CSR and the Willingness to Pay of Consumers

The aim of the study was to investigate a possible relationship between CSR and the willingness to pay (WTP) of consumers through an incentive-compatible research method. Several Vickrey Auctions with a total sample of 122 students were carried out. The subject of investigation was an USB flash drive of a fictitious brand while the CSR dimension was manipulated through a fictitious newspaper article. Data analysis revealed that there is a positive relationship between a company’s ethicality and the WTP of consumers. In this sense, it was also found that the average mark-down in case of negative CSR information is – compared to the control group which did not receive any information about a company's CSR – much higher than the mark-up that consumers would be willing to pay in case of high CSR. Furthermore, brand attitude partially mediates the relationship between CSR and the WTP and variables such as the support of the CSR domain – which describes the individuals’ favorability of the specific issues that a company addresses with its CSR activities – or the importance that a person places on CSR as buying criteria, partially moderate this relationship.