The extent to which corporate social responsibility influences the consumer purchase decision: the case of Nairobi residents

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the relevance of a global emerging trend of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Kenya. This concept embraces the philosophy that companies must recognize that their social and environmental impacts have to be managed in just the same way as their economic or commercial performance. The thinking has emerged as a result of deterioration of the operating business environment in terms of resource degradation, neglect of social services, world poverty, hunger and consumerism. The concept goes beyond managing companies to meet shareholder value in terms of return on investment to meeting a wider stakeholder expectation. These stakeholders include employees, customers, suppliers, governments, civil society, and the communities within which businesses operate. The study therefore sought to establish the extent to which consumers value CSR and the consequent influence on purchase decision. In order to achieve this, face to face interviews were conducted within a sample group of lOO economically active respondents in Nairobi. The results thereof showed that in general, Kenyans are more inclined to purchase products from companies that display concern for the community in which it exists, beyond just providing needed goods and services. More specifically, the areas of CSR noted to be of most importance were employee welfare, support of community development and support of social services such as health and education. The CSR aspects that were shown as being of less importance to K~ans were those related to environmental conservation. While the study results gave a general direction to this question, there were some limitations in it. The main limitation of the study was the sample size and its distribution. It is recommended that a study encompassing a wider audience and better geographic representation is conducted for more robust findings. Furthermore studies targeted towards specific categories such as FMCG, durable consumer goods, financial services and so on, will provide deeper insights into specific sectors.