The effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on

Customers’ Purchasing Intention:

A study on Unilever Vietnam

Supervisor’s name:

Master of Business Administration

Student’s name:

Registration number: bh62us

Academic year: 2019 – 2020

University of Sunderland

Copyright University of Sunderland, No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior
written permission of the copy right owner.
 TABLE OF CONTENT

DISSERTATION DECLARATION......................................................................1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................1
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES....................................................................2
ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................3
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.........................................................................4
1.1 Background..................................................................................................4
1.2 Statement.....................................................................................................5
1.3 Research questions.....................................................................................6
1.4 Research objectives.....................................................................................7
1.5 Research scope...........................................................................................7
1.6 Research structure.......................................................................................7
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................9
2.1 History of CSR.............................................................................................9
2.2 Concepts....................................................................................................11
2.3 CSR Models...............................................................................................18
2.4 Research framework..................................................................................25
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................................30
3.1 Data collection............................................................................................30
3.2 Reseach methodology...............................................................................33
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS...............................................38
4.1 CSR in Vietnam..........................................................................................38
4.2 CSR in Unilever Vietnam...........................................................................43
4.3 Statistic analysis and discussions..............................................................47
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS....................................55
5.1 Conclusions................................................................................................55
5.2 Implications................................................................................................56
5.3 Limitations..................................................................................................58
5.4 Further studies...........................................................................................58
REFERENCE...................................................................................................60
APPENDIX.......................................................................................................66
 DISSERTATION DECLARATION
Statement of Originality and Authenticity
I confirm that the dissertation I am submitting is an original and authentic
piece of work compiled by myself that satisfies the University rules and
regulations with respect to Plagiarism and Collusion. I further confirm that I
have fully referenced and acknowledged all material incorporated as
secondary resources in accordance with the Harvard System.
I also clarify that I have taken a copy of the dissertation, which I will retain until
after the Board of Examiners has published the results, and which I will make
available on request in pursuance of any appropriate aspect of the marking
and moderation of the work within the University Regulations.
Name: Nguyen Anh Viet
Registration number: bh62us
Course: MBA Sunderland
Date: 31 March
Signed:

Supervisor’s signature:
Date:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Although a lot of effort has been invested in this research thesis, there are
limitations in time and research resources; therefore, the thesis might contain
inevitable mistakes. As a writer, I welcome all comments from professors and
my colleagues for further development on my findings. The writer would like to
express the deepest gratefulness to Assoc. Prof. PhD. Pham Thu Huong -
Lecturer at Foreign Trade University for sincere support and guidance.
The writer would also like to show my gratitude to lecturers of Foreign Trade
University, TEG and University of Sunderland for precious knowledge and
experiences, which are the key factors helping the writer complete this thesis.

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: The Concentric Circles Model of CSR

Figure 2: The Pyramid of Social Responsibility (Carroll, 1991)
Figure 3: The Consumer-driven Corporate Responsibility (CDCR) Model
Figure 4: The effects of CSR perception model (Carvalho et al., 2010)
Figure 5: Research framework

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: The scope or dimensions of each definition from different periods

Table 2: The results and findings from testing hypothesizes
Table 3: The differences between previous findings and the findings of this
research

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Abstract: This study investigates customers’ perception of four types of
responsibilities in Carroll’s CSR pyramid (1991), including economic, legal,
ethical and philanthropic responsibilities; and the effects of their perception of
CSR on purchasing intention. The findings show some interesting points.
Firstly, the importance level of four responsibilities from customers’
perspective is different from that of Carroll model (1991). Secondly, purchasing
power does not affect the relationship between customers’ perception of price
fairness on purchasing intention. Lastly, customers’ perception of CSR has
positive effect on purchasing intention. These research findings are a valuable
reference for enterprises in implementing CSR to retain customers’ loyalty.
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Customers’ Purchasing Intention,
Customers’ Perception of CSR.

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background
World-wide globalization has brought many benefits to enterprises in
Vietnam. Besides, this trend also raises many acute issues such as increased
competitive pressures, negative impacts on the environment, social moral and
some ethical or legal issues. Therefore, enterprises need to have appropriate
business strategies to adapt to the context, ensuring the sustainable
development. For these reasons, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is
becoming an international concern of every business, every nation, in other
words, it is the concern of the times. On January 31, 1999 at the World
Economic Forum, The UN General Secretary Kofi Annan has called on
business leaders to discuss an international convention with a mission to bring
together businesses, public agencies, civic organizations agreed on the basic
principles of environmental-ecological protection and social stabilization. While
pursuing profits, corporations should also fulfill their social responsibilities to
improve the well-being, which can in turn contribute to the success of
business.
In the past, almost companies only care for their own interests,
therefore, the business goals only concentrate on the revenues, sales, profits
and their own satisfaction. Nonetheless, nowadays many enterprises have
paid more attention to other business aspects relating environmental, ethical,
legal or social issues, since these factors significantly affect the images as well
as the reputation of the company in long-run. CSR has been becoming both
the means and the goals of corporate strategic management. Especially, when
the businesses expand regionally and globally, CSR becomes the competitive
advantage for the companies to stand firm and do successful business in host
countries. Many MNCs not only establish well-developed code of conduct; they
also strive to achieve some social missions in order to do businesses ethically,
minimize negative environmental impacts, raise public attention to certain

4
issues, raise funds and donations, increase employees’ job satisfaction when
they do business in other countries.

1.2 Statement
According to some scholars, a crisis is needed to attract businesses'
attention to CSR. However, as a result of globalization and the linkage of
global information, the corporations can no longer insist on traditional view that
it is acceptable to maximize short-term profits without regarding to
environmental and social consequences. Businesses must now take social
responsibility with their stakeholders. Companies focus on creating wealth,
while simultaneously consumed resources and pollution can make them lose
their customers and competitiveness in the market. Consumers as well as
companies have paid their attention to CSR. Recently, there are some theories
suggesting that many consumers now accept Social Responsibility Consumer
Behavior (SRCB), whereby consumers are interested in ethical products and
business processes. These consumers also use their purchasing power to
exert pressure on CSR commitment by buying socially responsible products.
Sometimes, they are willing to pay more to do so, and boycott socially and
environmentally irresponsible products.
In Vietnam, CSR has been increasingly playing a paramount important
role in promoting a clear, transparent and friendly business environment,
contributing to the improvement of people's life quality, ensuring social welfare
for sustainable development in the long-term. Vietnamese government has
also been developing and completing the legal frameworks in order to create
conditions for enterprises to fulfill their CSR as well as to provide a firm basis
for strict and comprehensive state management. Especially a series of
alarming recent incidents relating to CSR have eroded the belief of local
residents, for example, Vedan's destruction of Thi Vai River through releasing
unprocessed wastages, chemicals and contaminated water; the marine
environment and ecology destruction of Formosa Ha Tinh company; the potato

5
bitterness of PepsiCo Vietnam, Frieslandcampina's allergy-prone milk recall...
These cases represent not only the enterprises’ lack of awareness and
understanding of CSR but also the weaknesses in defining the challenges and
issues that protect the interests of the businesses itself in the long-term.
However, there are many MNCs which focus on CSR as key element in
their overall business strategy in order to creatively solve problems and
actively face up with challenges in the business development process.
Successful implementation of CSR will not only helps businesses to ensure
high growth rate, generate higher revenues and profits, enhance brand
images, maintain well-known reputation, but also helps the companies address
strategic issues related to environmental, legal and social issues for
sustainable development. More importantly, the implementation of CSR has
huge impacts on customers’ behaviors, their satisfaction and loyalty to the
brand name.
In this essence, Unilever Vietnam has emerged as one of the typical
models in well-performing CSR for its own further development and also for
the sustainable development of Vietnam. In short, this research will take the
customers buying products of Unilever Vietnam as the research subjects and
collect samples and investigate the effects of their CSR perception on their
purchasing intention.

1.3 Research questions

It is because of the paramount importance of CSR in strategic
management of the companies, the author made a decision to choose the
topic: “The effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Customers’
Purchasing Intention: A study on Unilever Vietnam”. This topic is also of
my interest and experience. The keywords in this topic are: Corporate Social
Responsibility, Customers’ Purchasing Intention, Customer Perception
and the scope of study is Unilever Vietnam. This research solves these
questions as below:

6
1. How do customers perceive of four types of responsibilities in Carroll’s CSR
pyramid (1991), including economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic
responsibilities?;
2. How does the customers’ perception of CSR affect on their purchasing
intention?

1.4 Research objectives

This topic is a hotly-debated issue and attracts a lot of concern of many
researchers, policy makers, entrepreneurs and consumers. Doing research on
CSR can generate both theoretical and practical values for enterprises to have
a thorough understanding of the significance of CSR in business strategy, the
influences of the customers’ perception of CSR on their purchasing intention,
in the long-term, their satisfaction and loyalty.
In Vietnam, CSR is still a new problem and has many difficulties to be
implemented, therefore, some enterprises suppose that they are forced to
conduct CSR, but not fully understand the nature as well as its significance.
Therefore, this research aims to raise the awareness of CSR in Vietnam
corporations, turn CSR into the corporations’ culture and identity as well as
suggest some solution recommendations and policy implications for pushing
customers’ purchasing intention through CSR.

1.5 Research scope

This study concentrates on the behaviors of customers of Unilever Vietnam in
Hanoi in the last quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020.

1.6 Research structure

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Statement
1.3 Research questions

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1.4 Research objectives
1.5 Research scope
1.6 Research structure
Chapter 2: Literature review
2.1 History of CSR
2.2 Concepts
2.3 CSR Models
2.4 Research Framework
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.1 Data collection
3.2 Research methodology
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions
4.1 CSR in Vietnam
4.2 CSR in Unilever Vietnam
4.3 Statistic analysis and discussions
Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implementations
5.1 Conclusionsns
5.2 Implementations
5.3 Limitations
5.4 Further studies

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 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 History of CSR

Despite its very recent popularity, the concept of CSR can be traced
back to ancient Greece times, however in a very distinctive perspective. It is
believed that from the very early days of civilization, it was understood that it
would be fairer for the rest of the society if the wealthy were to share parts of
their amassed prosperity with their fellow citizens. This belief was cemented
from a common realization that the process of wealth making of the few would
have been impossible if not for the majority of the popularity, which then led to
certain laws voted by the state supporting this belief. Namely, these were the
liturgies (Avlonas, n.d). Despite its seemingly similar characteristics as the
taxation system of our modern society, liturgies were at that time considered a
privilege of the wealthy. Eberstadt (1977) also argues that today’s CSR
movement is an attempt to restore a 2000 – year – old tradition of businesses
being heavily conjoining with the community. Conclusively, even though global
discussions and debates concerning the roots of CSR are expectedly many
and long, the existence of CSR links to ancient Greece are well established
(Visser & Tolhurst, 2010).
With such a lengthy origin, the concept of CSR that is being integrated
nowadays in the strategic procedures of various business entities has,
however, grown, manifested and flourished as a product of the twentieth
century. Though the traces of evidence of CSR can be found globally, mostly
in developed countries, the US is the most obvious place where a sizable body
of literature has accumulated as stated by Cavrou in 1999 (Carroll, 2008) .As
for Europe, since the last two decades, formal interpretations of CSR, often
manifested in the form of researches, conferences, and consultancies. Asia
was a late – comer to this trend and has only adopted more attention into
building solid CSR policies and regulations. According to Patrick Murphy
(1978), the concept of CSR has progressed through four main eras,

9
 surrounding the 1950s, during which CSR began to take form: The
philanthropic era; The awareness era; The issue era; The responsiveness era.
The philanthropic era was characterized by an increasing frequency of
donations coming from companies for charitable causes. One of the key
publications in this era was named “Social Responsibility of Businessman”,
written by Howard R. Bowen in 1953.
After the first era, the business world had seen a sharp rise in
recognition for the matter of sustainability, leading to the burst of publications
and massive attention of various scholars to define the concept of CSR. One
of major writings from the era of awareness is “Corporate Social
Responsibility” written by Clarence C. Walton in 1967. However, in the 1960s,
there was still more talk than action on the CSR front (McGuire, 1963).
The issue era was identified as when companies started to focus on
specific problems outside of the financial framework, such as race and gender
discrimination, environmental problems and so on. Additionally, during this era,
the concept of CSR received many major upgrades as Harold Johnson, in one
of the first book of this decade to tackle the topic of CSR, hinted at a number
of specific interest groups, hence made clear that a company’s CSR initiatives
should satisfy more than just the interests of employees or philanthropy –
recipients. Another groundbreaking contribution to the concept of CSR was
presented by the Committee of Economic Development (CED), a business –
led public policy organization based in Washington D.C, in its 1971 publication,
in which CSR was conceived to have basic purpose in serving the society in a
constructive manner. To make the matter easier to understand, CED
continued to release a three-circle-notion of social responsibility to state the
level responsibilities of a business (Carroll, 2008).
 The innermost circle represents the most basic responsibilities of a company
in order to function as a business entity, which are jobs, products and
economic growth.

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 The middle circle indicates that these above responsibilities and other
economic functions be carried out with strong awareness of imminently
changing social values such as employees relationship, environmental
protection and many other issues.
 The outermost circle implies a broader sense of awareness towards more
general social issue such as poverty (CED, 1971).
The last era, during which all of the researches and studies of case
companies in this writing will be based on, was deemed the responsiveness
era as companies started to take actions to integrate their traditional business
strategies with social responsibility initiatives with a view to enhance financial
profit, reduce cost as well as building a better and more pleasant public
reputation.

2.2 Concepts
Corporate Social Responsibility
The concept of CSR has attracted the attention of many researchers all
over the world for a long time. Before the 1950s, no official definition of CSR
was given. Key points mentioned in this stage is a matter of charity and profit
seeking. After the 1950s, the documents of CSR were supplemented by many
researches in both theory and practice (Carroll 1999). CSR was first defined in
1953 by Bowen when he published the book “Social Responsibilities of the
Businessman”. With the first definition, Bowen is considered "the father of
CSR "(Carroll 1999; Windsor 2001).
All other definitions in the early 50s recognise the need for managers to
assume responsibility for public good “it has to consider whether the action is
likely to promote the public good, to advance the basic beliefs of our society, to
contribute to its stability, strength, and harmony” (Drucker, 1954). Furthermore,
the two definitions are united on the need to align CSR with what mangers
consider as current and prevailing features of the socio-political environment
they operate within. Carroll (2008) stated that the whole idea of CSR in this

11
early period is corporate philanthropy but there are only few actions which can
be regarded as beyond philanthropy in this period. Frederick (2006)
summarizes what CSR stands for in the 50s under three basic issues:
Corporate managers are appointed as public trustees; There is need to
balance competing stakeholders claims with corporate resources; The
acceptance of philanthropy as a humane philosophy and discretionary
principle of the organisation.
During the early 1970s, the definitions of CSR achieved great
achievements. Main stream in the CSR definitions of this decade included
long-term benefits, legal adherence, voluntary, and things beyond social
expectations. Dr. Davis, a professor at Arizona State University and a CSR
scholar, emphasized the importance of CSR. He mentioned, “CSR refers to
the firm’s consideration of and response to issues beyond the narrow
economic, technical, and legal requirements of the firm” (Sharma & Mehta,
2012, pp.). He implied that businesses should consider carefully the impact
their activities and policies bring to society. It is also important to make
contributions to society rather than purely focus on profit-making.
In the period of 1970 - 1980, Archie Carroll, a CSR scholar defined CSR
in a more comprehensive way by developing a CSR model. He identified four
stages: economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary, which compose the main
corporate responsibilities (“CSR - The Shape of A History”, 2014, pp.). His
framework places economic responsibility as the base and core function of a
company. Discretionary or philanthropy is at the top level, which refers to
some voluntary responsibilities that a company is not mandated to commit to.
These stages are not mutually exclusive; they do not require companies to
achieve one by one. Companies can achieve these stages simultaneously and
continuously as a long-term goal (pp.). Thus, corporate social responsibility is
defined as “a voluntary way for a company to enhance its public image and
reputation by incorporating responsible activities that satisfies a need of
society beyond its legal requirements” (Abels & Martelli, 2012, p. 86).

12
 During the period 1980 - 1990, there were more researches in defining
CSR than in previous decades (Carroll, 1999). In this phase, new concepts
had been proposed, for example, corporate responses to the society, social
achievements of the enterprises, community policy, and business ethics. In
particular, the proposed theme for CSR was extended from just satisfying
shareholders to satisfying other social organizations, called stakeholders.
The period from 1990 to 2000 did not have significant advancement in
the definition of CSR (Carroll, 1999). At this stage, CSR was understood as
the social achievements of a business that went along with its social
responsibility.
From 2000 up to now, there have been many definitions of CSR. Most of
the definitions and related issues were similar to those discussed in the
previous decade. However, emerging concern in this decade was the
environment. In general, the concerns of this period are still voluntary work,
society, environment, stakeholders and profits.
Nowadays, stakeholders are not only concerned about profits; they are
interested in the various CSR aspects of a company such as environment,
ethic, governance, and human rights. These factors also affect the fate of the
company in the long term. It is proven that there is a competitive advantage for
corporations that have a higher reputation and are more socially responsible;
they also result a higher return on investment. (Eccles, Ioannou & Serafeim,
2012, p.28). These types of companies are considered high sustainability firms
in the research, and their performances are much better than the low
sustainability firms that do not engage in the environmentally friendly or
socially responsible programs. The study done by Abels and Martelli (2012)
has also discovered that “return on assets (ROA) had a high correlation with
social responsibility” (p. 87). Many multinational companies have established
well-developed CSR programs and adhere to their code of conduct to do
businesses ethically, help the economy grow, create larger job markets,

13
protect the environment, raise public attention on certain issues, and more
areas to bring social goods to the world.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (2006)
defined CSR as the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically
and to contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life
of the workforce and their families, as well as that of the local public and
society at large; management studies have defined CSR as a company’s
obligation to operate in an economically and environmentally sustainable way
at the same time recognizing the interest of all stakeholders and maximizing
social, economic and environmental values (Waddock and Post, 1990; Wood,
1991; Matten et al., 2003; Waddock, 2004).
Confederation of British Industry (2004) states that CSR encompasses
the extent to which companies should promote human rights, democracy,
community improvement and sustainable development objectives throughout
the world.
As per World Bank (2001), CSR is the commitment of businesses to
contribute to sustainable economic development working with employees, their
families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life
in ways that are both for business and good for international development.
World banks definition is almost same as world business council’s definition
with a broader point about developing at international levels.
Plenty of studies have defined CSR from diverse perspectives. Mohr
(1996) divided definitions on CSR into two types: multi-dimensional definitions
and definitions based on social marketing. Multi-dimensional definitions list
main social responsibilities for corporations, while social marketing concept
views CSR according its impacts on society. Dahlsrud (2008) conducted
comprehensive analysis on 37 definitions of CSR according to relevant
literature from 1980 to 2003, and then grouped definitions on CSR into five
dimensions, including: the environmental dimension, the social dimension, the
economic dimension, the stakeholder dimension and the voluntariness

14
dimension. In this paper, definitions on CSR are categorized into two
perspectives based on previous studies: the stakeholder perspective and the
social perspective. The representative of the stakeholder perspective is
Freeman (1984), he asserted that businesses have responsibilities for groups
and individuals who can both influence and be influenced by business
operation. Khoury, Rostami (1999) stated that CSR encompasses relationship
between a company and all of its stakeholders, such as customers,
employees, communities, owners/ investors, government, suppliers and
competitors. According to them, the major social responsibilities of
corporations consist of community service, the improvement of relationship
with employees, job creation, environmental protection and financial returns.
Hopkins (2003) also defined CSR from the stakeholder perspective. He
pointed out that CSR is to treat a company’s stakeholders in a moral and
responsible way in an effort to attain the two-fold goal of maintaining profit and
improving the living standard of stakeholders inside and outside the company.
According to Basu and Palazzo (2008), CSR is a firm’s response to
stakeholders’ concerns about business operation and social affairs. Davis and
Blomstrom (1975) defined CSR from social perspective, they stated that CSR
refers to actions taken by a corporation to protect and improve social well-
being and corporate interests. According to Kotler (1991), CSR means running
the firm in a way which can maintain and improve social well-being.
McWilliams and Siegel (2001) regard CSR as a firm’s responsibility to
enhance social interests; this responsibility goes beyond laws and the firm’s
interests. Mohr, Webb (2001) further pointed out that CSR is the commitment
made by a company to remove or reduce its adverse impacts on the society,
and meanwhile boost the long-term beneficial influences on the society.
Matten and Moon (2008) defined CSR as policies and actions adopt by a
corporation to reflect its responsibilities to advance social interests. Shafiq
(2011) gave a ten dimensional points on CSR definitions, which gives a full
summary of all issues mentioned in various definitions of CSR, they are;

15
Obligation to the society, stakeholders involvement, improving the quality of
life, economic development, ethical business practice, law abiding,
voluntariness, human rights, environmental protection, transparency and
accountability.
The table below summarises the scope or dimensions of each definition
from different periods:

Table 1: The scope or dimensions of each definition

from different periods
Period & Focus Area Summary of Dimensions
1950’s – 1960’s
• Religious & Humane philosophies
• Community development
Philanthropy
• Unregulated philanthropy
• Poverty alleviation
• Obligation to the society
1970’s – 1980’s
• Extension of CSR commitments
• CSR as symbol of Corporate
citizenship
• Stakeholder relationship
management Regulated CSR
• Corporate reputation
• Socio-economic priorities
• Bridging governance gap
• Stakeholders rights
• Legal & Ethical responsibilities
1990’s – 21st Century Instrumental/Strategic CSR
• Competitive strategy
• Environmental protection

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• Sustainability
• Internationalisation of CSR
standards
• Transparency & accountability

Purchasing Intention
Purchasing intention is planning in advance to buy certain goods or
services in the future, not necessarily to implement the purchase intention due
to it is depends on individual’s ability to perform (Warshaw & Davis, 1985 in
Qun et al., 2012). According to Blackwell et al. (2001), what is cross in the
customers’ mind signifies intention to purchase by them. The similar
researchers state that consumers will go through the process of recognizing
the product to purchase, and then they will find the information about the
product, evaluate, purchase and give feedback. Therefore, they will purchase
a product after making research in advance so that they will purchase right
product that meet with their needs and wants.
Purchasing intention is a kind of decision-making that studies the reason
to buy a particular brand by consumer (Shah et al., 2012). Morinez et al.
(2007) defined purchasing intention as a situation where consumer tends to
buy a certain product in a certain condition. Customers purchasing decision is
a complex process. Purchasing intention is usually related to the behaviors,
perceptions and attitudes of consumers. Purchasing behavior is a key point for
consumers to access and evaluate a specific product. Ghosh (1990) stated
that purchasing intention is an effective tool to predict purchasing process.
Purchasing intention may be changed due to the influences of price or
perceived quality and value. In addition, consumers are affected by internal or
external motivations during the purchasing process (Gogoi, 2013).
Researchers have proposed six stages before deciding to buy the product,
which are: awareness, knowledge, interest, preference, persuasion and
purchase (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010) (Kawa et al., 2013).

17
 There are various theories about the factors that affect the purchasing
intentions of consumers. According to Amir Nasermoadeli et al. (2013), the
factor that influences consumers' purchasing intention is their experience.
Gentile et al. (2007, p. 397) argued that "the consumer experience comes from
the relationship between them and a product or service, a business, or a part
of that business, which will create their response. This experience is
completely personal, and it shows the participation of many different
components (physical, sensory, emotional, mental and spiritual)." Schmitt
(1999) suggested that three components that make up the customer
experience include: the sensory experience, the emotional experience, and the
social experience.

2.3 CSR Models

Liberal Model (1958)
This approach was encapsulated by the American economist Milton
Friedman, who in 1958 challenged the very notion of corporate responsibility
with the idea that companies are solely responsible to their owners (Friedman,
1971). As argued in this model, it is sufficient for a business to obey the law
and generate wealth, which through taxation and private charitable choices
can be directed to social ends. This ultimately fulfils the social responsibility of
an organization towards the community and the nation.

The Concentric Circles Model of CSR (1971)

The concentric circles model of CSR has been adopted from a
statement issued in 1971 by the Committee for Economic Development. The
statement posited that social contracts of business processes are not only
feasible, but also morally necessary and, thus, urged corporations to adopt a
more humane view towards their function in society. The original model of the
committee had only three rings: (a) economic (products, job, financial stability
and growth); (b) ethical (responsibilities to exercise the economic functions

18
with a sensitive awareness of ethical norms) and (c) philanthropic (amorphous
responsibilities that businesses should get involved with to improve the social
environment). This model is in agreement with what Logsdon and Wood
(2002) stated, “CSR is a concept supporting social control of business that
resides and operates inside business itself, with the aim of protecting and
enhancing the public welfare as well as private interests.”. On the one hand,
the move from the outer circle to the inner circle reflects the control that
society needs to impose on standards of business activity to ensure social
progress through proper functioning of the business core. The move from the
inside to the outside, on the other hand, represents the internalization of social
norms that reside and operate within the business as affirmative or positive
duties.

Figure 1: The Concentric Circles Model of CSR

(Source: Corporate social responsibility in the context of the stakeholder
theory, Nadica Figar, Vladimir Figar, 2011)
This model has a wider scope of economic responsibilities, which
include: generating wealth to improve the nation’s standard of living, supplying
the needs and wants of people for goods and services, selling them at fair
prices, providing employment and fair wages and eliminating poverty in a

19
holistic manner. According to Stone (1975), the legal circle encompasses two
responsibilities: the first one is to follow law and the second one is to follow the
spirit of law, that is, to abide by the law through socially appropriate
considerations (considered autonomy). Restrictive compliance, opportunistic
compliance, avoidance of civil litigation and anticipation of changes in
legislation fall within the ambit of this ring. The ethical ring holds more or less
the same meaning as it did in the pyramid model, with the only addition being
the responsibility of not exploiting stakeholders who are not protected by well-
established ethical norms and customs. The notion that comes to the fore is
that an organization can be called socially responsible even when it takes
advantage of an ill-defined local norm. In this context, Sethi (2003, p.288)
observed: The large corporation, and especially the multinational corporation,
must become an active agent for social change.... As a dominant institution in
society, the corporation must assume its rightful place and contribute to
shaping the public agenda instead of simply reacting to policy choices
advocated by others. The philanthropic ring highlights the fact that corporate
philanthropy is not about corporate contributions to further a cause but to use
corporate social competencies and advantages as a means to solve major
social problems. Thus, the problem of multiple objectives creating confusion,
conflict and inefficiency, encountered in the previous models, was resolved by
this model as it had the single criterion of improvement of social welfare.

Carroll's Pyramid Model (1991)

According to Carroll (1991), four types of responsibility composing CSR
includes: economic responsibilities, legal responsibilities, ethical
responsibilities and philanthropic responsibilities.

20
 Figure 2: The Pyramid of Social Responsibility (Carroll, 1991)

Economic responsibility
Throughout history, the businesses were set up to become an economic entity
with an aim to providing goods and services for the society. The profit goal is
built as the most basic motivation of the business. Before achieving any other
goals, the enterprises are the basic economic components of society.
Therefore, the basic target of the businesses is producing the goods and
services that the consumers need and want, and create the acceptable profits
through business process. All these other kinds of corporate responsibilities
are built based on economic responsibility.
Legal responsibility
The society not only expects the enterprises to operate under profit target but
it also expects them to abide the law, operate under the rules and regulations
21
set by the government and the authorities. Companies are expected to pursue
its economic mission within the legal frameworks. This responsibility applies
not only to the whole enterprises but also each individual of these enterprises.
Ethical responsibility
Ethical responsibility includes activities that are expected or banned by
members of society, although these activities are not mentioned in law. Ethical
responsibility includes standards, or expectations that reflect the company's
concern about what consumers, employees, shareholders, and the whole
society regard as fairness or rightness. The company shows respect for the
moral norms that the entities mentioned above respect and protect. Moral
responsibility can affect legal responsibility. It promotes greater accountability
and sets higher expectations for entrepreneurs to do more than the law.
Philanthropic responsibility
Philanthropic responsibility includes the activities of the businesses that
respond to the expectations of the society, showing that the businesses are
well-performing the obligations of good corporate citizens. It includes a direct
commitment of the business in action or the design of programs to promote the
prosperity of the whole society, for example, contributing financial, human or
other resources to culture, arts, education or community activities.
In short, according to Carroll, CSR consists of four components, namely
economic responsibility, legal responsibility, moral responsibility, and
philanthropic responsibility. In other words, a CSR company should try to
make profit, abide the law, behave in accordance with ethical standards of
society and become a good citizen in the community.
It would be wise to mention that Carroll’s proposition was a humble
progress from what Sethi proposed (1975). Sethi’s three-stage model was
considered as a huge advancement in itself during its initial days. It was based
on three parameters: social obligation, social responsibility and social
responsiveness. The first stage emphasizes that firms are socially responsible
and they must flourish within the legal constraints of the nation. The second

22
stage urges the firm to flourish not only within the legal permits, but also in
accordance with the salient norms of the society, thus providing a balance
between what they need from the society and what the society wants from
them. The third stage calls for accountability and dynamism in dialogue with
the stakeholders, that is, to involve them in the decision-making process. The
pyramid model argues against the widely accepted separation thesis which
claims that businesses cannot focus on both social and financial concerns at
the same time. It arranges the different fields of responsibilities and obligations
in an order without integrating them in any manner. This model is in agreement
with how Milton Friedman defined a business, that is, to make the maximum
profit staying within the limits of legal and ethical boundaries. The philanthropic
responsibility is perhaps the icing on the cake as it distinguishes one as a
‘corporate citizen’, highlighting the importance of corporate giving. This model
has a positive impact on CFP—a money-oriented way of describing CSP—
through its impact on reputation. Aupperle, Carroll and Hatfield (1985) argue
that the social outlook of an organization can very well be measured by
observing the importance it gives to the three noneconomic strata, that is, the
legal, moral and the philanthropic responsibilities.

The Consumer-driven Corporate Responsibility (CDCR) Model

Figure 3: The Consumer-driven Corporate Responsibility (CDCR) Model

(Source: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-642-
28036-8_694)
23
 As the world battles more wicked social demons such as climate change
or corporation greed, the awareness and concern of the society towards civil
and environmental issues are moving rapidly in an upwards trend, alongside
their expectation for businesses globally to be socially responsible (Frederick,
2006). This trend is demonstrated through a series of consumer behavior
studies. For example, in 2005, a Co-Operative Bank survey found out that a
company’s responsible reputation played a vital role in winning the
consumption preference of 60% of the survey takers (Crane & Matten, 2007).
Embracing that notion, and coupled with the emergence of a new ethical
economy as well as the effects of social production on social relations and
productive behaviors as referred to by Arvidsson et al in 2008 (Claydon, 2011),
the model of Consumer-driven Corporate Responsibility is born as a guideline
to how companies can be profitable and socially aware and environmentally
responsible. This model creates a positive “vicious circle”, in which the
business realizes the CSR demand from their customer base as a mean to
attract more consumption power and better profitability. Consequently, the
businesses not only improve their financial situation but also engage in socially
and environmentally responsible activities. This leads to an improvement in the
business’s reputation and in return, expanding the customer base and which
contains more consumers who demand CSR. The business then applies more
CSR initiatives and so the circle continues. CDCR forms a win-win situation:
the customers are satisfied whilst the company stays profitable and
responsible on a social and environmental note. This model proves to be a
superior compared to the previous twos in a way that it emphasizes the
vitalness of businesses frequently respond, upgrade and direct their CSR
strategies to suit their ever-changing demands of the customer bases.

24
2.4 Research framework
A consumer who is socially conscious and lead to the social change is
known as socially responsible consumer behavior (SRCB) (Lois, Deborah and
Katherine, 2001). This ethical purchasing has been around market for a long
time ago, but consumers had only raised the awareness on these few years
(Shanka and Gopalan, n.d.). As a socially responsible consumer, this group of
people will search for more information or details pertaining to the products or
service, purchase, use, and dispose the products on a way to maximize the
advantages and minimize any harmful effects to the society (Lois, Deborah
and Katherine, 2001).
A number of studies showed that CSR plays an important role in
influencing consumers’ buying behavior (Lois, Deborah and Katherine, 2001;
Sen, Sankar and Bhattacharya, 2001). According to Lee and Maziah Ismail
(2009), firstly, consumers make buying decision based on traditional criteria
such as price, quality and convenience and secondly, it is based on the
damages or benefits to the society. Lee and Maziah Ismail (2009) also
suggested that companies which aim to improve customers’ satisfaction and
company’s financial performance should emphasize on CSR initiatives.
In order to study the impacts of customers' perception of CSR on their
purchasing intention, the model proposed by Carvalho et al. (2010) will be
applied in this study. The original model includes the key elements: customers’
perception of CSR, price fairness, personal satisfaction, purchasing power,
purchasing intention, complaining intention, and switching intention.

25
 Figure 4: The effects of CSR perception model
(Carvalho et al., 2010)

Customers’ perception of CSR: This factor shows the level of customers'

appreciation for CSR activities which demonstrate whether they perceive the
enterprises' concern in the environment, community, law, morality and whether
these activities are worth doing or not.
Price fairness: This factor determines whether consumers are willing to pay a
higher price for a company's product than their competitors'.
Personal satisfaction: This factor helps assess whether when consumers use
products from a company well-performing CSR, they themselves feel pleased
and comfortable or not.
Purchasing power: This factor is measured through income, the higher the
income, the greater the purchasing power.
Purchasing intention: The likelihood that consumers will choose to purchase a
company's products.
Complaining intention: This factor measures the extent to which consumers
are inclined to complain and spread negative rumors of a company.

26
Switching intention: This factor determines the likelihood that the consumers
will no longer use a company's products, and switch to another provider.
According to this model, Carvalho et al. proposed the following
hypotheses:
H1: Consumers’ perception of CSR has positive effects on their perception of
price fairness, personal satisfaction, purchasing intention and negative impacts
on complaining intention and switching intention.
H2: Consumers’ perception of price fairness and personal satisfaction mediate
the relationship between consumers’ perception of CSR and purchasing
intention, as well as complaining intention and switching intention.
H3: The mediating effect of perception of price fairness in the relationship
between perception of CSR and the purchasing intention is increased for
consumers with lower purchasing power compared with consumers with higher
purchasing power.
H4: The mediating effect of personal satisfaction in the relationship between
CSR perception and complaining intention, between CSR perception and
switching intention is increased for consumers with higher purchasing power
compared with consumers with lower purchasing power.
The study was conducted with a sample of 400 consumers in Brazil.
According to the findings, the extent to which Brazilian consumers perceive
whether a company is socially responsible or not can be predicted as a result
of the transaction with that company, as well as switching intention and
complaining intention about rising prices caused by CSR. Moreover, these
relationships are mediated by the extent to which consumers perceive whether
price increases caused by CSR are fair or not and personal satisfaction
because of supporting a socially responsible company. Finally, the results
showed that these intermediate effects depend on purchasing power. More
specifically, the mediating effect of price fairness in the relationship between
CSR perception and purchasing intention is stronger with lower income
consumers than with higher income ones. Meanwhile, the mediating effect of

27
personal satisfaction in the relationship between CSR perception and
switching intention and complaining intention is stronger with higher income
consumers than with lower income ones.
However, the study by Carvalho et al. did not investigate in depth
consumers' perception of CSR. Specifically, in their study, there were only
questions about philanthropy responsibility without questions to understand
consumers' perception of the remaining three types of responsibilities
(economic, moral and ethical responsibility). The results did not indicate
whether there is a correlation between the age, income, gender, occupation,
education level of the respondents and their perception of CSR or not. Their
study did not arrange the importance level of four types of CSR from the
perspectives of the consumers. Therefore, in order to find out more about the
issues that Carvalho and his colleagues have not clarified yet, this study will
revise the original model, adding research questions to understand consumers'
perception of CSR. The objective of this study is to focus only on the
relationship between consumer perception of CSR and their purchasing
intention.
Starting from research goals, this study is based on model of Carvalho
et al. (2010). However, unlike Carvalho et al, this study investigates in depth
about the customers' perception of four types of responsibilities in CSR of the
Carroll model (1991), while investigating the level of effect of customers’
perception of CSR on their purchasing intention. In this model, the factors that
influence the consumer's purchasing intention include: consumers' perception
of CSR, perception of price fairness, personal satisfaction, and purchasing
power (measured through income). One particular feature is that purchasing
power does not directly affect purchasing intention; it will affect the impact of
the perception of price fairness on purchasing intention.

28
 Purchasing power

Price fairness
H1 H6

H4
Consumer H3
perception of Purchasing Intention
CSR
H5

H2
Personal
satisfaction

Figure 5: Research framework

29
 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Data collection

3.1.1 Techniques to collect data
Quantitative Questionnaires
Unlike the open-ended questions asked in qualitative questionnaires,
quantitative questionnaires pose closed questions, with the answer options
provided. The respondents will only have to choose their answers among the
choices provided in the questionnaires. This technique is suitable for the
reasons that this research studies the effects of consumers’ perception of CSR
on their purchasing intention; therefore, the sample should be large enough to
have the most reliable results. The larger the number of respondents is, the
more reliable the results are. With the characteristics of questionnaires
including closed questions with the answer options provided, it helps the
respondents spend less time finishing the questionnaires and giving more
exact answers.
Record and Secondary data
This method involves the use of previously existing and reliable
documents and other sources of information as sources of data used in a new
research or investigation. This technique helps the researcher gain better
understanding of the field or the subjects being looked into thanks to the
reliable and high quality documents used as data sources. Additionally, taking
a look into other documents or researches will provide a glimpse of the
subjects being investigated from different perspectives, allowing comparisons
and contrasts to be made. This technique is efficiently used in this research
since there are a large numbers of research papers, articles, books on CSR.
The data sources are also easily accessible, less expensive, less time-
consuming and really reliable.

3.1.2 The sample subjects

30
 The sample subjects of this research includes people from different age
groups (18 – 24; 25 – 35, 35 - 45, over 45); different genders (male, female);
different occupations (office workers, students, others); different income
(below 5 million, 5 – 10 million, 10 – 15 million, 15 – 20 million, over 20
million); different education level (college/university bachelor, master/doctor,
high school student).

3.1.3 The structure of questionnaire

The questionnaire consists of two main sections, which were formulated
with questions combined and edited from the questionnaire of two studies by
Aril et al. (2009) and Carvalho et al. (2010).
The first part consists of questions to measure the consumers' perception of
CSR which rooted from the study by Arli et al. (2009):
Economic responsibility:
• I believe that businesses should maximize profits, keeping the growth rate as
high as possible.
• When buying goods, I will prioritize products of enterprises having high profit,
high growth rate and famous brand in the market.
Legal responsibility:
• I believe that businesses should ensure that they operate all business
activities within the legal framework.
• When buying goods, I would prioritize products of enterprises not violating
the law or not being condemned by the mass media.
Moral responsibility:
• I believe that businesses should help solve social problems and improve the
quality of life of the community.
• When buying goods, I will prioritize products of enterprises regularly helping
solve social problems.
Philanthropic responsibility:

31
• I believe that businesses should ensure that they often do charity and always
try to meet the expectations of society and the community, for instance,
implementing literacy programs, improving health for rural people.
• When buying goods, I will prioritize products of enterprises that often do
charity and meet the expectations of the community.
The second section includes questions that measure the impact of CSR
perception, price fairness, personal satisfaction and purchasing power which
rooted from the study by Carvalho et al. (2010):
If Unilever Vietnam has activities that contribute to improving the life quality for
employees and the whole society, using environmental-friendly materials,
contributing financial resources to charity programs and making transparent
information policies for shareholders, suppliers and customers, I suppose:
• That business has concern of the environment
• That business orients towards the community
• That business has invested in a worth work
If Unilever makes a significant contribution to the community, and therefore its
products' price is higher than that of its competitor, I believe that price is:
• Fair
• Acceptable
• Satisfactory
If I buy product from Unilever that makes a significant contribution to the
community, I would feel:
• Better about myself, because I have made profit for a socially responsible
company
• I do the right thing
• I have created benefits for myself by supporting the products of that
company, thereby indirectly contributing to society.
• Self-satisfied

32
For the products of Unilever that makes a significant contribution to the
community, even though its price is higher than that of other companies, I
would:
• Only buy its products when financial capacity allows.
• Buy its products if I receive a reasonable explanation from sellers or
acquaintances who have ever purchased about the reasons of high- cost
products.
• Will definitely buy its products.
Then, the trial survey will be conducted. The purpose of this trial survey
is to determine whether the questionnaire is easy to understand or not, as well
as whether the language used in the questionnaire should be changed or not.
This survey will be conducted by delivering questionnaires to ten subjects of
different ages, occupations and educational backgrounds, without further
explanation of the questionnaire for them to assess and evaluate. After that,
the questionnaire will be revised again. Then a second trial survey will be
conducted before entering the official one.

3.2 Research methodology

Causal research, also known as explanatory research is conducted in
order to identify the extent and nature of cause-and-effect relationships.
Causality may be thought of as understanding a phenomenon in terms of
conditional statements of the form “If x, then y”. Causal studies focus on an
analysis of a situation or a specific problem to explain the patterns of
relationships between variables. Experiments are the most popular primary
data collection methods in studies with causal research design. Experimental
design is a procedure for devising an experimental setting such that a change
in a dependent variable may be attributed solely to the change in an
independent variable.
Advantages of causal research

33
 Causal research methodology plays an instrumental role in terms of identifying
reasons behind a wide range of processes, as well as, assessing the impacts
of changes on existing norms, processes, etc.;
 This methodology usually offers the replication if necessity arises;
 This methodology is associated with greater level of internal validity due to
systematic selection of subjects.
Disadvantages of causal research
 Coincidences in events may be misperceived as cause-and-effect
relationships;
 It can be difficult to reach appropriate conclusions on the basis of causal
research findings due to the impacts of a wide range of factors and variables in
social environment;
 It certain cases, while correlation between two variables can be effectively
established; identifying which variable is a cause and which one is the effect
can be a difficult task to accomplish.
From the author’s viewpoint, causal research methodology is the most
appropriate method because the aim of this research question is to analyze
and evaluate the effects of CSR on customers’ purchasing intention, i.e. the
cause - effect relationship. It helps the researcher identify the reasons why the
customers make decision to purchase products/services of a CSR company,
what factors affect the purchasing intentions of customers and the relationship
between these variables: consumers' perception of CSR, perception of price
fairness, personal satisfaction, purchasing power, purchasing intention,
complaining intention, switching intention.
In this research question, the methodology the researcher chooses to
use is causal research based on experiments.
189 valid questionnaires were collected from total 200 questionnaires
issued in Hanoi. In order to achieve the research objectives, data analysis
methods used in this study include: data descriptive statistics, scale reliability

34
analysis, analysis of variances (ANOVA), linear correlation analysis and linear
regression analysis.
Scale reliability analysis will be assessed through the Cronbach Alpha
coefficient to eliminate unsuitable variables and limit the extraneous variables
in the research model. Accordingly, unsuitable variables will be eliminated if
the Corrected Item - Total Correction <0.3 and the scale will be accepted when
the Cronbach Alpha coefficient >0.6.
ANOVA method is used to analyze the relationship between qualitative
cause variables and quantitative effect variables, based on the calculation of
intra-group variation and the variation between group averages, from which
concludes whether there is a difference in the evaluation of the significance of
a factor between different groups of people or not.
Linear correlation analysis was used to measure the relationship
between two quantitative variables, based on the Pearson correlation
coefficient (denoted by r). Absolute value of r demonstrates the degree of
linearity. The absolute value of r approaches 1 when two variables have a
close linear relationship. When all dispersed points are arranged in a straight
line, the absolute value of r = 1 (Hoang Trong and Chu Nguyen Mong Ngoc,
2008).
After determining two variables having close linear correlation through
the correlation coefficient r, the study quantifies their causal relationship by a
linear regression model in which a variable is called is the dependent variable
(or variable that is explained -Y) and a variable called the independent variable
(or variable explaining -X). In this study, the regression model used would be a
multiple linear regression model.
From the research model, the following hypotheses are given:
H1: Consumers' perception of CSR has a linear correlation with their
perception of price fairness
H2: Consumers' perception of CSR has a linear correlation with personal
satisfaction

35
H3: Consumers' perception of CSR has a positive effect on their purchasing
intention
H4: Consumers' perception of price fairness has a positive impact on their
purchasing intention
H5: The consumer's personal satisfaction has a positive impact on their
purchasing intention
H6: Consumers' purchasing power has a positive effect on the relationship
between consumers' perception of price fairness and purchasing intention.
The linear correlation and linear regression analysis were performed to test the
hypotheses.

Linear correlation analysis

Linear correlations were used to test hypotheses H1 and H2, and also to
examine the variability between independent variables before conducting
regression analysis.
Linear regression analysis
The aim of linear regression analysis is to model the causal relationship
between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables. In this
study, multi-variable regression analysis will be conducted to determine the
importance level of each component: Perception of CSR (CSRb), Perception
of Price Fairness (PF), Personal Satisfaction (PS), Purchasing Intention (PI).
In addition, the impact of purchasing power (INCOME) on the relationship
between perception of price fairness and purchasing intention will also be
examined through the PFxINCOME variable in the regression model.
Independent variables: CSRb, PF, PS, PFxINCOME
Dependent variable: PI
The regression model in this study will be in the form:
Y = β0 + β1 * X1 + β2 * X2 + β3 * X3 + β4 * X4
In which:
Y: Consumers' Purchasing Intention

36
X1: Consumers’ Perception of CSR
X2: Consumers’ Perception of Price Fairness
X3: Personal Satisfaction
X4: Purchasing Power x Perception of Price Fairness

37
 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 CSR in Vietnam

Although the CSR disclosure is commonly compulsory in developed
countries, it is still a new concept in the developing one, particularly in
Vietnam. This part will present a macro-situation analysis by using PESTEL
tool in case of Vietnam. Subsequently, the author will state current
understandings of CSR within Vietnamese enterprise.

4.1.1 PESTEL Analysis in Vietnam

4.1.1.1 Politics
It is very important to know that the political system of Vietnam is
constituted from three main components: the Party, the State and the Army.
However, the author will only discuss the previous two components, as they
are more closely related to how CSR are perceived and applied. The country
is regulated under a single-party system which is tightly organized and
hierarchical by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Found in 1930, the
CPV has implemented many programs to renovate, modernize, and
industrialize the country (Government Web Portal 2005). In other words, the
CPV is supreme and rules over the other two elements. As mentioned above,
Vietnam is regulated by the Communist Party, which summons the National
Congress every five years to elect the Central Committee. This Committee will
then implement the policies of the Congress. The National Assembly is the
highest organ of State power and is in charge of electing the President (Head
of State), the Prime Minister (Head of Government) and Supreme People’s
Court, among many other tasks (Osborne, et. al 2016). In January, 2016, the
twelfth Central Committee of Vietnam was held, with new electors in various
politically influential positions such as President or Prime Minister. These
changes of leadership may bring about inevitable shifting in the Vietnamese
socio-economic environment, of which CSR is one component.

38
4.1.1.2 Economy
Starting in 1986, the “Doi Moi” initiative has been the most important
catalyst in shifting the Vietnam from a highly centralized economy to a mixed
economy through sets of five-year plans. This initiative introduced new market
rules, issued a more opened attitude towards to Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) and improved the business climate in general (Rous- 22 seau, 2011).
Before the 21st century and the open door policy, Vietnam’s foreign trade
relations focused mostly on the former socialist countries (Nguyen & Bui, n.d),
however, after its participation in various global and regional organizations
such as the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995, Asian
Free Trade Area (AFTA) in 1996, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
in 1998 and most noticeably World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007,
Vietnam has been issuing and enjoying a USD 480 billion in terms of exporting
and importing value at the end of 2018, compared USD 14,45 billion at the
beginning of the 21st century (Official Vietnamese Custom portal, 2018).
Furthermore, Vietnam’s participations in the above-mentioned associations
and various other international trade agreement allows for better tariff and
exporting/importing taxation as well as for better introduction of the country’s
various exotic products. The most frequent exporting partners of Vietnam are
the United State, China, Japan whilst the top import origins are China, South
Korea and Japan.
The Vietnamese economic system comprises of three sectors, namely
agriculture, heavy and light industry and services. The economy is shifting
from agriculture to industries and services with a view to better improving the
economic efficiency and exploring the full potential of the economy. According
to a study done by Price Waterhouse Cooper (2008), Vietnam may be the
fastest-growing of the world’s emerging economies.

4.1.1.3 Society

39
 Vietnam is the world’s 14th-most-populous country, with approximately
96,2 million people (at the end of 2018), of which the Viet or Kinh ethnic group
accounts for almost 85.8 percent of the population; and 53 ethnic minority
groups constituted the rest. By and large, Vietnam is a very young nation with
25.2% of the population under 15 years old, 69.3% from 15 to 64 years old
and only 5.5% above 64 years old.
The Vietnamese society suffers from many civil inequalities stemming
from the governmental monopoly on political and allowing no challenges to its
leadership (Human Right Watch, 2016). This leads to restrictions in freedom of
speech, opinion, press and association. Rights activists and dissident bloggers
suffer from various types of harassment and even physical abusing. Religious
freedom is also suppressed in many ways, including legislation, registration
requirements, surveillance and even harassment. The issues of poor working
25 conditions, child labor, and poverty among minorities are some of the many
alarming social problem in Vietnam.

4.1.1.4 Technology
In term of technology, Vietnam is a relatively rapidly developing country.
As mentioned above, the country sets the goal to become an industrialized
economy by 2020. And hence, the Government will focus on scientific and
technological renovation to sharpen the competitive edge of local products and
assist businesses to purchase patents in some prioritized areas:
biotechnology, information technology, nano technology, manufacturing
technology and automation (Government Portal News 2011).
More than 30 years has passed since the start of the Doi Moi, Vietnam
is on its way towards the realization of the 2020 IT Master Plan, which is an
initiative that aims at forming a system of concentrated information technology
park, with Da Nang high-tech park being one of several established facilities.
With a young population and a median age of 30.3 years old, Vietnam has
been transforming from a country with barely any IT companies some 16, 17

40
years ago to a country buzzling with young coders, engineers, entrepreneurs
with approximately 14,000 IT companies spanning from hardware to software
and digital contents (Marvin, 2015). Additionally, the technological aspect of
Vietnam is clearly shown through an increasing level of usage of
telecommunication devices and the internet.

4.1.1.5 Environment
Being one of the fastest growing emerging markets, Vietnam is
inevitably facing a deteriorating environmental situation, emerging from many
reasons, some of which are poor legislation concerning environmental
practices from corporation, under-developed CSR initiatives and poor general
environmental awareness from the local. 2016 has seen some of the worst
environmental catastrophes caused by corporations and also of natural forces
as well. The most noticeable of which is the Formosa incident early in April.
During this time, the central coastal Vietnamese began to notice
unprecedented numbers of dead fish. A month later, over 100 tons worth of
dead fish have been collected, causing tremendous economic and health
related consequences. Three months after the promise made by Prime
Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the government has placed the crime onto a steel
plant in Ha Tinh province, owned by Taiwan-based Formosa Plastic Group’s
local affiliate, Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (Tiezzi, 2016). This
incident was considered to be the most catastrophic in the history of Vietnam.
On the brighter note, 2016 has been a year when the local and governmental
awareness of the environmental issues. On the 29th of March, the first ever
manufacturing plant using discarded industrial rubber tires was opened in Vinh
Phuc province. In May 2016, Vietnam and the United States of America have
reached an agreement on the co-operation between the two nations on
battling climate change.

4.1.1.6 Legal system

41
 Generally speaking, the legislative environment in Vietnam is
complicated, unstable and unpredictable, which poses a great concern
towards both local and foreign investors (The World Bank and PPIA, 2000).
However, as Vietnam is entering deeper and deeper into the globalization era,
the legal system is one of the main targets for improvement from the
Vietnamese government. For instance, a study from David Lim (2015) pointed
out many new changes in different sectors such as Decree on Real Estate
Business Law, Decree on Residential Housing Law. Additionally, with the EU-
Vietnam Free Trade Agreement 30 (EVFTA) signed at the end of 2015 and
Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) on the verge of completion, various
new configuration and improvement of the legal system will be made with a
view to facilitating further international economic cooperation (Luu, 2016).

4.1.2 Awareness of CSR in Vietnam

Vietnam belongs to the group of developing countries in which CSR
concepts are still very new to domestic enterprise. The NGOs, MNCs, and
Western agencies operating in Vietnam, i.e. Environmental Development
Action in Third World, Gentle Fund Organization, KPMG Vietnam, Sony
Ericsson, Honda Vietnam Co., P&G Corp., Unilever Corp., are the first actors
to provide the CSR concept through the implementation of Code of Conducts
(Hamm, 2012).These activates are rooted from customer-driven or to meet
customer’s requirements. Due to the Vedan scandal (2008), a Taiwanese food
manufacturer was accused of illegally dumping waste in the Thi Vai River from
its Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) plant for approximately 14 years (Nguyen &
Pham, 2011). Hence, this topic has been taken up as an important concern in
Vietnam.
As discussed earlier, the emerging countries tend to prioritize the
economic aspects of the CSR pyramids in order to fill in the economic deficit
compared to the more developed parts of the world and the philanthropic
aspect of CSR due to some dated habits. Due to the high priority placed on

42
philanthropic responsibilities by the Vietnamese community, CSR in Vietnam is
perceived by many to solely serve the charitable purpose characterized by
donations, voluntary activities and more. Additionally, many enterprises see
CSR as a mean to polish their reputation a form of brand protection (Nguyen,
2011) and believe that this is the sole intention for practicing CSR.
With the participation of Vietnam into WTO in 2008, along with being a
young market with a cheap and available labor force, Vietnam has been
welcoming various multinational corporation outsourcing and setting up their
official branches, choosing the Vietnamese to be one of their strategic market.
Some notable names include Honda Corp, Unilever Corp, KPMG Corp and
many others. These international giants have been playing an enormous role
in setting up the example for big Vietnamese corporation as well as SMEs by
adopting their Code of Conduct into the Vietnamese market (Hamm, 2012).
Additionally, the work of various international NGOs on raising
awareness of businesses on 31 social and environmental issues has improved
the perception of Vietnamese companies on the matter of sustainability. One
significant initiative of that caliber is from the United Nations Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO for short) intending to help Vietnamese
SMEs Adapt and Adopt CSR for Improved Linkages with Global Supply
Chains in Sustainable Production (Hamm, 2012).
This development trend accompanied by many serious environmental
issues in 2016 have forced the Vietnamese government and the local
community to focus and demand businesses to adhere to social
responsibilities and operation transparency more, which will undoubtedly lead
to a better and more thorough understanding of CSR in the future.

4.2 CSR in Unilever Vietnam

In Vietnam, there are many Multi-national Companies (MNCs) having
strong CSR initiatives and activities which make the customers satisfied and
loyal to their brands. One of the most typical examples is Unilever Vietnam.

43
Unilever is one of the world's leading multinational companies specializing in
personal care, home care and food and beverage products. Unilever currently
operates in more than 190 countries and territories with a commitment to
improving the lives of people all over the world through their products and
services it supplies.
Starting its business in Vietnam in 1995, Unilever has invested more
than $ 300 million in a modern factory in Ho Chi Minh City and Bac Ninh
Province. Through its network of more than 150 distributors and more than
300,000 retailers, Unilever Vietnam has provided direct employment to more
than 1,500 people and provided over 15,000 indirect jobs to those working in
the third parties, its suppliers and distributors.
Today, many of its brands such as OMO, P/S, Clear, Pond's, Knorr,
Lifebuoy, Sunsilk, VIM, Lipton, Sunlight, VISO, and Rexona ... have become
familiar brand names in Vietnamese households. It is estimated that about 35
million Unilever products are consumed each day by Vietnamese consumers
across the country, helping to improve the living conditions, health and
sanitation of all Vietnamese people.
Unilever Vietnam is a companion in the lives of every Vietnamese
citizen not only through the company's products but also through our deep
concern for the community and the environment. It firmly believes that
corporate social responsibility is an integral part of business and a key to
sustainable development. Unilever and its brands have implemented many
social programs, such as: "P/S Protection Smile Vietnam", "Wash your hands
with soap for a healthy Vietnam", "OMO dedicated the playground for
children", "VIM Anti-bacterial Restroom", "Microfinance for Poor Women"...
These programs have truly become the typical examples for effective Public -
Private Partnership (PPP) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which
have been significantly contributing to improving the lives of Vietnamese
people.

44
 In 2010, Unilever Global Group kicked off the Unilever Sustainable
Development Plan (USLP), aiming for double growth, halving negative
environmental impact, and enhancing positive impact on the community and
society. The USLP is central to its business model, contributing to sustainable
development of the company and its brands. In Vietnam, its commitment to
business and strong commitment to the community and the environment will
lay a solid foundation for Unilever to realize its commitment to USLP.
During 25 years of operation in Vietnam, Unilever, a British and Dutch
FMCG corporation, has contributed significantly to the country’s socio-
economic development. Unilever’s philosophy of CSR is to deploy its core
competencies to address key concerns of community. It is about long-term
positive impacts and sustainable development of society who’s Unilever
considers itself as a part. Hitherto in Vietnam, Unilever has been pursuing
three approaches towards social responsibility.
First, in strategic partnership with government, Unilever has engaged in
many programs to boost health and hygiene standards in a community, to care
about children education and development, gender equality and women
empowerment. Secondly, Unilever Vietnam Foundation (UVF) has been
established to retain annual grants for health and hygiene projects initiated
and executed by local communities to improve general living conditions and to
spread education among children and women in far-off provinces, especially in
mountainous and rural areas. Thirdly, many staff members of Unilever are
encouraged to participate in diverse charitable activities across the country.
In terms of social performance and communal activities, through UVF,
together with market brands, Unilever has been striving to realize the goals of
growth and sustainable development expressed by three main highlights:
improvement of living conditions and healthcare standards of Vietnamese
people; elimination of negative impacts of business on environment, using
100% input production materials originated from sustainable sources. Those
contents have been deployed through long-term cooperative programs carried

45
 out together with ministries and lower-level organs of Vietnamese, with
business partners engaged in diverse charitable programs and activities for
the community.
It can be seen that Unilever Vietnam should have to conform to global
ethical and social responsibility standards. In Vietnam, from a very first
moment, it had been developing many social responsibility activities engaging
all affordable resources. It often did and still does more for the benefits of
society and community than government authorities required to do thanks to
long-year experiences of Unilever Global in dealing with social responsibility
issues widespread in developed countries and more demanding markets.
The major contributions and impacts that Unilever has made for Vietnam
can be classified into five groups:
 Making impacts at the macroeconomic level through wealth creation, direct
and indirect employment generation, investment mobilisation, contributions to
tax revenue, balance of trade and balance of payments.
 Raising the standard of CSR behaviour towards employees (working
conditions, training, salaries, retirement and other benefits) and the
environment (eco-efficiency and eco-innovation). Indeed, Unilever has become
a leader in most aspects of CSR and a model for other companies to follow.
 Promoting partnership and product down’ effects in these areas are both
significant and sustainable.
 Providing quality products to all customers, including rural and low-income
people, with an aim to improve their hygiene habits and provide nutritional
augmentation. Unilever works hard to reflect local tastes in its products or to
adopt international standards to local food to ensure their products appeal to
local consumers.
 Making sustainable impacts on the community through voluntary CSR
contributions that facilitate the implementation of priorities identified in the
SEDP and Government strategy. Unilever has worked hard to ensure that its

46
business agenda complements the national strategy and socio-economic
development plans.

4.3 Statistic analysis and discussions

4.3.1 Descriptive statistics
The age proportion in the sample is quite equal. The age group accounting for
the highest proportion is 25 - 35 (37.70%), followed by 18 - 24 (31.38%), 35 -
45 (29.26%) and over 45 (2.66%).
Regarding to the gender, there is a considerable difference between the
proportion of male and female, with female accounting for 75% and male
accounting for 24.47%
In terms of occupation, the highest percentage is office workers (53.19%), the
second is students (34.57%), the third is teachers (12.23%) and other
occupations account for a small minority.
In terms of income, the highest proportion is the income level of 5 - 10 million
(38.83%), followed by below 5 million groups (34.57%). Income level of 10 - 15
million accounts for 15.96%. Income level of 15 - 20 million and over 20 million
accounts for quite small proportion (3.72% and 6.91% respectively).
In terms of education level, the highest percentage is college/university
bachelor (72.87%), followed that is master/doctor (23.40%), which is suitable
with the population features in such a large city as Hanoi where concentrates
many universities and colleges. The lowest percentage is high school students
(3.72%).

4.3.2 Testing the scale

Scale reliability analysis
The variables in the study measure the following factors:
- Consumers' perception of CSR includes 11 variables, in which:
• 8 variables measure consumers' perception of CSR derived from the study
by Arli et al. (2009): numbered from CSR1 to CSR8. These variables are

47
mainly used to compare the CSR perception of different consumer groups.
These variables will not be included in the regression model.
• 3 variables measure consumers' perception of CSR derived from the study
by Carvalho et al. (2009): numbered from CSR9 to CSR11. These variables
will be included in the regression model.
- Consumers' perceptions of price fairness: 3 variables numbered from PF1 to
PF3
- Personal satisfaction: 4 variables numbered from PS1 to PS4
- Purchasing intention: 1 variables PI
After testing, all scales have Cronbach Alpha coefficient > 0.6 (see in
Appendix 1). There is one variable in the consumers' perception of CSR scale
that have correlation coefficient < 0.3 that is CSR1, but this variable will not be
included in the factor analysis for running regression model since this variable
is not included in the Carvalho et al. model. They are primarily used to
measure consumers' perception of CSR; therefore, this variable is retained.

Analysis of variances (ANOVA)

The research compares the perception of four responsibilities in CSR
among consumers of different age, gender, occupation, income, educational
level through analysis of variance (ANOVA). After the analysis, based on the
mean value identified, some results are given in Appendix 2. ANOVA testing
has p-value = 0.0002 < significance level = 1%. Therefore, it can be concluded
that there is statistically significant difference in the CSR perception among
consumers of different educational level groups: the higher the educational
level is, the higher the CSR perception is. Bartlett’s test for equal variances
has p-value = 0.614 > significance level = 1%. From that, it can be concluded
that there is no variance difference in the CSR perception among consumers
of different educational level groups.
Similarly, from the result tables, it can be concluded that there is no
statistically significant difference and no variance difference in the CSR

48
perception among consumers of different age groups, gender groups and
income groups. However, there is statistically significant difference but no
variance difference in CSR perception among consumers of difference
occupation group.
In a similar way, the result tables show that there is no statistically
significant difference and no variance difference in price fairness perception
and personal satisfaction among consumers of different age groups, gender
groups, occupation groups, income groups. However, there is statistically
significant difference but no variance difference in price fairness perception
and personal satisfaction among consumers of different educational level
groups. In terms of purchasing intention, the result tables show that there is no
statistically significant difference and no variance difference among consumers
of different age groups and gender groups but there is statistically significant
difference but no variance difference among consumers of different income
groups, educational level groups and occupation groups.
Based on the mean value of the four CSR variables, consumers ranked the
importance level of four types of responsibilities in descending order: legal, moral,
philanthropic and economic. Thus, in the context of this study, the subjects surveyed
assessed legal responsibility as the most important factor and economic
responsibility as the least important factor. In other words, for consumers, they think
that the business needs to do beyond just looking for profits.

4.3.3 Testing the model

From the research model, the following hypotheses are given:
H1: Consumers' perception of CSR has a linear correlation with their
perception of price fairness
H2: Consumers' perception of CSR has a linear correlation with personal
satisfaction
H3: Consumers' perception of CSR has a positive effect on their purchasing
intention

49
H4: Consumers' perception of price fairness has a positive impact on their
purchasing intention
H5: The consumer's personal satisfaction has a positive impact on their
purchasing intention
H6: Consumers' purchasing power has a positive effect on the relationship
between consumers' perception of price fairness and purchasing intention.
The linear correlation and linear regression analysis were performed to test the
hypotheses.
Linear correlation analysis
The analysis result using Pearson coefficients (in Appendix 3) shows
that the variables CSR, PF, PS, IPF have a correlation with PI (sig = 0.0000
<0.05).
In addition, it can be concluded that there are correlations between the
independent variables, therefore, after the regression analysis; it is needed to
use the VIF coefficient to test the multicollinearity.
Linear regression analysis
The aim of linear regression analysis is to model the causal relationship
between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables. In this
study, multi-variable regression analysis will be conducted to determine the
importance level of each component: Perception of CSR (CSR), Perception of
Price Fairness (PF), Personal Satisfaction (PS) and Purchasing Intention (PI).
In addition, the impact of purchasing power (income) on the relationship
between perception of price fairness and purchasing intention will also be
examined through the IPF variable in the regression model.
Independent variables: CSR, PF, PS, IPF
Dependent variable: PI
The regression model in this study will be in the form:
Y = β0 + β1 * X1 + β2 * X2 + β3 * X3 + β4 * X4
In which:
Y: Consumers' Purchasing Intention (PI)

50
X1: Consumers’ Perception of CSR (CSR)
X2: Consumers’ Perception of Price Fairness (PF)
X3: Personal Satisfaction (PS)
X4: Purchasing Power x Perception of Price Fairness (IPF)
The results of regression analysis are shown in the Appendix 4.
Using VIF coefficient to test the multicollinearity:
VIF coefficient < 10, therefore, it can be concluded that there is no
multicollinearity phenomena (Appendix 5).
According to the results from the regression analysis, Prob > F = 0
shows the model has statistical significance (the estimated coefficients are not
equal to 0). Estimated coefficients β1, β2, β3 are statistically significant (p-
value = 0, 0,003, 0 respectively <0.01 significance level. The estimated
coefficient β4 is not statistically significant (p-value = 0.897 > 0.01 significance
level). Therefore, it is possible to conclude that consumers 'perception of CSR,
consumers' perception of price fairness and personal satisfaction all have
influences on consumers' purchasing intention. Meanwhile, the purchasing
power of consumers (expressed by income) does not affect the consumers'
purchasing intention. R-squared = 0.4912, which means that 49.12% of the
difference in consumers’ purchasing intention can be explained by the
dependent variables in the model.
Regression equation:
Y = - 0.1265352 + 0.2358374 * X1 + 0.2950308 * X2 + 0.1540796 * X3
From the correlation and regression analysis, conclusions about the
hypotheses of the study could be drawn: Hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4, H5 are
accepted and hypothesis H6 is rejected.

51
 Table 2: The results and findings from testing hypothesizes
Hypothesizes Results Findings
There are differences in the CSR
perception among consumers of Rejected
different gender groups
There are differences in the CSR
perception among consumers of Rejected
different age groups
There are differences in the CSR Teacher groups has the highest
perception among consumers of Accepted CSR perception, followed by
different occupation groups student and office worker groups
There are differences in the CSR
The higher the educational level,
perception among consumers of Accepted
the higher the CSR perception
different educational level group
There are differences in the CSR
perception among consumers of Rejected
different income level group
The consumers evaluate the
The consumers evaluate the importance importance level of four
level of four components of CSR in Rejected components of CSR in
accordance with Carroll model descending order: legal, ethical,
philanthropic and economic
There is a correlation between
H1: Consumers' perception of CSR
consumers' perception of CSR
have a linear correlation with their Accepted
and their perception of price
perception of price fairness
fairness
H2: Consumers' perception of CSR has There is a correlation between
a linear correlation with personal Accepted consumers' perception of CSR
satisfaction and their personal satisfaction

H3: Consumers' perception of CSR has Accepted The higher the consumers'

52
a positive effect on their purchasing perception of CSR, the higher
intention their purchasing intention
H4: Consumers' perception of price The higher the consumers'
fairness has a positive impact on their Accepted perception of price fairness, the
purchasing intention higher their purchasing intention
H5: The consumer's personal The higher the consumers'
satisfaction has a positive impact on Accepted personal satisfaction, the higher
their purchasing intention their purchasing intention
H6: Consumers' purchasing power has The increase in income level
a positive effect on the relationship does not increase the effect of
Rejected
between consumers' perception of price consumers' perception of price
fairness and purchasing intention. fairness on purchasing intention

Table 3: The differences between previous findings

and the findings of this research
Researche
Previous findings Findings of this research
s
CSR perception of consumers is There is no correlation
correlated with the perception of between consumers’
price fairness and personal perceptions of CSR and their
satisfaction. perception of price fairness,
The purchasing power affects while there is a correlation
the relationship between the between consumers’
Carvalho et
perception of price fairness and perception of CSR and
al. (2010)
the purchasing intention. personal satisfaction.
The purchasing power has no
effect on the relationship
between the perception of
price fairness and the
purchasing intention.

53
 The most important is economic The most important is legal
Carroll
responsibility. responsibility, followed by
(1991). Arli
philanthropic, ethical and
et al. (2009)
economic responsibility.
Based on these findings, it can be concluded that consumers' perception
of CSR, perception of price fairness and personal satisfaction have a positive
effect on their purchasing intention. In detail, with the H3 hypothesis, that
means that when the consumers perceive that a company well-performs CSR,
its purchasing intention of this company's product is higher the competitors'
one although the price of this product is higher than that of the competitors.
This is similar to the H4 hypothesis, when the perception of price fairness
increases, i.e. the consumers perceive that the increase in product's price
which is caused by the contribution to the CSR policy of the firm is right, and
their purchasing intention of the company's products will also increase. Finally,
with the H5 hypothesis, when consumers feel self-satisfied because they
perceive that purchasing a product of a company which well-perform CSR is a
good thing to do for themselves. By making a contribution to society, they feel
better and more self-satisfied, they will also accept to buy the products at a
higher price than usual.
Besides the accepted hypotheses in the regression model, there is one
rejected hypothesis; that is H6. It means that the purchasing power of
consumers has no effect on the relationship between the customers'
perception of price fairness and their purchasing intention. In the study scale in
Hanoi, with the products of Unilever Vietnam, the income factor does not affect
the relationship between customers' perception of price fairness and
purchasing intention, in other words, higher income does not increase the
effect of the perception of price fairness on the purchasing intention. This is
consistent with the ANOVA analysis conducted for the above CSR variables.
Income factor does not have the relationship with the consumers' perception of
CSR.

54
 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

5.1 Conclusions
First of all, from the perspective of the consumers, the importance level
of four components of CSR in descending order is: legal, ethical, philanthropic,
economic. This order differs from Carroll's (1991) when he arranged in
descending order of economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibility.
The explanation for this may have been due to a series of scandals relating to
the business operation of some enterprises, for example, the Veda incident
that dumped toxic wastewater out of the environment in 2008, Coca Cola's
"transfer pricing" case in 2013. Formosa Ha Tinh's marine contamination in
2016, consumers suppose that it is important for businesses to operate within
the legal framework. One remarkable thing is that economic responsibility is
regarded as the least important. Consumers believe that businesses need to
do things beyond the mere profits, and this finding is particularly important for
entrepreneurs to control their business activities.
Secondly, the results show that there is no correlation between
consumers' perception of CSR and their perception of price fairness;
meanwhile, there is correlation between consumers' perception of CSR and
their personal satisfaction. Besides, there is no difference in the CSR
perception, price fairness perception, personal satisfaction and purchasing
intention among consumers of different age groups, gender groups. There are
many reasons from the facts in Vietnam to explain this conclusion. In term of
gender groups, in "Human Development Report 2016" published by the United
Nations Development Program, the United Nations regards Vietnam as a
bright spot in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, one of
the countries having high gender equality achievements. Vietnam is ranked at
the top list of gender equality in Southeast Asia. This demonstrates Vietnam's
remarkable progress in the implementation of gender equality, in which the
chances to access education and information are one of the most important

55
factors. Therefore, in Vietnam, the fact that both genders have quite similar
perception of CSR is clearly apparent. In term of age groups, originating from
the Vietnamese culture that the elderly often teach or pass down their
knowledge and understanding from generations to generations, hence,
Vietnamese people at any age groups, more or less, have basic
understandings of the importance of CSR in this modern life. Moreover, in
spite of age groups, almost Vietnamese people can easily get access to the
information of CSR through internet, television or other mass media channels.
However, there is difference in the CSR perception, price fairness
perception, personal satisfaction and purchasing intention among consumers
of different educational level groups. The reasons to explain for this conclusion
could be attributed to the positive CSR education in Vietnam. Nowadays,
almost Vietnamese universities, institutions, organizations as well as
corporations integrate CSR in many teaching and training programs. CSR
becomes an integral part in business administration education. However, for
people who have lower education level, the opportunities to access to CSR
knowledge is quite limited due to the fact that Vietnamese curriculum from
primary to high level tends to concentrate on academic knowledge but
practical one. Meanwhile, CSR directly originates from and relates to practical
situations.
Finally, the regression analysis revealed that consumers' perception of
CSR, consumers' perception of price fairness and personal satisfaction had a
positive effect on their purchasing intention. This means that the higher the
customers' perception of CSR, the fairer they feel about the price, the more
satisfied they feel themselves, the more likely they are to buy the company's
products despite the higher price than those of the same category. The study,
however, also shows that the purchasing power of consumers (here measured
by income) does not have an effect on the relationship between the perception
of price fairness and their purchasing intention. These results are explained by
the characteristics of the Unilever’s products - fast-moving consumer goods -

56
products that any households at any level of income are using and almost
products of Unilever has reasonable price which is suitable for the majourity of
population in Hanoi.

5.2 Implications
From the research results, it can be seen that the perception of CSR
has a positive impact on consumers' purchasing intention. Therefore,
enterprises should have policies to better fulfill their CSR as this will not only
benefit the community, but will also motivate the consumers to purchase the
products of that business although the price may be higher than that of the
competitors. CSR policies should be widely popularized to all employees in the
enterprise, so that any individual of that enterprise behaves responsibly
towards society in any way. CSR policies also need to be publicized on the
website and the mass media in order to improve consumers' insight and
awareness of CSR.
This research also allows the author to conclude that the implementation
of CSR policies into companies geared towards meeting the needs of
consumers generates competitive advantages. That is to say that investing in
CSR not only allows the companies to reduce the impact of business on
society, but also leads to the generation of added value for the consumers.
This study shows that the consumers are aware and appreciates that firms
undertake CSR actions oriented to their needs. This in turn translates into an
increase in the trust and commitment of the consumer to the companies that
additionally intensifies consumer satisfaction and loyalty.
In addition, the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Government
should complete legal systems relating to CSR, regulatory bodies should be
firm in enforcing laws in corporations and CSR should be viewed as part of the
code of ethics of any corporations. Also there should be a national policy from
government to set parameters for CSR in Vietnam including employment
policies, working conditions and welfare benefits, product quality, and on

57
protecting the natural environment. The Government should also encourage
the dissemination and sharing of examples of responsible businesses should
be willing to be studied and the results disseminated widely. If a company
operates ethically, the outcome of the study should be favourable, raising its
reputation and position in the business community.
Moreover, the researcher also recommends that companies should
deepen the performance of their CSR activities to cover more of environmental
protection activities, performing in line with the legal requirements, meeting
economic objectives and be ethical in their operations. Additionally, the quality
of products/services provided by companies must also be critically paid
attention to as they are paying critical attention to their CSR activities as well.
It would be better to work all things in the right direction. This will make people
see the firms as the best not only in the field of CSR performances but also the
provision of better products. At the long run the profitability of the company
would increase if they pay critical attention to these factors.
For Unilever in particularly, with consumption behavior characteristics of
Hanoi population which are familiar with Unilever products, have average or
high income and educational level, they should continue focusing their
business on targeted customer segment of 25 - 45 years old, white collar
workers with income level of over 10 million per month. This segment, in
general, has thorough understanding about CSR and they are willing to buy
“green” products, which may have a little bit higher price than the normal ones.
Besides, to widen the market segment to the suburban and rural area of
Hanoi, Vietnam, Unilever should diversify some new CSR products which are
suitable for consumers in these areas, i.e. lower price but environmental -
friendly products. The marketing strategies for these product lines should also
change in accordance with the characteristics of this customer segment. The
most important thing to do is raising their awareness of CSR and the negative
effects of using socially - irresponsible products for their own individuals and

58
the whole community. If the CSR perception of this segment increases, this
will be the potential market of Unilever.

5.3 Limitations
Like all other studies, this study also has some limitations. Firstly, due to
time and budget constraints, sampling method is convenient method;
therefore, the sample may not be representative for the whole customers. For
the same reasons mentioned above, the study has not been possible to
conduct a full-scale test of the Carvalho et al model (2010). Instead, the model
has been revised and removed two elements from the original model. Besides,
the study was only conducted at several certain places around Hanoi; hence, it
has not yet covered the perception of the customers in the whole city area.

5.4 Further studies

In the future, if there is a study conducted based on this research, the
researcher could conduct a linear regression test between the perception of
CSR and two other factors (perception of price fairness and personal
satisfaction). Moreover, the researcher can expand the research model based
on the original model of Carvalho et al. (2010) in order to test the correlation
between the independent variables of the original model and the complaining
or switching intention. Finally, another study could be conducted in a wider
scale than Hanoi, as well as with a wider variety of products.
Moreover, future studies related consumer purchase intention should
also use perceived innovation, social media, and brand trust as a moderating
variable. In current study our focus is on consumer purchase intention and
nowadays trend change and people are more digitized and moving online
shopping. So, future studies should be on online shopping behavior. Future
research should conduct on risks with online shopping behavior like financial
risk, product risk, non-delivery risk, time risk and privacy risk in Vietnam and
other developing countries.

59
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65
 APPENDIX

Appendix 1: Scale reliability analysis

Perception of CSR:
average
item-test item-rest interitem
Item Obs Sign correlation correlation covariance alpha

CSR1 188 + 0.3056 0.1454 .2858965 0.8386

CSR2 188 + 0.4492 0.3218 .2687014 0.8199
CSR3 188 + 0.6448 0.5409 .2432447 0.8002
CSR4 188 + 0.5744 0.4349 .2469722 0.8119
CSR5 188 + 0.6812 0.5963 .2437706 0.7962
CSR6 188 + 0.5752 0.4406 .2478161 0.8108
CSR7 188 + 0.6925 0.5942 .2353409 0.7947
CSR8 188 + 0.6456 0.5396 .2423503 0.8003
CSR9 188 + 0.6986 0.6179 .2422055 0.7945
CSR10 188 + 0.7404 0.6758 .2422845 0.7916
CSR11 188 + 0.6828 0.6015 .2451537 0.7963

Test scale .2494306 0.8200

Perception of Price Fairness:

average
item-test item-rest interitem
Item Obs Sign correlation correlation covariance alpha

PF1 188 + 0.9183 0.8029 .6062123 0.8942

PF2 188 + 0.9251 0.8377 .6414837 0.8634
PF3 188 + 0.9263 0.8345 .6206622 0.8637

Test scale .6227861 0.9118

Personal Satisfaction:

average
item-test item-rest interitem
Item Obs Sign correlation correlation covariance alpha

PS1 188 + 0.8777 0.7729 .5364471 0.8207

PS2 188 + 0.9173 0.8453 .5041814 0.7920
PS3 188 + 0.8474 0.7295 .5790477 0.8386
PS4 188 + 0.7724 0.5877 .6329692 0.8964

Test scale .5631613 0.8737

Appendix 2: Analysis of variances (ANOVA)

66
Perception of CSR
Education level:

Summary of CSR
EducationalBackground Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

College 12.372263 2.0183252 137

Highschool 11.2 1.3038405 5
Postgraduate/Master/Doc.. 13.73913 2.1127631 46

Total 12.675532 2.1159029 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 75.5232831 2 37.7616415 9.17 0.0002

Within groups 761.684164 185 4.1172117

Total 837.207447 187 4.47704517

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(2) = 1.2895 Prob>chi2 = 0.525

Gender:

Summary of CSR
Gender Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

Female 12.737589 2.0929999 141

Male 12.5 2.2186082 46
Other 12 0 1

Total 12.675532 2.1159029 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 2.41666667 2 1.20833333 0.27 0.7654

Within groups 834.79078 185 4.5123826

Total 837.207447 187 4.47704517

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(1) = 0.2341 Prob>chi2 = 0.629

Age:
67
 Summary of CSR
Age Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

18 - 24 12.661017 2.2637333 59
25 - 35 12.434783 1.9514569 69
35 - 45 12.909091 2.1711298 55
over 45 13.6 1.9493589 5

Total 12.675532 2.1159029 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 11.2851315 3 3.76171051 0.84 0.4746

Within groups 825.922315 184 4.48870824

Total 837.207447 187 4.47704517

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(3) = 1.4728 Prob>chi2 = 0.689

Occupation:
Summary of CSR
Job Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

Office wor.. 12.44898 1.9484197 98

Student 12.630769 2.176359 65
Teacher 13.68 2.3755701 25

Total 12.675532 2.1159029 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 30.3840873 2 15.1920437 3.48 0.0327

Within groups 806.823359 185 4.36120735

Total 837.207447 187 4.47704517

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(2) = 1.9655 Prob>chi2 = 0.374

Income level:

68
 Summary of CSR
Inlev Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

1 12.692308 2.1860572 65
2 12.315068 1.9570152 73
3 13.033333 2.3705569 30
4 13.571429 1.9880596 7
5 13.307692 1.9315199 13

Total 12.675532 2.1159029 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 24.1576852 4 6.03942129 1.36 0.2498

Within groups 813.049762 183 4.44289487

Total 837.207447 187 4.47704517

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(4) = 1.9588 Prob>chi2 = 0.743

In which:
1: below 5 million VND
2: 5 - 10 million VND
3: 10 - 15 million VND
4: 15 - 20 million VND
5: over 20 million VND

Perception of Price Fairness:

Educational level:

Summary of PF
EducationalBackground Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

College 11.386861 2.4169992 137

Highschool 8.4 2.1908902 5
Postgraduate/Master/Doc.. 12.869565 2.1355061 46

Total 11.670213 2.4793836 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 130.63945 2 65.3197249 11.86 0.0000

Within groups 1018.91374 185 5.50764185

Total 1149.55319 187 6.14734327

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(2) = 0.9852 Prob>chi2 = 0.611

Gender:

69
 Summary of PF
Gender Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

Female 11.787234 2.5292814 141

Male 11.326087 2.3386069 46
Other 11 0 1

Total 11.670213 2.4793836 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 7.82747456 2 3.91373728 0.63 0.5315

Within groups 1141.72572 185 6.17149036

Total 1149.55319 187 6.14734327

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(1) = 0.4039 Prob>chi2 = 0.525

Age:
Summary of PF
Age Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

18 - 24 11.474576 2.6545727 59
25 - 35 11.217391 2.4547048 69
35 - 45 12.363636 2.205747 55
over 45 12.6 2.3021729 5

Total 11.670213 2.4793836 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 47.1749239 3 15.7249746 2.62 0.0519

Within groups 1102.37827 184 5.99118624

Total 1149.55319 187 6.14734327

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(3) = 1.8682 Prob>chi2 = 0.600

Occupation:

70
 Summary of PF
EducationalBackground Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

College 11.386861 2.4169992 137

Highschool 8.4 2.1908902 5
Postgraduate/Master/Doc.. 12.869565 2.1355061 46

Total 11.670213 2.4793836 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 130.63945 2 65.3197249 11.86 0.0000

Within groups 1018.91374 185 5.50764185

Total 1149.55319 187 6.14734327

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(2) = 0.9852 Prob>chi2 = 0.611

Income level:
Summary of PF
Inlev Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

1 11.186441 2.5384198 118

2 12.676471 2.0555997 34
3 11.6875 2.7256498 16
4 11.571429 .78679579 7
5 13.461538 1.7614097 13

Total 11.670213 2.4793836 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 103.831155 4 25.9577887 4.54 0.0016

Within groups 1045.72204 183 5.71432807

Total 1149.55319 187 6.14734327

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(4) = 12.2778 Prob>chi2 = 0.015

Personal satisfaction:

71
Educational level:

Summary of PS
EducationalBackground Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

College 15 2.9405882 137

Highschool 10 2.8284271 5
Postgraduate/Master/Doc.. 16.23913 3.433073 46

Total 15.170213 3.2114045 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 190.183626 2 95.0918131 10.12 0.0001

Within groups 1738.36957 185 9.39659224

Total 1928.55319 187 10.3131187

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(2) = 1.6770 Prob>chi2 = 0.432

Gender:
Summary of PS
Gender Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

Female 15.319149 3.355846 141

Male 14.695652 2.7395828 46
Other 16 0 1

Total 15.170213 3.2114045 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 14.1757632 2 7.08788159 0.68 0.5054

Within groups 1914.37743 185 10.3479861

Total 1928.55319 187 10.3131187

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(1) = 2.5863 Prob>chi2 = 0.108

Age:

72
 Summary of PS
Age Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

18 - 24 15.474576 2.9264309 59
25 - 35 14.449275 3.1879194 69
35 - 45 15.690909 3.4527108 55
over 45 15.8 3.1144823 5

Total 15.170213 3.2114045 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 58.2234088 3 19.4078029 1.91 0.1296

Within groups 1870.32978 184 10.1648358

Total 1928.55319 187 10.3131187

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(3) = 1.4845 Prob>chi2 = 0.686

Occupation:
Summary of PS
Job Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

Office wor.. 15.061224 3.264354 98

Student 15.415385 3.0765865 65
Teacher 14.96 3.4336569 25

Total 15.170213 3.2114045 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 6.17592304 2 3.08796152 0.30 0.7433

Within groups 1922.37727 185 10.3912285

Total 1928.55319 187 10.3131187

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(2) = 0.4957 Prob>chi2 = 0.780

Income level:

73
 Summary of PS
Inlev Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

1 15.415385 3.0867272 65
2 14.561644 3.3207525 73
3 15.9 3.1222229 30
4 13.142857 1.5735916 7
5 16.769231 3.1399004 13

Total 15.170213 3.2114045 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 108.931138 4 27.2327846 2.74 0.0302

Within groups 1819.62205 183 9.94328991

Total 1928.55319 187 10.3131187

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(4) = 4.1902 Prob>chi2 = 0.381

Purchasing Intention:
Educational level:
Summary of PI
EducationalBackground Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

College 8.350365 1.9984966 137

Highschool 5.2 1.7888544 5
Postgraduate/Master/Doc.. 9.8043478 1.7965345 46

Total 8.6223404 2.1120816 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 132.964558 2 66.482279 17.54 0.0000

Within groups 701.221612 185 3.79038709

Total 834.18617 187 4.46088861

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(2) = 0.7604 Prob>chi2 = 0.684

Gender:

74
 Summary of PI
Gender Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

Female 8.7021277 2.1137126 141

Male 8.3695652 2.132903 46
Other 9 0 1

Total 8.6223404 2.1120816 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 3.97941721 2 1.9897086 0.44 0.6425

Within groups 830.206753 185 4.48760407

Total 834.18617 187 4.46088861

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(1) = 0.0055 Prob>chi2 = 0.941

Age:
Summary of PI
Age Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

18 - 24 8.5762712 2.3430263 59
25 - 35 8.4637681 2.011582 69
35 - 45 8.9090909 2.0209342 55
over 45 8.2 1.7888544 5

Total 8.6223404 2.1120816 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 7.27451572 3 2.42483857 0.54 0.6558

Within groups 826.911654 184 4.49408508

Total 834.18617 187 4.46088861

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(3) = 1.9853 Prob>chi2 = 0.575

Occupation:

75
 Summary of PI
Job Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

Office wor.. 8.5612245 1.921481 98

Student 8.2923077 2.2962134 65
Teacher 9.72 2.0518285 25

Total 8.6223404 2.1120816 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 37.5673633 2 18.7836817 4.36 0.0141

Within groups 796.618807 185 4.3060476

Total 834.18617 187 4.46088861

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(2) = 2.4769 Prob>chi2 = 0.290

Income level:

Summary of PI
Inlev Mean Std. Dev. Freq.

1 8.3846154 2.3230658 65
2 8.4657534 2.0075012 73
3 9.6 2.0777972 30
4 7.4285714 1.272418 7
5 9.0769231 1.1875422 13

Total 8.6223404 2.1120816 188

Analysis of Variance
Source SS df MS F Prob > F

Between groups 46.7998086 4 11.6999522 2.72 0.0311

Within groups 787.386362 183 4.30265771

Total 834.18617 187 4.46088861

Bartlett's test for equal variances: chi2(4) = 9.1308 Prob>chi2 = 0.058

Appendix 3: Linear correlation analysis

76
 CSR PS1 PS PI IPF

CSR 1.0000

PS1 0.4342 1.0000

0.0000

PS 0.4749 0.8777 1.0000

0.0000 0.0000

PI 0.5420 0.5339 0.5993 1.0000

0.0000 0.0000 0.0000

IPF 0.2031 0.0712 0.1754 0.2007 1.0000

0.0052 0.3315 0.0160 0.0058

Appendix 4: Linear regression analysis

Source SS df MS Number of obs = 188

F(4, 183) = 44.16
Model 409.731683 4 102.432921 Prob > F = 0.0000
Residual 424.454487 183 2.31942343 R-squared = 0.4912
Adj R-squared = 0.4801
Total 834.18617 187 4.46088861 Root MSE = 1.523

PI Coef. Std. Err. t P>|t| [99% Conf. Interval]

CSR .2358374 .0642874 3.67 0.000 .0684998 .4031749

PF .2950308 .0748341 3.94 0.000 .1002405 .4898211
PS .1540796 .051885 2.97 0.003 .0190248 .2891344
IPF -2.18e-10 1.20e-09 -0.18 0.856 -3.35e-09 2.92e-09
_cons -.1265352 .7204201 -0.18 0.861 -2.001761 1.748691

Appendix 5: VIF coefficient

Variable VIF 1/VIF

PF 2.78 0.360290
PS 2.24 0.446749
CSR 1.49 0.670341
IPF 1.16 0.860801

Mean VIF 1.92

77