Predictors of Consumers’ Purchase Intention through Triple Bottom Line Corporate Social Responsibility Practices: A Study of the Branded Coffee Retailing Industry

* Tak Jie Chan, Suriati Saad

Tak Jie Chan

Faculty of Communication and Creative Design, SEGi University
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
Email: chantakjie@segi.edu.my 

Suriati Saad

School of Communication, Universiti Sains Malaysia,
Penang, Malaysia.
Email: suriatisaad@usm.my

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has emerged tremendously as an important field of study. Corporations today have realized the significance of being ethical in their business operations to attract various stakeholders, especially customers. However, a majority of studies on CSR mainly focus on the different industries, while the influence of CSR practices in the coffee retail setting remains understudied. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the dimensions of Triple Bottom Line (TBL) CSR practices and consumers’ purchase intention in a Malaysia’s branded coffee retail company. The study utilized TBL dimensions based on Elkington (1994), which comprises the economic, the environmental, and the philanthropy dimensions. A survey method was employed where questionnaires were distributed to the consumers that have experience with the particular branded coffee company based on purposive sampling. In addition, simple random sampling was used to identify the location of study which is in Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya and generating 200 valid responses. The data were then analyzed using Pearson-Product Moment Correlation and Multiple Regression tests using the stepwise method through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0. Based on the findings, philanthropy responsibility under the TBL CSR dimension, yielded positive and moderate relationship with purchase intention. However, economic and environmental responsibilities have a positive but weak correlation with purchase intention. Multiple regression analysis showed only philanthropy and environmental responsibilities of the TBL CSR dimension were the significant predicting factors for consumers’ purchase intention in the current context. The results call upon the management of the branded coffee retail company to focus on the dimensions mentioned to ensure the survival of the company in this turbulent business market. Future studies recommended that relationships between CSR, corporate image, corporate reputation, and customer loyalty need to be carried out in order to see the link between those variables.