A good measure of a consumer’s interest in the social responsibility of companies is whether or not a consumer would be willing to pay more to buy the products of such firms.
Nielsen recently did a global study on this topic; and the results might surprise you: “In Nielsen’s latest Global Survey on Corporate Social Responsibility of 29,000 Internet respondents in 58 countries, the density of respondents willing to spend more on products and services from companies that give back varies considerably across the 58 countries Nielsen examined. Broadly speaking, European respondents were less likely to pay more for goods and services from companies that give back—just 36 percent of consumers in the region said they would do so. Meanwhile in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, more than two-thirds of respondents said they’d pay extra. In India, three-quarters of respondents agreed that they would do so.”
Click the chart below to read more. Note how low the United States ranks on this list.
Reblogged this on Let's talk shop(per) and other fascinating topics and commented:
The story must be more complicated here. Obviously there is a cynicism that CSR in the West means more corporate profits, but honestly I was surprised that Asia led the way with their apparent willingness to pay more…. or were people being polite?
Asia top boxes everything, and by contrast in the countries such as the UK, they are overly cynical. However the shift in 2011-2013 is interesting-it looks as though South Africa, India and Greece have become more socially conscious. I can’t even begin to work out why these countries have moved so much.
I would also like to know how this research was conducted, as I know from my own research that respondents say these things in theory but very rarely are likely to actually practice them.
Thanks, Mhairi. The ‘politeness/cynicism’ bias at work — not surprising that you can’t really do these kinds of comparisons at face value.
I wonder about segmentation by age group. Speaking only from personal experience, as a former high school teacher I was shocked by the infiltration of Tom’s shoes among high school students. “But Mrs. Kimbrough, for every pair they sell, Tom’s gives a pair to starving children.” Great, I think, as an adult who works for a living, Tom’s is selling canvas and rubber shoes for a HUGE markup, and they’re getting you to pay for their marketing efforts.
That said, and spoken also as an educator, I know something of the different stages of neurological and intellectual development, and late teens/early adulthood is the time of idealism! Thus Tom’s has found the perfect niche for its marketing and sales. I would venture to hypothesize that if the country research above were broken out by age, there would be much greater commonality among those age 16-22.
Interesting comment. Thanks.