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korean management review - Vol. 53 , No. 1

[ Article ]
korean management review - Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 643-664
Abbreviation: kmr
ISSN: 1226-1874 (Print)
Print publication date 30 Jun 2021
Received 28 Aug 2020 Revised 05 Jan 2021 Accepted 06 Jan 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17287/kmr.2021.50.3.643

The Effect of ESG Activities on Corporate Image, Perceived Price Fairness, and Consumer Responses
Yun-na Park ; Sang-Lin Han
(First Author) Hanyang University (ynpark@hanyang.ac.kr)
(Corresponding Author) Hanyang University (slhan@hanyang.ac.kr)

기업의 ESG 활동이 기업 이미지, 지각된 가격 공정성 및 소비자 반응에 미치는 영향

Copyright 2011 THE KOREAN ACADEMIC SOCIETY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Funding Information ▼

Abstract

Recently, environment, social, and governance (ESG) are becoming increasingly important in corporate management. Although previous research has mainly focused on financial benefits from the investor perspective, consumer perceptions of ESG activities have received little attention. The purpose of this study was to provide a psychological mechanism of how consumer perceptions of ESG activities. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to examine (1) how ESG affects corporate image (perceived warmth-competence), (2) how perceived corporate image influence perceived price fairness, and (3) these effects may affect consumer response such as brand attitude, loyalty, and willingness to pay more towards corporate. The proposed research model was tested using structural equation modeling. According to the results of data analysis, the results revealed that (1) environment of ESG had a positive impact on perceived warmth and social of ESG had a positive impact on both perceived warmth and competence. Also, governance of ESG had a positive impact on perceived competence. Furthermore, perceived warmth and competence toward corporate had a positive impact on perceived price fairness, which results in brand attitude, loyalty, and willingness to pay more. The interpretations of these findings and the implications are also discussed.


Keywords: ESG, Corporate image, Perceived price fairness, Brand attitude, Loyalty, Willingness to pay more

Acknowledgments

This research is supported by Hanyang University Research Fund in 2020 (HY-2020).


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∙ The author Yun-na Park is a doctoral student in marketing at Hanyang University. The main areas of interest in research are service marketing and hospitality industry.

∙ The author Sang-Lin Han is a professor of Marketing at Hanyang University. He received Ph.D. in Marketing from the Pennsylvania State University. His research area includes B2B marketing, channel and retail management, and service marketing.