• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.75-83
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• 2017

Purpose - This study aims to find ways to have CSR efforts lead to a purchase decision. For this purpose, this research examines the influence of the perceived CSR proximity on the purchase intention and studies the moderating role of psychological distance. Research design, data, and methodology - A total of 185 undergraduate students from a university in Korea were recruited and were randomly assigned to the conditions of a 2 (CSR proximity: close vs. far) × 2 (temporal distance: near vs. distant) × 2 (information type: concrete vs. abstract) between-subjects design. ANOVA was conducted to test the hypotheses. Results - When consumers construe a purchase decision at a high level via the far psychological distance, a firm's CSR efforts are considered important for the purchase decision. Conversely, when consumers construe a purchase decision at a low level via the near psychological distance, a firm's CSR efforts are not considered for the purchase decision. Conclusions - This research demonstrates that people have a greater intention to purchase products from a firm whose CSR proximity is perceived as being close rather than far. Furthermore, this study shows that the psychological distance moderates the effect of CSR proximity on the purchase intention.

• Korean small business review
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.31-57
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• 2021

This study delves into a question as to how the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is internalized across corporations. CSR internalization refers to the process where a corporation incorporates CSR practices into its business practices. Drawn from the institutionalization process of knowledge adoption under environmental pressure, we pay attention to the roles of proximity, defined as the distance between environmental characteristics and organizational characteristics of corporations. And we argue that the extent to which a given firm is situated in the environment knowledgeable will make the firm likely to adopt CSR practices. To test this idea, we figure out when and how corporations participate in the B-Corporation Movement in the U.S., through the lens of proximity. Specifically, we subdivide proximity into geographical proximity, organizational proximity, and overlapped proximity and examine whether proximity can increase the likelihood of adopting CSR practices. With a sample of 536 start-ups which had participated in the B-Corporation Movement between 2007 and 2017, we find that the three types of proximity consistently increase the likelihood of becoming a certified B-Corp. This suggests that a corporation is highly likely to accept the concept of CSR under external pressures, along with its intrinsic motivation, which provide theoretical and practical implications on CSR internalization.