Abstract

Despite the recent economic recession, firms' Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) receives more and more attention. This study examines the effect of a firm's CSR and Cause-related marketing activities on the Word-of-Mouth (WOM) and purchase intention. In the process, the role of consumer trust on the firm is also investigated. Based on the literature, we hypothesize that consumer trust on a firm is influenced by consumer perception on CSR and cause-related marketing and their perceived need for those activities. 250 Korean consumers were surveyed, and their responses were statistically analyzed for empirical validation of the hypotheses. The results show that consumers who perceive more need for CSR have more positive perception on CSR. The results also indicate that consumer trust on a firm has positive impact on their WOM and purchase intention. Finally, the results confirm that consumers' positive WOM increases the purchase intention. Implications for academicians, managers, and policy makers are discussed. Limitations and future research are also addressed at the end of the paper.

Keywords

• CSR;
• Cause-related marketing;
• Trust;
• WOM;
• Purchase intention