Consumers’ perceptions of luxury brands’ CSR initiatives: An investigation of the role of status and conspicuous consumption

Abstract

This research challenges the notion that luxury and CSR are incompatible by investigating whether and under what conditions consumers react positively to different kinds of CSR initiatives among luxury companies. Extending Carroll's four-dimension model of CSR, we argue that some CSR initiatives, namely those in the economic and ethical dimensions, are less noticeable and visible to consumers than those in the legal and philanthropic dimensions. We categorized the former as “internal” dimensions and the latter as “external” dimensions as part of a novel classification of Carroll's four CSR dimensions. To test our hypotheses, we conducted three experiments – one in a laboratory, one online and one in the field – with a total of 461 respondents. Our results demonstrate that luxury companies’ external (compared to internal) CSR initiatives increase consumers’ willingness to buy; this effect is accentuated for consumers with higher status and conspicuous consumption orientation.