Perfect or Imperfect Duties? Developing a Moral Responsibility Framework for Corporate Sustainability from the Consumer Perspective

Sojin Jung, Jung Ha-Brookshire

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

34 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study assessed consumers' perceptions toward corporate sustainability and whether the moral spectrum toward corporate sustainability exists. After reviewing the corporate sustainability reports of 22 consumer product companies considered sustainable, 44 unique sustainable business activities were identified. These activities were then tested by a national sample of 271 US consumers. The results showed that participants perceived working conditions and environmental support activities to be the most important corporate duties (or perfect duties), followed by community development and transparency enhancement activities (or imperfect duties). This study also found differences in perceptions according to participants' demographic characteristics. These findings add knowledge to the area of corporate moral responsibility, and help firms have a clear understanding of consumers' expectations on corporate moral responsibility toward sustainable development.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)326-340
Number of pages15
JournalCorporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management
Volume24
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2017

Keywords

  • consumer
  • corporate sustainability
  • imperfect duty
  • moral responsibility
  • perfect duty
  • sustainable development

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Development
  • Strategy and Management
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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