The effects of corporate social responsibility as market signals on consumer purchase intention and advertising skepticism in the fast fashion industry

Objectives Consumers who are becoming increasingly aware of a firm’s general practices tend to buy products that are environmentally friendly. Thus, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of CSR perception on purchase intention and skepticism in relation to the market signals in the fast-fashion industry. In addition, the conceptualization of the signaling theory and belief in a just-world theory was presented through the creation of an advertisement that allowed the respondents to contribute to local producers through a charitable donation. Summary A quantitative survey was conducted where two sets of H&M advertisements were presented to the respondents (N= 233); one pertaining to verbal information related to the product and the other with numerical information either 67% or 70% recycled content and 20% or 50% contribution amount attempting to engage the consumer in the firm’s CSR activities. The participants’ purchase intention and advertising skepticism were measured both after the first and second advertisements. Conclusions Results indicated that CSR perception is a significant predictor of purchase intention and skepticism towards advertising (p0.05)