Consumers’ perception of corporate social responsibility in food retailing in the Republic of Croatia

Abstract

Modern business environment places many challenges before corporations with regard to accomplishing their defined goals and running a successful business while, at the same time, respecting basic social and moral values, as well as looking after the community’s wellbeing. An increasing number of corporations has begun to realize that their business strategies must also incorporate care for social and living environments, as a kind of investment into achieving a more competitive advantage and having a more efficient business, while contributing to the wellbeing of the society as a whole. Successful and reputable corporations no longer base their business solely on attaining maximum profit but their management strategies also incorporate the principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on voluntary basis, with the goal to reconcile their business with the needs of the society, as well as to create a high living standard for their interest groups (stakeholders) within and outside of the corporation. The aim of this paper is to empirically determine whether there are statistically significant correlations between socio-demographic characteristics (sex, age and the level of education) of the respondents and the level of their awareness of the concept of CSR in food retailing. It also examines whether their awareness regarding CSR principles in food retailers affects their decisions to buy their products. The results reveal that there are no statistically significant correlations between sex and age of the consumers and their awareness of CSR. However, there are statistically significant correlations between their level of education and being informed about CSR principles (it is lower in lower educated respondents). There are also no statistically significant differences between age and level of education of consumers and their interest in CSR principles in food retailing, however, there is a correlation with regards to sex (interest is higher among males). Finally, the results reveal that quality is the decisive factor in the process of choosing and buying food products, and that there are no statistically significant differences between sex, age and level of education of consumers with regard to this.