Authors: Hugo van den Berg, Lina Lidfors

Supervisor: PhD and senior lecturer, Rana MostaghelExaminator: Assistant professor, Dr. Sarah Philipson

Title: The effect of perceived CSR on customer loyalty – Anempirical study into consumer behavior on the Swedishchocolate market.

Background/Problem: Although research into CSR and consumer behavior isstill relatively young, there exists a growing interest instudying the links between CSR and marketing. Today,consumers more than ever expect companies to engagein CSR activities and at the same time do managersincreasingly see CSR as a marketing tool to help create acompetitive advantage. But what is the actual impact ofcompanies’ engagement in CSR on consumer behavior?In the Swedish chocolate industry, the topic of CSR ishighly relevant. Recently, child labor and bad workingconditions at the cocoa bean fields were (again) broughtto the surface, starting a fierce debate in Swedish societywhere strong critique was aimed at the companiesowning the chocolate production plants. The Swedishchocolate industry is therefore a suitable industry to testthe relationship between perceived CSR and consumerbehavior.

Purpose: To examine how the perceived CSR activities ofcompanies influence customer loyalty in the Swedishchocolate industry.

Theory: The first subchapter in the theoretical chapter consists ofa literature review describing the development of the4concept Corporate Social Responsibility, a definition ofthe concept and a brief overview of CSR activities. Inthe second subchapter the role of CSR in marketing willbe discussed. In the third and final subchapter, theeffects of CSR activities on consumer behavior will bereviewed where special attention is given to the effectson customer loyalty. After that, the chapter will godeeper into customer loyalty and the antecedents throughwhich we can measure it.

Research question: How do perceived CSR activities influence customerloyalty on the Swedish chocolate market?

Method: In order to identify and measure the effects of CSRactivities on customer loyalty, a quantitative approachwas used in a cross-sectional design. A web-basedsurvey was created as a method for data collection. Afterthe data collection a statistical data analysis wasperformed in the software program SPSS.

Conclusions: Our results confirm a positive relationship betweenperceived CSR activities and customer loyalty on theSwedish chocolate market.