in Chinese ........................................................................ 60

1

1 Introduction

1.1 Research background

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an issue that has received the attention of many

academics in recent years; a significant amount of research has been conducted into this

concept, with understanding of it now at a relatively mature stage. The general view is

that companies operating in communities and using local resources and capabilities to

build their production capacity, sales channels, and other aspects of their operations,

should assume certain social responsibilities (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2004). It is

well-documented that the implementation of CSR provides companies with benefits

(Du et al., 2010; Grappi et al., 2013). By seeking to achieve a dynamic balance between

economic and social responsibility, companies can build a good reputation and social

image (Yeo et al., 2011), enhancing brand image and value (Gürlek et al., 2017),

increasing investor confidence (Kao et al., 2018), and gaining consumer recognition

(Su et al., 2017). As consumers become increasingly interested in CSR, companies

should invest more time, effort, and resources in these activities in order to reap their

potentially significant rewards (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2004). Companies should both

respond to changing customer behaviour in dynamic and competitive markets, and also

carry out their CSR activities in order to gain a sustainable competitive advantage in

the marketplace. The social and environmental impact of an organisation is often

factored into the assessment of business success (Kapelko et al., 2021).

Contemporary companies are more prone to CSI behaviours due to the complexity of

their business- and value generating activities (Strike et al., 2006). Companies need to

both improve CSR, and also consumers’ perceptions of the organisation, thus

improving business performance and enhancing corporate value by avoiding CSI (Lin-

Hi and Müller, 2013). CSI was initially regarded as the pursuit of self-interest by

company executives to the detriment of other stakeholders (Armstrong, 1977; Pearce

and Manz, 2011); the concept later developed to include irresponsible actions by

companies designed to maximise their interests due to the lack of proper respect for

values and ethical orientation. Examples include fraud, bribery, corruption, and

environmental damage (Lin-Hi and Müller, 2013). Tench et al. (2012) describe it as

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socially unacceptable behaviour and suggest that further research into the impact of CSI

behaviour on companies is required. Further, developing an in-depth understanding of

consumer buying behaviour is an important means by which companies generate profits;

although consumer buying behaviour is a complex and evolving issue (Blackwell, et

al., 2006), the impact of CSR on consumer buying behaviour remains the mainstream

focus of current academic research (Su et al., 2017).

Corporate image, as an invisible element of a company’s property, often represents the

consumer’s perception of the organisation (Suharto and Ligery, 2018) and is also seen

as a tool by which companies can increase consumer loyalty (Lee, 2019). CSR is

recognised as having the capacity to give a company a positive image (Gürlek et al.,

2017); for consumers, a positive corporate image can stimulate their purchase intentions,

thus promoting consumer buying behaviour (Lin and Lu, 2010). Gardberg et al. (2006)

suggest that corporate image is based on what is connected to the company and/or all

the information believed about it. For different consumers, the same corporate

behaviour may create different impressions in their minds as a result of their different

demographic backgrounds and/or differences in their cognitive styles and capacities

(Hareli and Rafaeli, 2008). The importance of studying the impact of demographic

factors on the generation of corporate image is gradually becoming recognised

(Gardberg et al., 2006).

1.2 Problem statement

Although research into the field of CSR has been carried out in different regions and

with various populations, the majority of previous studies focus on how it affects

consumer buying behaviour (Marin et al., 2009; Trudel and Cotte, 2009; Romani et al.,

2013; Jones et al., 2017). Few studies discuss CSI behaviours and their consequences

(Grappi et al., 2013). For consumers, corporate CSI behaviours appear to cause

resentment; as affirmed by Sweetin et al. (2013), after becoming aware of CSI

behaviours, consumers often develop a desire to penalise the company involved.

However, the question of whether this desire to respond in this way manifests itself in

the form of reduced consumer buying behaviour has not been fully explored.

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In existing studies, corporate image often appears as a mediating role

(Gürlek et al., 2017; Lestari et al., 2021; Younis and Hammad, 2021), although the link

between CSI and consumer buying behaviour has received scant attention. Moreover,

previous empirical studies suggest that the perceived strength of CSR may vary across

groups; for example, a study by Jones et al. (2017) confirms that females as a group

held stronger opinions on CSR than males. However, it remains the case that there is

little knowledge about whether different groups of consumers perceive CSI to varying

degrees, and about which types of consumers are most influenced by CSI when making

purchase decisions. More research is required in this area to further explore the impact

of CSI on consumer buying behaviour by consideration of consumers’ characteristics.

1.3 Research purpose

In order to address these research gaps, the purpose of this study is to explore the impact

of CSI behaviour on consumer buying decisions through the shaping of corporate image,

and how these effects are influenced by demographic factors such as gender,

educational- and income levels. On the basis of this aim, the following two specific

research questions are proposed:

Question 1: Does CSI influence consumer buying behaviour and corporate image?

If so, how does this occur？

Question 2: Do consumers’ demographic background characteristics such as gender,

and educational- and income levels influence the effects of CSI on corporate image?

If so, how does this occur?

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2 Literature review

This literature review begins by introducing CSR, CSI, corporate image, and consumer

buying behaviour, followed by a review of previous studies on the impact of CSR on

corporate image and consumer buying behaviour and related research on CSI. There is

then a description of the research gaps in the relevant areas. Finally, based on the

study’s theoretical background, a research model and hypotheses on the influence of

CSI on corporate image and consumer buying behaviour are advanced.

2.1 Theoretical background

Recent literature suggests that consumer buying behaviour is influenced by CSR, and

that consumers are increasingly interested in CSR activities (Tian et al., 2020).

Correspondingly, persisting corporate CSI behaviours are now receiving a high level of

consumer attention (Carvalho et al., 2015). Examples include food safety (Calveras and

Ganuza, 2018) and sustainability issues (Cotton-Chan, 2015), which are closely related

to consumers’ daily lives.

However, research into the impact of CSI on consumer buying behaviour remains in its

early stages, and there is a lack of investigation into the role played by corporate image

in this process, and whether the demographic backgrounds of different consumers

influence their perceptions of CSI. This literature review collates and discusses recent

research into CSR and related studies in the field of CSI, in the expectation that this

enables readers to understand what is currently known about the impact of CSI on

consumer buying behaviour.

2.1.1 Corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility

CSR has long been a topic of academic interest, with many researchers investigating it

in the context of different regions, industries, and populations. CSR is often defined as

a company’s "status and activities with respect to its perceived societal or, at least,

stakeholder obligations" (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2004: p9). Carroll (1979) initially

proposed the CSR framework, subsequently revising it in 2016 as the ‘pyramid theory’,

which argues that the ideal CSR should not only meet the social requirements of an

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organisation’s economic and legal dimensions, but also the social expectations of its

ethical and philanthropic dimensions (Carrol, 2016). It is widely believed that a

company’s failure to fulfil CSR can negatively affect company itself

(Lange and Washburn, 2012), because the success of an organisation is partly

dependent on whether it meets the requirements and expectations of its social

environment, and any conflict arising between the organisation and society can exert

unfavourable impacts (Scott, 2014).

Tench et al. (2012: p9) term this negative behaviour: ‘corporate social irresponsibility’

(CSI), elaborating that it is: "illegal or legal, but severely unsustainable and/or

unethical and thus totally socially unacceptable". CSI, as an antithetical concept to CSR,

potentially improves the study of CSR by defining what it is not; it can also promote

the transformation of CSI into corporate social responsibility (Tench et al., 2012 p7).

Lin-Hi and Müller (2013), building on Armstrong’s (1977) categorisation of CSI as

unethical decision-making by a company’s board of directors, propose that CSI is an

irresponsible course of action taken by an organisation in pursuit of increased profit.

However, to date, academics in related fields have taken a stronger focus on companies’

fulfilment of CSR with little attention to CSI behaviours.

As mentioned earlier, the conceptualisation of CSR is inseparable from the study of

CSI, although in reality the exploration of CSI is equally inseparable from the empirical

summary of previous research into CSR. Existing literature confirms the importance of

CSR; numerous studies show that companies’ time invested in CSR can help to develop

a positive corporate image, improving levels of both customer satisfaction and loyalty

(Gupta and Pirsch, 2008), enhancing corporate reputation, gaining increased consumer

recognition (Walsh and Bartikowski, 2013), creating a good reputation and social image

(Yeo et al., 2011), and enhancing brand value and investor confidence

(Gürlek et al., 2017; Kao et al., 2018), stimulating consumer intent and promoting

consumer buying behaviour (Teh et al., 2019; Tian et al., 2020).

However, this does not mean that CSI behaviours necessarily exert the opposite effect

on companies (Jones et al., 2009). Among the existing studies on CSI,

Sweetin et al., (2013) contend that consumers reduce their intention to reward, instead

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generating punitive intentions towards companies with CSI behaviours, while

Grappi et al. (2013) argue that CSI potentially creates negative word-of-mouth and

protest behaviours. However, the link between CSI and corporate image and consumer

buying behaviour is not well-researched. Fiske and Taylor (2008) suggest that

individuals judge, accuse, and act in more extreme ways when confronted with negative

behaviours. Similarly, CSI potentially elicits strong reactions from observers,

ultimately leading companies to suffer more severe consequences

(Muller and Kräussl, 2011; Pfarrer et al., 2010). The impact of CSI on corporate image

and consumer buying behaviour cannot simply be equated with the inverse effect of

CSR on both; increased attention should therefore be paid to research in this domain.

2.1.2 Corporate image and consumer buying behaviour

The concept of ‘corporate image’ was initially advanced in the 1950s; Martineau (1958)

defines it as a “functional” and “emotional” impression, based on public perception

(Tran and Bodoh, 2015). A company’s corporate image develops on the basis of

people’s subjective views including experiences, feelings, and opinions

(Balmer and Greyser, 2006; Worcester, 2009). Overall, corporate image is a composite

of many impressions (Gray and Smeltzer, 1985), and although there is no unified

definition of ‘corporate image’ in current literature, the term is commonly-used to

investigate consumers’ perceptions of businesses. Hence, corporate image is subjective

and varied due to the fact that it is based on consumers’ perceptions of an organisation.

Corporate image can be regarded as a company’s most important and enduring

intangible asset, which both generates current profits and delivers numerous possible

future benefits (Tran et al., 2015). A positive corporate image is essential for companies

to gain and maintain sustainable competitive advantage in their marketplaces (Yeo et

al., 2011); companies need to understand both how to form a corporate image and how

to manage it, how to improve it based on the organisation’s current reputation, how to

measure it (Balmer, 2008), and the scale by which it is judged (Dowling, 1986).

Corporate image management is an important aspect of a company’s strategy

(Cornelissen, 2000); a positive image usually improves levels of customer loyalty and

satisfaction (Hart and Rosenberger, 2004). For a company to establish and sustain a

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positive corporate image, a significant amount of time and work is required, but due to

its fragility, prudent management by the organisation is also needed. Despite the fact

that there is currently a large amount of research into the link between active corporate

social responsibility and a company’s image, the perception of a company’s image and

the effect of its CSR varies between individuals; however, few studies have considered

this aspect in conjunction with consumers’ characteristics.

In addition, the ultimate motivation for all companies’ decision-making and actions is

the maximisation of profits and value creation for the long term; to achieve this goal, it

is very important to promote consumer buying behaviour through the adoption of

various marketing tools (Hildebrand et al., 2011). In order to achieve this goal,

companies use a variety of marketing tools to promote consumer buying behaviour, and

this issue has become an ongoing focus for most organisations.

Many economists focus on the factors which influence consumer buying behaviour, in

the knowledge that additional factors to customers’ own product knowledge play key

roles in this (Altintzoglou and Heide, 2016); these include issues such as trust

(Tian et al., 2020), satisfaction and loyalty (Krishna and Balasubramanian, 2021), and

also corporate image and reputation (Suharto and Ligery, 2018), as well as consumer

environment features such as herd mentality, ease of purchase, social requirements, and

expectations (Gilboa and Vilnai-Yavetz, 2013; Katrodia et al., 2018). Studies

frequently demonstrate the fact that consumers are influenced by corporate social

responsibility when making purchase decisions (Mohr et al., 2001; Singh and Malla,

2017). Consumer buying behaviour also increases as a result of positive consumer

attitudes towards good corporate image (Wilkins and Huisman, 2014; Kaur and Soch,

2013). Cole (2017) also holds that CSR behaviour and an improved corporate image

can increase customer loyalty, which in turn promotes their buying behaviour.

Existing research suggests that consumers’ perceptions of negative information are

more influential than positive information, while consumer purchase motivations and

decisions are more easily influenced by negative information (Maheswaran and

Meyers-Levy, 1990; Corns, 2018). The literature examining the impact of CSI and

negative corporate image on consumer buying behaviour remains insufficient

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(Wang, 2020). However, specific to the dimensions of CSI and corporate image, there

is a lack of evidence on whether negative information of this nature is effective in

exerting a negative impact on consumer buying behaviour. Through the study of CSI

provided by this thesis, companies are able to improve their corporate image from a

CSI perspective, positively impacting consumer behaviour.

2.2 Development of hypotheses

2.2.1 Effect of CSI behaviour on consumer buying behaviour

In recent years, researchers have gradually begun to venture into the area of the

influence of CSI on consumers. Crane et al., (2004) contend that consumer buying

behaviour is, in reality, representative of approval or disapproval of a company’s

behaviour. Consumers have a sense of responsibility which gives them an individual

level of social consciousnesses of the need to: "minimise or eliminate any harmful

effects and maximise the long-run beneficial impact on society" (Mohr et al., 2001: p47).

This social awareness helps consumers to decide what to buy and what to avoid, thus

aligning their buying behaviours with social expectations (Carrier, 2012).

Previous studies demonstrate a positive relationship between CSR and consumer

buying behaviour in both developed- and developing countries (Singh and Malla, 2017;

Yeo and Carter, 2018). CSR behaviours benefit from consumers’ recognition and praise,

whereas CSI behaviours are condemned by consumers (Amujo et al., 2012), and

irresponsible behaviours can lead to negative impacts on a company’s profits, in turn

affecting the interests of stakeholders such as consumers (Alcadipani et al., 2019).

When a company fails to comply with laws and regulations, or has acted unethically,

thus being socially irresponsible, consumers may become suspicious of the company’s

intentions and form an adversarial relationship with the organisation (Russell et al.,

2016). In response, consumers may aim to penalise the organisation by boycotting

and/or by reducing consumption (Baron, 2001).

Thus, Hypothesis 1 is advanced:

H1: CSI behaviour has a negative impact on consumer buying behaviour.

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2.2.2 Linkage between CSI, corporate image, and consumer buying behaviour

It has been suggested that consumer buying behaviour may be influenced by both CSR

and corporate image; in detail, CSR behaviours affect consumer buying behaviour

directly and positively, but also indirectly by influencing corporate image in a way

which results in consumer buying behaviour (Nguyen and Leblanc, 2001; Cole, 2017).

However, as discussed in the previous section, consideration of CSI behaviour is

important when conducting research in the field of CSR; for corporate image, the

inverse should also be considered (Hsieh et al., 2004). The following section discusses

the impact of CSI behaviour on corporate image and the impact of negative corporate

image on consumer buying behaviour, respectively.

The previous section clarifies the fact that, as CSR gains prominence in consumers’

minds, they become more willing to pay attention organisations’ performance in this

regard; this means that corporate image, a concept which is regarded as representative

of the integration of consumer information about a company, tends to be more closely

associated with CSR behaviour.

Research by Virvilaite and Daubaraite (2011) provides evidence that CSR plays a

crucial role in the promotion of a positive corporate image and the maintenance of

competitive advantage in the market. Companies can engage in social activities

according to the economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic requirements expected of

them by society, as this supports the construction of a positive corporate image

(Pomering and Johonson, 2009; Robins, 2008; Ward and Lewandowska, 2006). For a

company, initiating CSR activities actually signals to consumers (Du et al., 2007; Fatma

et al., 2015) that the company has superior knowledge of sustainability and a

trustworthy corporate character and business reputation in terms of corporate image

compared to its competitors (Park et al., 2014). These features are likely to enhance

consumers’ positive perceptions of corporate messages, supporting the development of

a positive corporate image.

In a recent CSI-related study, Brunk (2010) argues that the existence of unethical

perceptions of CSR practices can fundamentally damage corporate image. CSI can

10

exert a negative impact on consumers’ sentiments (Grappi et al., 2012). Because

corporate image fundamentally constitutes public perception of a company, and

negative consumer attitudes and sentiments suppress consumers’ ability to access

positive information about a company, thus reducing their positive perceptions of it,

CSI can both damage a company’s previously-earned good reputation, and also

negatively impact existing corporate image (Amujo et al., 2012).

The findings of Swaen et al. (2021) show an apparently opposite result, specifically that

CSI behaviours do not exert a directly negative impact on consumers’ perceptions of a

company. However, these researchers suggest that this may be due to the fact that this

process is also influenced by expectations of CSR associated with individual customers’

characteristics, rather than resulting from the negative effects of CSI behaviour.

Companies with CSI behaviours generally fail to meet consumers’ high expectations

and are therefore more likely to be perceived by society as having a negative and

untrustworthy image. Therefore, Hypothesis 2 is advanced:

H2: CSI behaviour has a negative impact on corporate image.

As companies improve their corporate image in order to increase their market share and

strengthen the relationship of trust between stakeholders and the company

(Flavián and Torres, 2005), trust is also seen as a means of improving corporate image

(James and Annie, 2012). Existing research suggests that consumers who perceive a

good corporate image through inductive reasoning construct beliefs about the company

and develop a sense of trust, and that sentiments of this nature help to reduce uncertainty

in the consumer purchase decision-making process (Hsieh et al., 2004; Lin and Lu,

2010).

However, a positive corporate image attracts consumers’ attention and encourages their

trust, thus increasing their buying behaviour (Green and Peloza, 2011), while a negative

corporate image in turn reduces trust in the company in the public’s perception and

consumer buying behaviour of the company’s products (June and Seock, 2016). For

example, in the food and beverage industry, a 2008 incident involving melamine in

Chinese milk powder directly caused the company’s corporate image to plummet, with

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the inaction of executives causing stakeholders to lose faith in the organisation; the

company’s stock fell as a result of this negative event, consumers lost confidence in the

organisation’s goods and services, becoming disappointed and angry with the company

as a whole, and total sales of milk powder sales fell rapidly after the incident

(Kong, 2012). Consumer buying behaviour evidently decreased due to the loss of public

confidence in the company.

In the market environment, consumers tend to rely on information about companies and

products to reduce their perceived level of risk when making purchase decisions, as

they prefer to save time costs and use minimal cognitive effort in this process

(Macdonald and Sharp, 2000). At times of crisis for organisations, a negative corporate

image is more likely to be perceived than a positive one (Jung and Seock, 2016).

Grappi et al. (2013) researched the question of whether negative impacts on a

company’s previously good image act to exert a negative impact on consumers. Their

findings show that, when a company does not enjoy a good reputation, or indeed has a

poor one, consumers are likely to develop a negative perception of the organisation,

subsequently demonstrating punitive attitudes; this in turn is highly likely to negatively

influence consumer buying behaviour. (Sweetin et al., 2013; Carvalho et al., 2015).

Therefore Hypothesis 3 is advanced:

H3: Positive corporate image has a positive impact on consumer buying behaviour.

2.2.3 Demographic factors

Image is the product of a subjective combination of the physical and emotional factors

which characterise an organisation and distinguish it from others of a similar nature

(Doña-Toledo et al., 2017). Demographic factors as attributes of individuals can act to

influence a person’s subjective perception as a result of emotional and other factors

(Hareli and Rafaeli, 2008). Previous studies also conclude that various groups perceive

CSR differently, and similarly, the response to corporate unethical behaviour may vary

between individuals (Jones et al., 2017; Swaen et al., 2021; Makanyeza et al., 2021).

Demographic factors are therefore regarded as one of the key influencing factors in

consumers’ perception of corporate image. Additional factors including age,

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educational level, and income are specifically discussed below as potential influences

in the process of CSI behaviour affecting corporate image.

Gender as a demographic factor, plays an important role in consumers’ attitudes

towards CSR (Pérez and Rodríguez, 2013). Gender has an impact on how an individual

reacts emotionally; women react more rapidly to sadness, but more slowly to anger,

with males reacting conversely (Glenberg et al., 2009). Social identity theory is often

used by academics to examine differences in perceptions of CSR in relation to gender

(Jones et al., 2017). Perceptions of personal social responsibility also exert an impact

on perceptions of CSR, with women believing that an organisation should play a

positive role in society (Hatch and Stephen, 2015). Companies with a higher proportion

of women on their boards are more comprehensive in their CSR reporting

(Fernandez-Feijoo et al., 2014). Gender differences can lead to varying consumer

perceptions of CSR (Kim and Kim, 2016), and Jones et al. (2017) conclude that men

perceive CSR less strongly than women, with females having higher expectations of it

(Hur et al., 2016). As a result, the impact of CSR varies by gender (Chang et al., 2016).

As a result, consumers of different genders have varied perspectives on how corporate

social irresponsibility (CSI) behaviour influences corporate image, which leads to

Hypothesis 4a:

H4a: Gender has a moderating effect on the negative impact of CSI behaviours on

corporate image, and the moderating effect is greater in females.

Educational level is a measure of the human capital a person possesses; it is an

important indicator for the assessment of intelligence and cognition (Agarwal and

Bhargava, 2013). Level of education is believed to affects an individual’s psychological

response to events; it has long been shown that higher levels of education lead to

increased demands and expectations, with a belief that those who have received higher

education should be better rewarded in all respects (Hall, 1994). Bellou’s (2009)

research concludes that individuals with college-level or higher education have

relatively higher demands and expectations of society.

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However, the effect of educational attainment on consumers’ perceptions of a

company’s CSI behaviour has not been specifically and adequately studied to date.

Doña-Toledo et al. (2017) conclude that consumers with lower levels of participation

in higher education moderate the effect of perceptions on image compared to consumers

with higher levels of educational achievement. Research also shows that consumers

with higher levels of education tend to show a stronger link between perception and

awareness (Wang et al., 2020), which implies that these consumers are more likely to

become aware of a company’s CSI behaviours, consequently developing a negative

perception of the organisation, in turn reducing its image in their own minds, thus

Hypothesis 4b is advanced:

H4b: Educational level has a moderating effect on the negative impact of CSI

behaviours on corporate image; the higher the educational level, the greater the

moderating effect.

The income level of a consumer to some extent affects their level of perception (Shukla

et al., 2013). However, there remains no consistent answer to the question of how

income level affects consumers’ demands and expectations of corporate social

responsibility (Santaso, 2020). Gupta (2019) argues that members of higher income

groups are more willing to involve themselves with socially-beneficial causes and/or

activities, and therefore tend to respond more positively to CSR initiatives such as the

provision of ethical public goods by companies than members of lower income groups.

In contrast, some studies suggest that members of lower-income groups care more about

whether companies implement CSR behaviours and have higher expectations of

corporate social responsibility aspects than members of high-income groups

(Corak, 2013). It has also been suggested that members of high-income groups are more

concerned about the economic aspects of the organisation’s social responsibility

fulfilment, whereas members of lower-income groups are more focused on

discretionary CSR (Singh et al., 2021). Despite some academic studies arguing that

members of higher income groups are more responsive to CSR, Tian et al. (2011)

suggest that this may vary between countries, with China’s lower income groups being

more proactive in their responses to CSR. At this stage, Hypothesis 4c is proposed:

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H4c: Income level has a moderating effect on the negative impact of CSI behaviours

on corporate image; the lower the income level, the greater the moderating effect.

2.3 Research model

Combining all the assumptions established above, a comprehensive model of CSI in

response to consumer buying behaviour is produced, as shown in Figure 1.

CSI both directly influences consumer buying behaviour, and also influences it through

corporate image. Consumers of different gender, education, and income levels are

affected differently in the process of CSI influencing corporate image. A summary of

this study’s Hypotheses is shown in Table 1:

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3 Methodology

This chapter introduces the quantitative research method of this thesis to test the

hypotheses presented in the previous chapter. This study investigates the changes in the

corporate image of Luckin Coffee and consumer buying behaviour regarding Luckin’s

products before and after Luckin Coffee’s financial fraud by using this event as the

background to the questionnaire; SPSS is then choosed as a tool to carry out statistical

analyses, and finally, the procedure for eliminating bias and the description of the

sample information returned by this survey are presented

3.1 Research design

The research design must be appropriate for the type of research being conducted

(Zikmund et al., 2010; Bryman and Bell, 2011). This study adopts the research method

of deductive reasoning in positivism, which is the process of inferring conclusions from

known information according to the rules of formal logic (Ayalon and Even, 2008). In

contrast, the quantitative research approach tests the relationship between the

independent and dependent variables of the hypothesis through statistical data and

analysis to test it (Saunders et al., 2009; Bryman and Bell, 2011). In the method of

quantitative research, data is collected by means of questionnaire in surveys; this has

the following advantages: firstly, it is highly effective, because it enables us to obtain a

significant sample size in a short period of time, saving time and costs. Secondly, it

ensures consistency; a uniform questionnaire is used for all respondents, which

facilitates comparative analysis in a consistent manner; thirdly, the questionnaire is

diverse, which is less restrictive in terms of number and scope.

3.2 Questionnaire design

All questions in this study were posed in the context of a specific event. Scenario-based

questionnaires are a survey method designed to identify respondents’ decision rules

through their responses to a series of scenarios (Utomo et al., 2022). By setting the

questionnaire context, this study created a baseline which unified the image of the CSI

event and ensured that each respondent reacted to the same issue. The background of

this study is the Chinese food and beverage (F and B) sector, because the rapid growth

17

of this industry, driven by the increase in disposable income of Chinese consumers, has

rendered research into it easier to conduct, with increased availability of information.

In 2019, the revenue of the Chinese food market was CNY 114.3 billion, while the

revenue of the beverage market is CNY 57.9 billion (Daxue Consulting, 2021). Kong

(2012) concludes that the formulation and implementation of CSR in the food and

beverage sector is complex, with CSR still in its early stages of development. However,

with the frequent occurrence of food safety problems, financial scandals, and other

incidents resulting in damage to company interests, CSR in this sector has become the

focus of stakeholders’ attention, along with consumers and the media (Kong, 2012);

this also renders it easier to gain relevant information and data.

Luckin Coffee’s financial fraud case has been a ‘hot topic’ in recent years; it has had

an effect on society meaning that many Chinese consumers are very concerned about

Luckin-related issuess, thus it has research significance (Peng et al., 2022). Luckin

Coffee was founded in 2017, with the company’s mission being to make coffee

affordable and accessible to everyone, striving to make it a feature of everyone’s lives

(Peng et al., 2022). Despite the company’s young age, it is accepted as a challenger to

Starbucks and is seen as one of the leading companies in China’s food and beverage

sector because it makes full use of big data, cloud computing and other Internet

technologies to refine a new retail model which provides consumers with a more

complete and high-quality experience (Peng et al., 2022).

However, in April 2020, Luckin Coffee was exposed as being involved in financial

fraud during the third quarter of 2019, amounting to CNY 2.2 billion (inflated 2019

coffee sales revenue and profit). The organisation’s stock price collapsed and the

company was delisted as a result of this incident. Tench et al. (2012) argue that a

company can be considered CSI if it engages in socially unacceptable behaviour. In

addition, according to Caroll’s (2016) pyramid theory, companies should comply with

laws and regulations, do what is fair and equitable, avoid harm, and be a good corporate

citizen in addition to satisfying their social needs for profit. The financial fraud

committed by Luckin Coffee constitutes socially-unacceptable behaviour, which

violates laws and regulations in order to increase its own profits, decreases the fairness

18

and justice of its business transactions, and fails to shoulder its legal, moral, and

charitable responsibilities. Therefore, as a typical CSI incident, this was used in the

context of this study’s questionnaire.

This study’s questionnaire comprises two parts, involving 27 questions (Appendix 1

and Appendix 2). The first part includes the respondents’ socio-demographic

characteristics such as age, gender, education, income, and city of residence. At least

three related measurement questions under CSI are included, relating to corporate

image and consumer buying behaviour to ensure a high correlation between

measurement questions and the Hypotheses (Table 2). In order to better quantify the

questionnaire data, a 5-point Likert scale is used in the second part (Messick, 1989), in

which respondents are asked to rate their opinion on a scale ranging from: 1 = "strongly

disagree" to 5 = "strongly agree"; this also to some extent increased respondents’

understanding of the questionnaire. In order to avoid questionnaire bias resulting from

respondents’ lack of knowledge of the Luckin financial fraud, a brief introduction to

the background of Luckin Coffee and its CSI incident was provided at the beginning of

the questionnaire.

Because this survey was conducted in China, the questionnaire was firstly designed in

English and then translated to Chinese. For the translation process, Brislin’s classic

‘back-translation model’ (1970), widely used for instrument validation, was used to

obtain equivalence between the original and the translated questionnaire responses.

Two bilingual teachers oversaw the translation of the Chinese version of the

questionnaire back to English, providing advice on wording and clarity of expression.

After making modifications, a pre-test of the Chinese version of the questionnaire was

conducted; six Chinese volunteers, three males and three females, ranging in age from

18-58 years old, were invited to complete it. Based on their feedback, several valid and

valuable suggestions were obtained; for example, the pre-test questionnaire took the

form of a ‘fill-in-the-blank’ question on residency, but in the pre-test, respondents

proved to be reluctant to answer this question, which would have impacted data

collection and analysis. Therefore, in the final questionnaire, the questions were posed

in a multiple-choice format with different response options according to the national

19

statistical office classification of urban classes, thus increasing respondents’

willingness to answer, and ultimately improving the quality of the questionnaire.

3.3 Sampling and data collection

In this study, a combination of convenience- and snowball sampling was used; this is

because, when it is difficult to identify the study population as a certain type, non-

probability sampling is a more appropriate choice than probability sampling

(Nardi, 2018). Secondly, convenience sampling enables researchers to obtain the target

sample quickly, facilitating the efficient completion of surveys when time is limited or

there are transportation constraints which reduce the survey’s limitations

(Etikan et al., 2016). The inclusion of snowball sampling is due to the advantage of this

method which enables new research targets to be met by participants in order to rapidly

expand the sample’s capacity when the range of participants initially reached is limited

(Gray, 2007).

In order to balance the distribution of the sample, consideration was given to the gender

ratio, age distribution when distributing the questionnaire, and also consumers resident

in different cities. In addition, because the survey was conducted in China, which

remains under strict restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to save costs, the

questionnaire was distributed online. Wenjuanxing, a well-known tool in China for the

design and distribution of questionnaires through the WeChat platform, which is similar

to Facebook, was used to facilitate the online distribution and collection of data. In

order to collect sufficient data, 500 questionnaires were sent via WeChat. The

participants returned 248 responses, representing a response rate of 49.6%, of which

241 were valid questionnaires, providing a validity rate of 97.2%. According to Pallant

(2016), the minimum survey sample reception value is 150, therefore, this sample size

is valid.

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3.4 Measurement

3.4.1 Independent and dependent variables

The independent variable of corporate social irresponsibility in this study refers to the

behaviours of companies which fail to meet social requirements and expectations.

Referring to Caroll’s (2016) measure of CSR and Tench et al.’ s (2012) definition of

CSI, six questions were included in order to measure the degree of CSI, in consumers’

perceptions, of the financial fraud at Luckin Coffee (Table 2).

21

Consumer buying behaviour is this study’s dependent variable; this term refers to the

actual buying behaviour of consumers in the course of their lives, including repetitive

purchasing; the questions in this section refer to the four ‘measure items’ on consumer

re-purchase behaviour in Ekorn and Khan (2014) and Harmancioglu et al.’s (2009) two

questions on the assessment of buying behaviour (Table 2).

Corporate image appears as a dependent variable in Hypothesis 2 and as an

independent variable in Hypothesis 3 in this study. Its main reference is to general

perception of the company, with the questionnaire used by Ekorn and Khan (2014) and

the measure items used by Arendt and Brettel (2010) and Mostafa et al., (2015) referred

to when setting the questions (Table 2).

In addition, the moderating variables of gender, education, and income are regarded as

consumer characteristics which influence customers’ attitudes and perceptions

(Büyükkaragöz et al., 2014; Mathras et al., 2016); for each of these three categories, a

question was set. Among these, although educational- and income level are not

continuous ordinal variables, they are treated as such for the sake of clarity and

convenience of analysis. In the SPSS setup, educational level is classified as Junior

High School and below (Value = 1), High School (Value = 2), College (Value = 3),

Bachelor’s degree (Value = 4), Master’s degree and above (Value = 5), income is

divided into below CNY 50,000 (Value = 1), CNY 50,000-150,000 (Value = 2), CNY

150,000-250,000 (Value = 3), over CNY 250,000 (Value = 4).

3.4.2 Control variable

In order to achieve optimum research design, some variables which potentially affect

consumer buying behaviour require control (Carlson and Wu, 2012). This study

controlled for seven variables which influence consumer behaviour, namely: product

price, quality, advertising, and promotion, as well as herd mentality, convenience of

purchase, and convenience for consumers of purchasing alternatives.

Firstly, price and quality are one of the main factors influencing consumer behaviour;

a company’s product with a high price and/or poor quality is likely to create a poor

22

impression and decrease consumers’ purchase intentions (Arredondo et al., 2010;

Fandos and Flavián, 2006). Secondly, advertising and promotion are significant

additional influencing factors; they are defined as a form of communication which

conveys information to influence the behaviour of existing or potential customers

(Lake, 2016), and are a key aspect of establishing communication with consumers

(Familmaleki et al., 2015) and one of the effective ways for a company to present its

image to the outside world and increase sales (Cheah et al., 2019).

Thirdly, Peng and Liang (2013) argue that consumers’ psychology and behaviour

unconsciously converge with those of the groups around them, therefore herd mentality

may influence consumers’ impressions of products and their buying behaviour.

Fourthly, ease of purchase affects consumers’ perceptions of a company and their

buying behaviour. The ease of purchasing a product is part of the information

consumers perceive about a company; they tend to reduce the effort required in the

consumption process (Macdonald and Sharp, 2000), which means that the ease of

purchasing a product greatly affects consumers’ perceptions of a company and their

buying behaviour.

Conversely, a high level of ease of purchase of homogeneous products in the market

implies a high level of substitutability of those products and therefore interferes with

consumers’ perceptions of the company, reducing their purchase intentions

(Dennis et al., 2010). In summary, all of the above variables should be controlled for,

as shown in Table 3.

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3.5 Data analysis

After collection of the responses, SPSS 25 was used for data processing due to its ease

of use and capacity to provide simple and intuitive analysis results. Cronbach’s alpha

test was used to test the reliability of the items, while exploratory factor analysis

methods were used to help analyse the interrelationships between multiple variables, to

identify factors which influence consumer buying behaviour, and assess reliability as

well as the validity of the data (Pallant, 2016). Linear regression is a statistical study

method which uses mathematical regression analysis to determine the quantitative

relationship between two or more dependent variables and determine whether it is

statistically significant on the basis of the output p-value (Pallant, 2016); it is therefore

used to test hypotheses.

3.6 Common method variance control

Common Method Variance (CMV) is a risk which potentially affects the reliability and

validity of the questionnaire process (Podsakoff et al., 2003; Santangelo and Meyer,

2011). This questionnaire was distributed through the single channel of Wenjuanxing,

therefore some appropriate measures had to be undertaken to ensure the quality of the

data by reducing or eliminating these common method biases in the data collection

process.

Firstly, some of the questions in the measurement table were disordered to avoid

participants responding to different measurement questions under the same variable due

to inertia. Secondly, reverse translation and pretesting were used in the questionnaire

design process, which reduced the problem of unclear wording and/or semantic

confusion. Thirdly, in order to test whether respondents had read the questionnaire

carefully, several negative sentences were inserted as counter-questions in the

measurement table, as the majority of the questions in the measurement table were

affirmative statements; this enabled the elimination of invalid responses and reduced

the likelihood that respondents would adopt a consistent position in their responses.

Finally, the correlation test was used to test for the presence of CMV effects; a

correlation between all factors below 0.9 is considered acceptable to pass the

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questionnaire (Rodriguez and Meseguer, 2020); this also ensures that the questionnaire

has no additional CMV problems.

3.7 Questionnaire ethics

The questionnaire distribution process used for this study adheres to the ethical

requirements defined by Sudman (1998) that data should be retained confidentially, that

participants should not be harmed or misled in any way, and that participation should

be both voluntary and informed. As previously mentioned, the questionnaire was

distributed on an individual basis to each respondent’s smart device through the

Wenjuanxing platform, and completed anonymously, with the data collected used

solely for the purposes of this study; it was not disclosed to any third parties, complying

with the requirements of data confidentiality. The purpose of the data collection process

was explained to the participants at the beginning of the questionnaire, and the study

ensured that the risks associated with participation in the research were lower than those

associated with everyday life; respondents who declined to provide responses would

not be further contacted, which ensured that they were not harmed or misled, and were

participating on a voluntary and informed basis.

3.8 Sample information description

Table 4 illustrates the sample profile of the respondents in this study. Among the 241

valid questionnaires, the number of female participants was 155, accounting for 64.3%,

which is approximately twice the number of male respondents. This may be due to the

fact that female users of the WeChat platform tend to invest more time and energy in

following and participating in social media-based activities than male users

(Vermeren, 2015). Another possible reason is that members of the female group are

more perceptive of CSR-related issues than the male group and are therefore more

willing to provide answers in the context of a survey (Jones et al., 2017).

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In terms of age, 70.1% of respondents were aged between 20-39 years, 10.4% were

aged between 40-49 years, 17.8% were older than 50 years, and only 1.7% were

younger than 20 years. The reason for this is likely to be that the age of the group most

frequently consuming coffee in China is generally in the range of 20-39 years, while

the group aged under 20 years is not usually encouraged to drink coffee (CBN Data,

2020). In addition, 18.3% of respondents live in Tier 1 cities, 47.3% in Tier 2 cities,

and 34.4% in other cities. Of these, 12.4% earn less than CNY 50,000, 49.0% earn

between CNY 50,000 and CNY 150,000, 23.7% earn between CNY 150,000 and CNY

250,000, and the remaining 14.9% earn more than CNY 250,000. In terms of

educational background, those with junior high school and below account for 2.1%,

high school for 3.7%, college for 12.4%, bachelor’s degree for 58.1%, and master’s

degree and above for 23.7%, which is due to the fact that, as China’s educational level

improves, increasing numbers of people have the ability and opportunity to earn a

bachelor’s degree qualification or above (National Bureau of Statistics 2021).

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4 Results

SPSS 25 was used to organise and analyse the data collected in the previous section.

This section compares and explains the results of this empirical study with the

hypotheses, including analyses of exploratory factors, reliability, correlation, and

regression.

4.1 Exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis

Exploratory factor analysis is a method used to identify the interrelationship between

variables (Pallant, 2016). Firstly, Tabachnick and Fidell (2013) argue that, to improve

factor analysis, the minimum value of KMO should be 0.6 based on a significant

Bartlett’s sphericity test (p < 0.05). The results of the data analysis show a Bartlett’s

sphericity test of 0.000 (p < 0.001), and a KMO value of 0.936 (more than 0.6). The

minimum value of communalities was 0.558, which exceeded the prescribed minimum

value of 0.5 (Pallant, 2016). Additionally, no significant cross-loadings occurred.

Table 5 presents the results of the factor, reliability, and validity analyses.

The reliability of each subgroup was separately tested; academics use retest reliability

and internal consistency in order to measure and assess the reliability of the scale

(Pallant, 2016). Internal consistency reliability is tested, i.e., the correlation of the

sample was determined by the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient; the larger the coefficient,

the higher is its reliability (on a range of 0 to 1). Nunnally (1978) demonstrates that the

cut-off point for reliability of a measure is 0.7. The Cronbach ‘s alpha coefficient values

for the three scales were in the range of 0.929, 0.944, and 0.953, therefore greater than

0.7.

This study opts to retain CI1 on corporate image and CBB6 on customer buying

behaviour in the study’s findings (Table 5). Although deleting them would potentially

improve the reliability of their respective scales, corporate image can be improved to

0.946, and consumer buying behaviour can be improved to 0.957, while the validity of

the sample is improved to 0.937. However, the minimum value of the output

communalities would be 0.353, which is lower than the specified minimum value of

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0.5. This means that the current measurement scale of this study’s questionnaire has

better reliability and validity without the need to deleting CI1 and CBB6.

4.2 Correlation analysis

Pearson correlation is usually employed as an indicator to test the strength of linearity

between variables, with values ranging from -1 to 1 (Pallant, 2016). In other words,

there can be both positive and negative relationships between variables (Pallant, 2016).

This study shows that the correlations among the independent variables were less than

0.7, with a minimum value of 0.001 and a maximum value of 0.631. The results are

consistent with Pallant’s (2016) published research, suggesting a correlation of < 0.7

among the independent variables; this means that the variables in this study are less

likely to have multicollinearity in the regression analysis (Table 6).

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In addition, the presence of correlations greater than 0.9 between constructs in the

model suggests the presence of a CMV effect (Rodriguez and Meseguer, 2020).

Although this research did not define the data collection of the independent and

dependent variables in the questionnaire at different times during the control for generic

method bias, the correlation between CSI and corporate image was - 0.425, while the

correlation between CSI and consumer buying behaviour was - 0.477 in the correlation

analysis. The correlation between corporate image and consumer buying behaviour is

0.839, which is lower than 0.9, thus there is no problem of Common Method Variance

(CMV). The results of Pearson correlation are shown in Table 6.

4.3 Regression analysis

After determining the correlation between the variables, the research hypotheses were

verified through linear regression analysis (Pallant, 2016). This study examined the

relationship between CSI, corporate image, and consumer buying behaviour by adding

the control variables and the dependent variable to the regression equation on two levels

through a hierarchical regression. Analysis of the effect of the moderating variables was

determined by addition of the interaction term to the equation and observing whether

this was significant or not. The analytical model is shown in Table 7.

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Where β0 is the intercept, and β1~10 are the coefficients, XC1~7 are the control variables

of price, quality, advertising, promotion, herd mentality, convenience of purchase,

convenience of purchasing alternatives, YCBB is consumer buying behaviour, YCI and

XCI are corporate image, XCSI is corporate social irresponsibility, XG, XEL, XI are the

moderating variables of gender, education, and income respectively, and ε is the

residual.

Table 8 illustrates the descriptive statistics for Models 1 to 3, respectively. As can be

seen from the tables, in the ANOVA test the minimum value is 0.000 and the maximum

value is 0.001, which are lower than the required 0.05, thus all models are statistically

significant.

In H1 and H2, R square increases from 0.110 to 0.313, and from 0.097 to 0.260

respectively, compared to C1 and C2 where only control variables are added; this

proves that CSI helps to increase the explanatory strength of consumer buying

behaviour and corporate image. In H1, CSI (β= -0.566, P < 0.05) is significantly and

negatively related to consumer buying behaviour, while in H2, CSI (β= -0.455, P < 0.05)

is significantly and negatively related to corporate image. Therefore, Hypotheses 1 and

2 are supported. Similarly, the R square in H3 increased from 0.110 to 0.727 compared

to C1, which proves that corporate image helped to increase the explanatory strength

of consumer buying behaviour and corporate image (β= 0.908, P < 0.05) was

significantly and positively related to consumer buying behaviour, which is

significantly and positively correlated. Therefore, Hypothesis 3 is supported.

30

31

Baron and Kenny (1986) argue that partial mediation is demonstrated if the independent

variable affects the dependent variable through the mediating variable, along with a

separate effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable; full mediation is

demonstrated only if the independent variable affects the dependent variable through

the mediating variable. If the independent variable affects the dependent variable

through the mediating variable while there is a separate effect of the independent

variable on the dependent variable, then a partial mediating effect is demonstrated; if

the independent variable affects the dependent variable only through the mediating

variable, then a full mediating effect is demonstrated.

By constructing a multiple regression model, the results show that H1, H2, and H3 all

have significant effects. By including CI and CSI as independent variables in the

regression equation, it becomes clear that these also have a significant effect on

consumer buying behaviour. Based on the standardised beta coefficients of the three

regression equations, a (H2) = -0.408, b (H1’) = 0.758, c = - 0.463 (H1), it can be

concluded that the contribution of the mediating effect to the total effect is 66.8 %, (M

= a*b/c; -0.408*0.758 / -0.463), which is less than 80.0%. Thus, corporate image is a

partially mediating effect.

In terms of moderating effects, the R square of the model with the addition of gender

increased from 0.260 to 0.276, the R square of the model with the addition of

educational level increased from 0.260 to 0.316, and the R square of the model with the

addition of income level increased from 0.260 to 0.275, implying that all three

moderating variables increased the model’s interpretability. In addition, the interaction

terms CSI × Gender (β= 0.301, P < 0.05), CSI × educational level (β= 0.191, P < 0.05),

and CSI × income (β= 0.150, P < 0.05) were all significant and provided opposite

indicators to the main effects. Thus, all three play a negative moderating role, and there

is a greater moderating effect of the male group, the lower educational level group, and

the lower income group on the process of CSI affecting corporate image. Therefore,

H4a and H4b are not supported, while H4c is supported. Table 9 presentes the

summary of hypothesis testing results.

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33

5 Discussion

This chapter summarises the results of the empirical study and analyses the relationship

between CSI, corporate image, and consumer buying behaviour, as well as the

demographic factors which influence the role of CSI in the corporate image process.

5.1 The impact of CSI on consumer buying behaviour and corporate image

The current empirical results suggest that CSI behaviour negatively affects consumer

buying behaviour. This result is consistent with the findings of Sweetin et al. (2013). It

also corresponds with the findings of previous research studies in the field of CSR in

which companies’ fulfilment of CSR positively influenced consumer buying behaviour.

The results of this study suggest that consumers often play a multi-dimensional and

complex social role, and when making purchase decisions, they both weigh up the pros

and cons of a purchase in terms of affordability and/or product quality and also consider

the company’s social responsibility from the perspective of a socially-engaged

participant.

When a company engages in CSI, although this does not usually appear to affect the

interests of consumers, it can cause harm to stakeholders and the communities in which

the company operates. Even if consumers’ interests are not directly affected, they may

take action to penalise the company by reducing their own purchasing of the company’s

products and services based on consideration of maintenance of the social environment.

Secondly, this study finds a negative impact of CSI behaviour on corporate image,

which is consistent with the findings of Amujo et al., (2012) that irresponsible corporate

behaviour can damage corporate image and a corporation’s reputational ratings. This

suggests that CSI behaviours can directly reduce the value of a company by negatively

impacting its hidden assets. A company should not make decisions by focusing on the

cost savings of CSI behaviours while ignoring associated costs to the company, or by

assuming that CSI behaviour is not harmful to the company itself. This demonstrates

the importance for organisations of avoiding CSI behaviours.

In social practice, encouraging companies to carefully develop and implement CSR

behaviours, to avoid CSI behaviours, and to incorporate relevant elements into

34

corporate strategies all help them to maintain their established markets, reduce the

uncertainty of some consumers’ purchasing decisions, prevent companies from

suffering a loss of customers, and support the establishment of sustainable competitive

advantages which create a favourable position in a volatile market environment.

5.2 The mediation role of corporate image

This study shows that corporate image has a significantly positive effect on consumer

buying behaviour. This aligns with Jung and Seock’s (2016) research, which concludes

that positive corporate image has a positive impact, while negative corporate image

gives negative cues to consumers, thereby decreasing buying behaviour.

Further, this study confirms that consumers use corporate image as one purchase

determinant when making buying decisions, which again validates the importance of

corporate image, in line with the findings of previous studies. Corporate image is not

only the external image of the company, which is the ‘weather vane’ for consumer

purchases, but also represents a company’s potential value acting as a yardstick for the

appeal of the company to future customers.

This study also confirms the fact that corporate image has an indirect mediating effect

on corporate CSI behaviour affecting consumer buying behaviour, i.e., corporate CSI

behaviours not only directly reduce consumer buying behaviour, but also negatively

affect consumer purchase decisions by damaging corporate image. Therefore, corporate

image actually plays a restraining role for companies; organisations should consider

whether this violates the principles of corporate social responsibility, and has a negative

impact on corporate image when implementing business decisions. A positive corporate

image can enable a company to achieve greater profitability and attract the attention of

both consumers and investors, while a negative corporate image can undermine

consumers’ purchase intentions and invariably reduces the company’s resources and

capabilities, rendering it difficult for the company to operate in its market.

35

5.3 The moderating role of demographic factors

This study confirms the moderating effects of gender, educational level, and income

level, among the demographic factors in the process of CSI influencing corporate image.

The findings of this thesis on the moderating roles of gender, educational attainment,

and income level differ from those of other academics (Hur el al., 2016; Pérez and

Bosque, 2015; Gupta, 2019) due to differences in national environments

(Tian et al., 2011).

Of these, men are more likely to be influenced by CSI and thus develop a worse

perception of corporate image, which does not align with previous research findings

that female groups are more likely to be influenced by corporate behaviour in CSR-

related areas than male groups (Jones et al., 2017). This may be due to the fact that there

remains a gap between consumers’ perceptions of CSI and the formation of a corporate

image, as consumers generalise all perceptions of the company, with stronger

perceptions not necessarily leading to the formation of a stronger corporate image.

Second, Kimbrough et al. (2013) demonstrate that men and women have different levels

of concern about social events, with men tending to be more concerned about the

financial aspects of social events than women. Therefore, the current results may also

be attributable to the selection of CSI events of a financial nature in this study’s

questionnaire. In addition, Glenberg et al. (2009) show that men are more influenced

by anger than women, thus it is also possible that the current findings result from the

fact that the process of CSI damaging corporate image in consumers’ minds is more

strongly influenced by anger.

Secondly, members of lower-educated groups are more likely to have a poor impression

of corporate image due to CSI behaviours. Previous research argues that members of

highly-educated groups are more likely to develop a positive image of an organisation

after perceiving favourable behaviours than members of groups with a low level of

education (Doña-Toledo et al., 2017). It noteworthy that, because respondents with an

educational level of bachelor’s degree or above accounted for 81.8% of the total number

of valid questionnaires, those completed by lower-educated groups generally refer to

lower educational attainment within the respondents with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

36

However, this study challenges previous perceptions, possibly because members of

higher-educated groups are more inclined to assess situations positively than those from

lower-educated groups, which may be because the former are more rational and willing

to consider issues in depth (Agarwal and Bhargava, 2013); therefore the process of

forming a corporate image in their minds takes longer but is sustained, and does not

result in CSI behaviours rapidly creating a generally negative impression of the

organisation. Equally, the process of educational level moderating the impact of CSI on

corporate image may also be influenced by other factors; highly-educated people are

more likely to become aware of other CSR activities than members of lower-income

groups, thus offsetting to a significant extent the negative impact of CSI behaviours on

corporate image.

Finally, the process of CSI undermining corporate image is more pronounced among

members of lower-income groups. This is consistent with Corak’s (2013) findings,

which conclude that members of lower-income groups have higher expectations of

corporate CSR behaviours. This result suggests that these individuals are more likely

to take note of CSI behaviours, and develop a worse impression of corporate image.

Because respondents with an annual income level of CNY50,000-150,000 and above

accounted for 87.6% of the total number of valid questionnaires, the term ‘lower income

group’ generally refers to those with a relatively low income within this range.

Combining these findings leads to the recommendation that companies should increase

their awareness of, and interaction with, both men and members of lower-income and

lower-education consumer groups when developing strategies to fulfil CSR or avoid

CSI behaviours, in order to avoid the potential risk of damage to corporate image.

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6 Conclusion

The concluding chapter of this thesis summarises the findings and relevant managerial

implications of this empirical study, followed by a discussion of its research

contributions. Finally, the limitations of the research study are identified, and some

suggestions are made for the direction of associated future research.

6.1 Main findings and contribution of this research study

As part of current business strategy, corporate social responsibility has become

increasingly important (Nadanyiova, 2021). Companies should manage their CSR

activities effectively in order to gain the support of their stakeholders such as consumers

and investors, ensuring the retention of their sustainable competitive advantage.

The purpose and research questions of this study aim to provide an in-depth

investigation into the impact of CSI on consumer buying behaviour. The analysis of the

relationship between CSI, corporate image, and consumer buying behaviour shows that

CSI has a negative impact on both corporate image and consumer buying behaviour.

This implies that avoiding CSI potentially helps companies to develop trusting

relationships with consumers and consequently exerts a positive effect on their financial

performance whilst also influencing consumer buying behaviour.

Secondly, this study shows that corporate image plays an indirect mediating effect in

CSI and consumer buying behaviour; CSI not only exerts a directly negative impact on

consumer buying behaviour, but also reduces it indirectly through damaged corporate

image. This proves the importance of corporate image in the process of CSI behaviour

negatively influencing consumer buying behaviour, and the fact that it is important to

avoid the occurrence of CSI incidents and maintain a positive corporate image in order

to develop profitability sustainably.

Meanwhile, gender, income, and educational level play moderating roles in the

influence of CSI on corporate image. Of these, the findings on members of lower

income groups are consistent with previous research conclusions (Corak, 2013), in

which these groups are more likely to have a worse perception of an organisation after

38

learning about CSI behaviours, due to their high expectations of corporate CSR.

Surprisingly, there is a greater moderating effect among men and members of higher

income groups on the negative impact of CSI on corporate image relative to women

and members of lower income groups. This may be due to the fact that males are more

sensitive than females to events of a financial nature as a result of their angry reactions,

while members of the lower-educated group are more likely show a stronger

psychological reaction to CSI due to their limited reflection time and rational

limitations.

In terms of research contributions, although research in the area of CSR has for many

years been ongoing and fruitful, there remains a lack of research on CSI behaviours

which are neither legally nor socially acceptable for companies to engage in

(Tench et al., 2012). Although from the definition of CSI, it can be viewed as the

opposite of CSR, study of the positive element of a concept is inseparable from study

of its negative side, and study of the benefits achieved as a result of organisations’

fulfilment of CSR activities can help to raise their awareness of CSR.

By the same token, study of the potentially serious consequences of organisations’

commission of CSI will also help companies to increase their awareness of avoiding

CSI behaviours. The main contribution of this study is to redress the lack of research in

the field of CSI by examining the impact of the Luckin Coffee financial fraud case on

consumer buying behaviour, and conducting an empirical investigation and study in

order to investigate whether CSI affects consumer buying behaviour. The study’s

findings show that CSI has a negative impact on consumer buying behaviour, also

demonstrating the importance of research into CSI. Specifically, increased

investigation and research in the area of CSI has the capacity to help companies and

stakeholders to increase awareness of the specific consequences of CSI behaviours, also

contributing to companies’ avoidance of CSI behaviours and stakeholders’ awareness

of their ability to urge companies to avoid these incidents by, for example, reducing

their own buying behaviour.

Thirdly, this study explores the mediating role of corporate image between CSI

behaviour and consumer buying behaviour, broadening the social role of corporate

39

image. Although corporate image has also frequently emerged as a mediating or

moderating role in previous research literature, few studies have connected it with CSI

behaviours exerting an influence on consumer buying behaviours. This study helps to

enrich the dimensions of the corporate image field by providing it with new functions

and meanings in the field of CSI.

Finally, this paper introduces three common demographic factors, namely age,

education, and income, as moderating variables. By studying the moderating

mechanism of the process of CSI behaviours on corporate image by groups with

different characteristics, the dimension of observing this phenomenon is enriched, and

a theoretical basis is provided for the prevention of CSI behaviours which damage

corporate image according to different demographic characteristics, obliging

companies to avoid CSI events and contributing to the research field of corporate social

responsibility as well as CSI.

6.2 Managerial implications

This study’s findings provide practical information for business managers; initially,

they should focus not only on CSR activities, but also on the avoidance of CSI events.

Although it is inevitable that businesses operate in situations where choosing CSI

behaviour provides greater and more immediate benefits, and engagement with CSR

activities results in significant cost increases, business operations should not be run on

the basis that short-term gains are prioritised at the expense of the achievement of

sustainable, long-term benefits. Research shows that consumers are sensitive to CSI

events, and once a company’s CSI behaviours are revealed, the positive image that it

has worked so hard to develop can be tarnished, lowering its potential value; as a result,

the business’s core foundation is harmed.

Secondly, by publicising the company’s strategies for the avoidance of CSI behaviours,

particularly among groups which are more susceptible, such as lower income groups,

managers can reduce uncertainty about CSI in consumer buying behaviour, creating a

positive CSR image for their organisation, and attracting consumers’ attention. Finally,

by inviting stakeholders to participate in the monitoring the company’s CSI behaviour,

barriers between the organisation, consumers, and other stakeholders can be lowered,

40

and distance can be decreased, developing these relationships while also avoiding CSI

behaviours.

6.3 Limitations and future research directions

There are several limitations to this study; firstly, its context is in the food and beverage

sector in China, and the participant population consists of Chinese consumers; therefore,

the research is representative only of the impact of CSI behaviour on corporate image

and consumer buying behaviour in this industry and this country. Specifically, China’s

main coffee consumer group is aged between 20-39 years, which is different to the

distribution of coffee consumers in developed countries (CBN Data, 2020). More

research should therefore be conducted in other industries and different countries,

obtaining a larger sample to explore whether the impact of CSI behaviour on corporate

image and consumer buying behaviour varies by country and industry. For example,

research could take place in less economically-developed countries such as Angola,

Burundi, and the Central African Republic (UNCTAD, 2022), and focus on

organisations in different sectors such as health care, which has a predominantly older

consumer base.

Secondly, the survey process used in this study focused on CSI behaviour of a financial

nature as the context of the questionnaire, which consequently failed to investigate the

effects of other forms of CSI behaviours on corporate image and consumer buying

behaviour. Thirdly, in the sample group of this study’s respondents, there were twice

as many females as males; although this may be due to the fact that women are

inherently more attentive to the Weibo platform than men, and have greater interest in

news about CSR activities (Vermeren, 2015; Jones et al, 2017), it remains possible that

this exerted a marginal impact on the study’s results.

In addition, this study investigates whether the three demographic factors of gender,

educational-, and income level moderated the relationship between CSI and corporate

image, while other demographic factors such as age, place of residence, occupation,

marital status, number of children, and factors other than demographic issues were not

investigated. Also, in the process of data analysis, this study treated educational level

41

and income level as continuous ordinal variables due to time constraints, which may

also have exerted an effect on the results.

According to current business trends, multi-dimensional information disclosure on

corporate social responsibility is encouraged (Liu and Zhang, 2017); when this is

comprehensively provided, company information becomes more transparent and is of

greater social interest to the public. Whether this will reduce the negative impacts of

future corporate CSI behaviour, and whether this will consequently exert a stronger

impact on consumer buying behaviour and corporate image is a topic worthy of further

study, with more in-depth research carried out.

Future research should extend the analysis to a larger and more comprehensive sample

of information in order to enable more refined and accurate data processing. It would

also be advisable to focus on different industries, consumer groups, and forms of CSI

behaviours as the background to future research studies, with the aim of investigating

whether there are other factors which moderate the effect, and to investigate whether

these factors play a moderating role in the process of corporate image influencing

consumer buying behaviour and CSI directly depressing consumer buying behaviour.

42

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Appendix 1: Questionnaire in English

This questionnaire will be used for a master’s thesis study on the impact of corporate

fulfillment of inappropriate social responsibility on consumer buying behaviour. It will

take you approximately 4 minutes to complete this questionnaire and we appreciate

your participation. This questionnaire is anonymous to protect the privacy of the

participants and all data from this survey will be used for this study only.

Scenario Description

Founded in Beijing in 2017, Luckin Coffee has become popular among consumers for

its "low price, high quality" coffee, and has since opened several outlets across the

country. By January 2019, it will have more than 4,500 stores nationwide. After 2

rounds of financing, the company went public on May 17, 2019. In April 2020, Luckin

Coffee was exposed to be involved in financial fraud in the third quarter of 2019,

amounting to 2.2 billion yuan (inflated 2019 coffee sales revenue, profit, etc.), and as a

result of this incident, the company’s stock price collapsed and was delisted, with

Starbucks as Luckin Coffee’s main competitor.

Basic information

1. Gender

A. Male B. Female

2. Age

A. Under 20 years old B. 20-29 C. 30-39 D. 40-49 E. Over 50

3. Education level

A. Junior high school and below B. High school C. College D. Bachelor’s degree

E. Master’s degree and above

4. Current city of residence?

A. First-tier cities (Beijing; Shanghai; Guangzhou; Shenzhen)

B. Second-tier cities (Provincial capitals, regional capitals and other sub-

provincial cities)

C. Other-tier cities

5. Personal annual income after tax

57

A. Below 5W B. 5W-15W C. 15W-25W D. Above 25W

6. I have drunk Luckin Coffee

A.Yes B.No

7. How many times a week do I usually drink coffee?

A. Hardly ever B. 1-3 times C. 3-5 times D. More than 5 times

Please check the level of agreement or disagreement with each of the following

statements on a scale of 1-5. 1 - you strongly disagree, 5 - you strongly agree, 3 - you

remain neutral.

Strongly disagree strongly agree

1 The price of Luckin Coffee is not very high

for me 1 2 3 4 5

2 The quality of Luckin Coffee is good 1 2 3 4 5

3 There are many people around me who buy

Luckin Coffee 1 2 3 4 5

4 It is easy for me to buy Luckin Coffee 1 2 3 4 5

5 I often see Luckin Coffee’s advertisements 1 2 3 4 5

6 Luckin Coffee often has promotions 1 2 3 4 5

7 I can easily buy alternative brands of coffee to

Luckin Coffee 1 2 3 4 5

Corporate Image of Luckin Coffee

8 Luckin Coffee does not align with my

expectations 1 2 3 4 5

9 I still have a good impression of Luckin

Coffee 1 2 3 4 5

10 Luckin Coffee still aligns well to my ideal

coffee brand 1 2 3 4 5

11 Luckin Coffee does not enjoy a good

reputation in China 1 2 3 4 5

12 I think Luckin Coffee is unique compared to

its competitors 1 2 3 4 5

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13 I think Luckin Coffee is a first-class, high-

quality company 1 2 3 4 5

14

I am satisfied with the way Luckin Coffee

presents itself to the public through

advertising, the attitude expressed by the

company

1 2 3 4 5

15 I think that Luckin Coffee is customer-

oriented 1 2 3 4 5

Consumer buying behaviour of Luckin Coffee

16 I no longer buy Luckin Coffee 1 2 3 4 5

17 When choosing a coffee product, I prefer

Luckin Coffee 1 2 3 4 5

18

When my relatives and friends want to buy

coffee, I recommend information about

Luckin Coffee to them

1 2 3 4 5

19 I buy Luckin Coffee for my relatives and

friends 1 2 3 4 5

20 I will buy newly-launched Luckin Coffee

products 1 2 3 4 5

21 Luckin Coffee is my preferred brand to buy 1 2 3 4 5

Measurement of corporate social irresponsibility

22 The financial fraud of Luckin Coffee is very

irresponsible 1 2 3 4 5

23 Luckin Coffee is a very socially responsible

company 1 2 3 4 5

24 Luckin Coffee’s financial fraud reflects its

failure to meet its legal responsibilities 1 2 3 4 5

25 Luckin Coffee’s financial fraud is not in line

with social expectations 1 2 3 4 5

26 Luckin Coffee’s financial fraud reflects its

failure to meet its economic responsibilities 1 2 3 4 5

59

27

The financial fraud of Luckin Coffee has

damaged many stakeholders (such as

customer investors).

1 2 3 4 5

60

Appendix 2: Questionnaire in Chinese

此问卷将用于企业履行不恰当的社会责任对消费者购买行为的影响的硕士论文

研究。您大概需要花费 4 分钟的时间完成这份问卷，我们对您的参与表示感谢。

本问卷采用匿名形式以保护参与者的隐私，本次调查的所有数据仅用于本次研

究。

场景描述

瑞幸咖啡于 2017 年创立于北京，其以“低价格、高品质”的咖啡的特点而备受

消费者青睐，随后在全国各地开设多家分店。截止至 2019 年 1 月，其全国门店

数量达将超过 4500 家。经过 2 轮融资后，该公司于 2019 年 5 月 17 日上市。

2020 年 4 月，瑞幸咖啡被曝光于 2019 年第三季度涉及财务造假，金额高达 22

亿元（虚高 2019 年咖啡销售收入、利润等），受此事件影响，公司股价崩盘并

退市，星巴克为瑞幸咖啡的主要竞争对手。

基本信息

1. 性别

A.男性 B.女性

2. 年龄

A.20 岁以下 B.20-29 C.30-39 D.40-49 E.50 以上

3. 教育程度

A.初中及以下 B.高中 C.大专 D.本科 C.硕士及以上

4. 当前居住城市？

A.一线城市（北、上、广、深）

B.二线城市（省会城市、自治区首府城市和其他副省级城市）

C.其他城市

5. 个人税后年收入

A.5W 以下 B. 5W-15W C.15W-25W D.25W以上

6. 我喝过瑞幸咖啡

A.是 B.否

61

7. 我一周一般喝几次咖啡

A.几乎不喝 B.1-3次 C. 3-5次 D.5次以上

请您在 1-5 的范围内，对以下各项陈述的赞同或不赞同程度打勾。1-您非常不

赞同，5-您非常赞同，3-您保持中立。

非常不赞同 非常赞同

1 瑞幸咖啡的价格对我来说不是很高 1 2 3 4 5

2 瑞幸咖啡的品质很不错 1 2 3 4 5

3 我身边有很多人购买瑞幸咖啡 1 2 3 4 5

4 我很容易购买到瑞幸咖啡 1 2 3 4 5

5 我经常能看到瑞幸咖啡的广告 1 2 3 4 5

6 瑞幸咖啡经常有促销活动 1 2 3 4 5

7 生活中我很容易买到瑞幸咖啡的替代品牌咖啡 1 2 3 4 5

瑞幸咖啡公司形象

8 瑞幸咖啡不符合我的期望 1 2 3 4 5

9 我对瑞幸咖啡有很好的印象 1 2 3 4 5

10 瑞幸咖啡很符合我理想中的咖啡品牌 1 2 3 4 5

11 瑞幸咖啡在中国的声誉不好 1 2 3 4 5

12 我认为瑞幸咖啡和其竞争对手相比很独特 1 2 3 4 5

13 我认为瑞幸咖啡是一个一流的，高质量的公司 1 2 3 4 5

14 我对瑞幸咖啡通过广告、公司表达的态度向公众展

示自己的方式感到满意 1 2 3 4 5

15 我认为瑞幸咖啡以顾客为导向 1 2 3 4 5

瑞幸咖啡购买行为

16 我不再购买瑞幸咖啡 1 2 3 4 5

17 在选择咖啡产品时，我会优先购买瑞幸咖啡 1 2 3 4 5

62

18 当我的亲戚和朋友想要购买咖啡时，我会向他们推

荐关于瑞幸咖啡的信息 1 2 3 4 5

19 我会为我的亲戚朋友购买瑞幸咖啡 1 2 3 4 5

20 瑞幸咖啡推出新的产品之后我会购买尝试 1 2 3 4 5

21 瑞幸咖啡是我购买的首选品牌 1 2 3 4 5

瑞幸咖啡的 CSI测量

22 瑞幸咖啡的财务造假事件是非常没有责任感的 1 2 3 4 5

23 瑞幸咖啡是一个很有社会责任感的公司 1 2 3 4 5

24 瑞幸咖啡的财务造假事件体现了它没有承担好相应

的法律责任 1 2 3 4 5

25 瑞幸咖啡的财务造假事件是不符合社会期望的 1 2 3 4 5

26 瑞幸咖啡的财务造假事件体现了它没有承担好相应

的经济责任 1 2 3 4 5

27 瑞幸咖啡的财务造假事件损害了很多利益相关方

（如顾客投资人） 1 2 3 4 5