Social Responsibility within the Fast Food Industry : An exploratory study on factors influencing consumers' socially responsible behavior to guide companies' CSR work

Sammanfattning: Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that influence consumers to act socially responsible (CnSR) to provide guidance for CSR work practices in the context of fast food. Method: To answer the research questions a qualitative method has been used where empirical findings have been collected through secondary data and 16 semi-structured interviews. The study has been guided by a deductive approach where an analytical framework, based on previous research, has been the basis when collecting and analyzing the data. Conclusions: One conclusion that can be drawn is that fast food companies are working with the environmental aspect of CSR. Although, the current efforts are not enough to encourage consumers’ socially responsible (CnSR) behavior. Another conclusion of this study is that even though consumers have a positive attitude toward CSR, internal and external factors, especially environmental knowledge, motivation, and economic factors, have an influence on CnSR behavior not being achieved in the context of fast food. Value was the only factor that seemed to result in CnSR behavior. For this reason, fast food companies should provide more concrete information and offer smaller menus or trial samples at a lower price to increase consumers’ motivation to behave socially. Consequently, this could also make them value the more sustainable products in the future. Lastly, another conclusion is that Consumer-Company congruence (C-C congruence) was not achieved as there existed a lack in consumer CSR credibility and consumer CSR awareness. Based on this, it is obvious that fast food companies need to improve both their marketing communication on social media and their in-store promotion.