Corporate Social Responsibility and Consumer Behavior: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda Using the TCCM Framework
Main Article Content
Abstract
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a critical strategic tool for organizations seeking to influence consumer behavior and build competitive advantage. Despite extensive research, understanding of how CSR shapes consumer attitudes and behaviors remains fragmented across theories, constructs, contexts, and methods. This systematic literature review synthesizes 45 empirical studies published between 2015 and 2026 through the Theories, Constructs, Characteristics, and Methods (TCCM) framework, drawn from Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Our analysis reveals that while attribution theory, social identity theory, and stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory dominate the field, opportunities for theoretical integration remain largely unexploited. Mediating constructs cluster into three psychological mechanisms—authenticity-based, identity-based, and affect-cognitive—while CSR type, cultural context, and consumer values operate as critical moderators. Methodologically, cross-sectional surveys and experiments dominate, with longitudinal and mixed-methods designs notably underused. We identify priority research gaps including temporal CSR-trust dynamics, non-WEIRD cross-cultural comparisons, consumer reactance to greenwashing, and AI-mediated CSR communication. The review culminates in a prioritized research agenda to advance theoretical integration, construct refinement, contextual expansion, and methodological innovation in this evolving field.
Highlights
• Synthesizes 45 empirical studies (2015–2026) through the TCCM (Theories, Constructs, Characteristics, Methods) framework, providing a structured diagnostic of CSR–consumer behavior research beyond traditional narrative reviews.
• Identifies a sequential psychological chain from CSR authenticity through consumer trust, brand identification, and gratitude/perceived value to behavioral outcomes, and organizes mediating constructs into three clusters: authenticity-based, identity-based, and affect-cognitive mechanisms.
• Demonstrates that contextual characteristics actively redirect psychological pathways rather than merely moderating their strength, and prioritizes longitudinal, behaviorally measured, and cross-cultural (non-WEIRD) designs as the field's highest research priority.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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