Sustainability and Social Responsibility

Apparel Brands’ Corporate Social Responsibility: Influences of Consumers’ Cultural Values and Impacts on Brand Loyalty

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Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) encompasses the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations (Carroll, 1979). Although the apparel industry gained a heavy attention of CSR due to its labor-intensive production and global sourcing from the third world, still very few studies unveiled the consumer evaluations of apparel brands’ CSR and its benefit for brands, such as brand loyalty. Even though CSR literatures emphasized the influences of cultural values on different managerial perception of CSR, a lack of study exists identifying the effect of cultural values on consumers’ evaluations of apparel brands’ CSR. Addressing these gaps, this study aimed to examine the effects of two cultural value dimensions (collectivism/individualism and long-term/short-term orientation) on consumer evaluations of apparel brands’ CSR activities, and the effects of these evaluations on enhancing brand loyalty.

Keywords: collectivism, long-term orientation, corporate social responsibility, brand loyalty

How to Cite:

Woo, H. & Jin, B., (2013) “Apparel Brands’ Corporate Social Responsibility: Influences of Consumers’ Cultural Values and Impacts on Brand Loyalty”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 70(1).