What drives retail entrepreneurs’ intentions to engage in CSR? The effects of societal concern, social pressure and state anxiety

Abstract

In this study, we investigate what drives retail entrepreneurs' intentions to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) across environmental, economic, and social domains. To be more specific, we aim to explore the extent to which retail entrepreneurs’ societal concern and perceived social pressure are related to their CSR intentions both directly and indirectly through state anxiety. State anxiety refers to retail entrepreneurs’ general and potentially excessive worry over societal problems. By applying the theory of reasoned action (TRA), we develop and test five hypotheses with structural equation modeling on a sample of 324 independent retail entrepreneurs. Our study showed that societal concern and social pressure have a direct effect on CSR intentions across all three studied domains. Furthermore, the results indicate that greater the anxiety, the stronger the impact of societal concern and social pressure on CSR intentions. Thus, state anxiety positively mediates the relationship between societal concern and CSR intentions and the relationship between social pressure and CSR intentions. However, our study revealed that the relationship between state anxiety and CSR intentions is non-linear, indicating that high levels of state anxiety can deter retail entrepreneurs from engaging in CSR. This is a significant finding that calls for further research.