The influence of consumer mindset and corporate social responsibility on purchase intention

We examined the influence of mindset on consumers when they are deciding whether or not to purchase products on the basis of corporate social responsibility (CSR) considerations. We conducted 3 experiments in which 294 participants filled out a survey about their purchase decisions. The results showed that companies’ CSR effectively promoted consumers’ purchase intention. In addition, a global mindset increased CSR-based purchase intention, whereas a local mindset weakened purchase intention. The effect of purchase intention on consumers’ mindset was shown through colors: Red stimulated consumers’ local mindset and reduced their CSR-based purchase intention, whereas blue stimulated their global mindset and enhanced their CSR-based purchase intention. Thus, we recommend that marketing staff use colors to manipulate consumers’ mindset during CSR-based purchase decision making.