Shruti Gupta
Assistant Professor, The Pennsylvania State University at Abington,
USA.Consumers’ View of CSR in Indian – Creating
Grassroots Knowledge for Multinationals
Multinationals (MNCs) are often seen as “chasing the buck”
without much regard for the society(ies) in which they operate and are
criticized for gravitating to countries with weak or non-existent
environmental, safety, governance and employee welfare standards. It
has been suggested that this scrutiny also motivates MNCs to be
socially responsible and is based on the assumption that consumers
among other stakeholder groups are willing to support good corporate
citizens. However, past research in has failed to investigate consumers’
perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the specific
initiatives that resonate or appeal most to them. In addition, most of the
research to investigate consumer response or perception of CSR has
been conducted in the U.S. or Europe. As a result, MNC managers from
western developed economies have no choice but to use knowledge
from the American and European subcontinent to make decisions about
CSR in emerging markets such as India. Therefore, the objective of this
research is to draw out specific similarities and differences in consumer
assessments of corporate social responsibility in the Indian and U.S.
markets. In order to test the proposed research questions, this study
will ask respondents in each sample several questions that allows for
both aided and unaided recall. The objectives of the study will be
achieved by drawing socio-demographically comparable samples from
U.S. and India since it’s generally assumed that MNCs’ target the
aspiring middle class customer segment in emerging markets that is
similar to its counterpart in U.S. This research will make a significant
contribution to international business research by exploring the self-
conceptualization of CSR of consumers. Findings from this study will
provide the much needed insight to U.S. MNCs who might be unsure of
the impact and efficacy of CSR programs in emerging markets such as
India.