The Influence of Digital Social Responsibility on Brand Preference, Brand Admiration, and Purchase Intention: A cross-nation study

Abstract

Purpose: Corporate Social Responsibilities have gained interest and are implemented by organizations widely across the world, and digital transformation has transformed traditional CSR into Digital Social Responsibilities (DSR). The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of DSR on brand preference (BP), brand admiration (BA), and purchase intention (PI). It simultaneously examines the impact of nationality on DSR and purchase intention (PI). Research design, data, and methodology: The data was collected via an online platform. This study highlights the results from respondents from four different countries, which were Australian, Indonesian, Thai, and Myanmar, and thus the data was collected from 400 respondents from these four countries. For the purpose of testing hypotheses, statistical software treatment was done to analyze the data; descriptive analysis, simple and multiple linear regression and one-way ANOVA were applied for the present research work. Results: Based on the 400 respondents from Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Myanmar, the results indicated that digital social responsibilities (DSR) initiatives have a significant and positive influence on brand preference, brand admiration, and purchase intention. The study shows that the consumer’s purchase intention, was influenced most when they feel admire the brand that apply the DSR concept.  The findings also revealed that the differences in nationality have no significant effect on DSR; however, they have a significant impact on purchase intention (PI). As a result, implementing DSR can improve customer’s preferences and admiration toward the brand, as well as enhance customers’ purchase intention. The perception of customer form developed and developing economies toward DSR is identical, whereas the intention to purchase a consumer goods product that applies the DSR concept are significantly different between consumers from developed and developing countries.

Keywords: Digital Social Responsibilities (DSR), Brand Preference, Brand Admiration, Cross-nation study