Corporate Social Responsibility Report And Its Effects On Consumers' Purchasing Intent

With the globalization and development of the market economy, the occurrence of business scandals is increasingly frequent, making the care of the corporate social impact much stronger, and the expectations of the stakeholders: consumers, employees, investors, partners, Governments, non-governmental organizations, the media and the community for the quality and transparency of corporate social responsibility much higher. The enterprises'desire and motivation to strengthen their own communication with the stakeholders and the community about CSR are much stronger; and the stakeholders are also looking forward to the objective understanding and evaluation of the responsibility of the enterprises. Ploen consulting firm's survey showed that consumers and clients is one of the most important groups of the main audience of the CSR reports. Whether to disseminate effectively about CSR information to the consumers is highly related to the enterprise's reputation, the ability to cope with risks, and corporate profitability; and largely related to the continuous competitive advantages of the enterprises.In the past two years, the number of CSR reports issued by Chinese enterprises was growing rapidly in a very positive trends: the number of reports was 7 in 2005, and up to 121 in 2008 (the end of November), nearly doubled compared to in the same period last year and close to the sum of the numbers of CSR reports issued by the Chinese companies over the past several years. At the end of April 30, 2008, there were 36 listed companies that had issued CSR reports. These are all indicating that an increasing number of enterprises are starting to pay attention to the need of publishing CSR reports. In China, the relevant regulatory bodies and government departments have made stringent requirements for enterprises'CSR information disclosure. Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchange issued documents on listed companies to fulfill their social responsibilities disclosure in 2006 and in 2008. In January 4, 2008, SASAC released the document about "The Guidance for the Central Enterprises to Disclose Their Social Responsibilities Information", requiring the central enterprises to release regularly reports on social responsibility or sustainable development. These also indicate that the disclosure of social responsibility in China has gradually been standardized and the requirements of CSR reports (including the sustainable development report) issuing for enterprises are higher and higher.The information above shows that the public's requirements of CSR information disclosure become increasingly evident, enterprises have recognized the need to publish CSR reports, and the government departments have also begun to regulate the enterprises'disclosure of CSR information. Through the content researching methods and according to the principles of the "Sustainability Reporting Guidelines", this article analyzes the quality of the CSR reports that had been issued by representative companies in China; and summarizes of the reports in accordance with the Shenzhen and Shanghai listed companies, the characteristics according to the principles of GRI, and puts forward some relevant proposals of the release of the CSR reports.This article also used a questionnaire survey method for consumers to analyze the consumers'actual knowledge, understanding of CSR report and examine the consumers'awareness and expectations for CSR reports; on the other hand, through experimental research methods, this study has showed the effects of the report releasing and the quality of the reports on consumers'evaluation and purchase intents.