"Consumers say they prefer socially responsible products, but sales don't reflect the same reality."
Joëlle Vanhamme, Professor of Marketing at EDHEC Business School, has been a member of the Academic Jury of the "Philippe de Woot Award 2018" rewarding Master's theses which "constitute an original contribution to the understanding and thinking about Corporate Social Responsibility". The ceremony will take place on March 28th at the Catholic University of Louvain. For this edition, six thesis out of 46 have been selected.
Professor Vanhamme, also Editor of Journal of Business Ethics' section on corporate social responsibility - quantitative issues, explained the link between marketing and CSR:
"CSR (Corporate Social Responsability) is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in companies, whether it is because consumers are sensitive to it in their purchasing preferences, because job seekers are sensitive to it in their choice of a company as a potential employer, or because of the effects that CSR can have on a company's reputation. The reasons can be varied but one thing is clear: CSR is gradually becoming the norm, and large companies nowadays have their CSR managers, their CSR strategy, CSR reporting, CSR communication, etc. The reasons for this are many and varied.
When looking at opinion polls on consumers' purchase intentions for socially responsible products or services from companies, a paradox is clear: almost all consumers say they want to give preference to socially responsible products, but the sales and market shares of socially responsible products do not reflect the same reality. This is precisely where marketing researchers have their contribution to make, by enabling a better understanding of the reasons for this mismatch and offering solutions to change it.
Find out all Professor Vanhamme's publications.
Read also
► « EMBALLAGE DES PRODUITS SAINS POUR ENFANTS : DU VERT OUI, MAIS SURTOUT PAS TROP ! », an article co-written by Joëlle Vanhamme and Julie Nouvel, Msc Marketing student at EDHEC on EDHEC Vox
