**6. Conclusions**

**5.5. Summary considerations on the survey**

112 Social Responsibility

**Figure 10.** Increased willingness to pay for socially responsible products.

Nowadays, the debate on ethics has become of central importance in Western countries, involving both companies and consumers. Due to the new attitude of the last decades and under pressure of new spending capacities and ever-increasing attention to everything related to the production of a food product, a new context has emerged, in which companies assume an attitude of greater

This chapter analyzes how consumers' knowledge and attitude influence the perception of CSR (which is generally better accepted and valued by the general public than economic practices). Then, the effect of some variables on CSR perception was analyzed. The findings obtained from the analysis lead to a better understanding of the influence of the value structure of Italian

responsibility toward all the stakeholders and, therefore, also to the consumers.

**Figure 11.** Conditions for willingness to pay for socially responsibly produced foods.

In summary, it is possible to state that there are several factors that have contributed to make ethics a fundamental element for companies. First of all, a change in public opinion has meant that today the company is evaluated not only for the ability to generate wealth and work, but also, and above all, for the benefits it can generate for the whole society, not only for its shareholders.

**Acknowledgements**

**Conflict of interest**

collaboration.

**References**

**Author details**

'Parthenope' University of Naples (Italy).

**Notes/thanks/other declarations**

Flavio Boccia\* and Daniela Covino

'Parthenope' University of Naples, Naples, Italy

207-221. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-010-0505-2

DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2015.11.001

10.1108/BFJ-11-2014-0362

This chapter is the result of a research conducted thanks to the Individual Research Funds of

Corporate and Consumer Social Responsibility in the Italian Food Market System

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.75309

115

Special thanks to Dr. V. Sarno for carrying out the survey and to Dr. R. Malgeri Manzo for the

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[2] Sarno V, Malgeri Manzo R. Italian companies' attitude towards GM crops. Nutrition and

[3] Boccia F. Consumer perception: An analysis on second generation genetically modified foods. Nutrition and Food Science. 2016;**46**(5):637-646. DOI: 10.1108/NFS-03-2016-0035 [4] Andrews N. Challenges of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in domestic settings: An exploration of mining regulation Vis-à-vis CSR in Ghana. Resources Policy. 2016;**47**:9-17.

[5] Bartels J, Reinders MJ, De Winter MVH. Perceived sustainability initiatives: Retail managers' intrinsic and extrinsic motives. British Food Journal. 2015;**117**(6):1720-1736. DOI:

Food Science. 2016;**46**(5):685-694. DOI: 10.1108/NFS-11-2015-0142

The authors confirm that this article content has no conflict of interest.

\*Address all correspondence to: flavio.boccia@uniparthenope.it

Another important factor is the advent of the era of online communication, which has exponentially increased the ability of associations and opinion movements to mobilize citizens worldwide. Indeed, up until 30 years ago, the protest toward companies was entrusted to pamphlets, leaflets and demonstrations, today's scenario includes websites, blogs and e-mails, which allows an acceleration and an effect of the protest campaigns that was unimaginable before. The nature and scope of globalization have now created powerful economic actors, who can exert considerable influence on political decisions and, therefore, have an impact on people all over the world.

Lately, consumer attitudes are oriented toward ethical evaluations, which go beyond the intrinsic quality of the product, including the intangible properties of the same. From this study, it emerged that critical or responsible consumption, forms of boycotts, fair-trade and solidarity buying groups are only some of many alternative consumer experiences that are spreading among the population. It is therefore not a matter of a return to the past, but rather it is the search for new models that are compatible with respect to the environment, for natural resources and local communities.

Changes in consumer behavior have repercussions on business strategies. Through the analysis carried out, it was possible to ascertain the degree of knowledge of consumers about corporate social responsibility. It emerged that most of the respondents who know about CSR have high levels of education. Furthermore, it has been shown that, at the time of purchase, very few consumers know that, by buying a certain brand, they actually buy a product from a particular company. The people who have a greater knowledge of this phenomenon are quite young. In addition, the survey showed some parameters (social and environmental policies implemented by companies), which, at the time of purchase, only a small percentage of respondents took into consideration. This very low percentage highlights the low interest of consumers toward social policies implemented by companies, or a lack of confidence in their initiatives, or even a lack of knowledge about them (while a greater attention to other factors is determined, such as price).

Furthermore, the analysis showed that consumers buy more fair-trade products than supposedly high-quality products, despite the fact that many organic products are more easily traceable than fair-trade products. The reason could be found in the fact that supposedly high-quality products have a much higher price. Lastly, for the majority of respondents, it was important that the company carries out corporate social responsibility strategies, even when, in the majority of cases, they are not willing to pay a higher cost for the product. Therefore, despite thinking that the motivations that push a consumer to choose one product over another are social in nature, in reality, economic motivations continue to prevail.

These considerations, together with those referring to the purchase of particular categories of food products and the reactions of companies to modern consumers' demand, have provided important insights into the Italian scenario of today's consumer and its relationship with the reality of social responsibilities of companies. These findings can represent the starting point for further research that has as primary objective the in-depth analysis of a theme relevant to the context of today's agri-food system.
