Problem: Businesses have realized their responsibility towards society and the importance of acting in a socially responsible manner. However, the challenge of conceptualizing the term corporate social responsibility complicates the planning process of CSR strategies. Starbucks coffee house struggles to deal with numerous controversies that deal with a wide range of stakeholders. Despite the existence of previous studies on CSR, there is a lack of research on how CSR strategies can be used to influence consumers buying attitudes and intentions amongst the Swedish Starbucks consumers. Overall, there are limited studies on how to implement CSR activities in the form of strategies considering the specific markets a business operates in. Therefore it is of critical importance to investigate; How CSR activities affect attitudes and influence the purchase intentions of the Swedish Starbucks consumers?
Theoretical perspective:The study combines the dimensions of Carroll’s CSR pyramid with the theory of planned behavior. This thesis with the support of the stakeholder theory states that the consumers are vital stakeholders with expectations that an organization should be socially responsible.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of CSR activities on consumers attitudes and examine how implementing CSR strategies affect the purchase intentions of the Starbucks consumers in Sweden.
Method:A quantitative method is utilized in this study. By collecting primary data through an online structured questionnaire, this study strives to identify and measure the impact of Starbucks CSR activities on Swedish consumers’ attitude and intention. The obtained results were analyzed and explained.
Conclusion:CSR activities that are specified in dimensions influence consumers attitude and purchase intention to different degrees. The Swedish consumer’s perception on Starbucks ethical responsibilities, philanthropic responsibilities and economic responsibilities are more likely to influence their attitude and purchase intention in comparison to the Swedish consumer’s perception on Starbucks legal responsibilities.