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Is Socially Responsible Production a Normal Good?

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  • Jana Friedrichsen

Abstract

This paper uses a controlled laboratory experiment to investigate the effect of wealth on individual social responsibility (ISR), defined as choosing a more socially responsible product if a cheaper alternative is available. We find that rich consumers are significantly less likely to engage in ISR than poor consumers. This suggests that socially responsible production conditions may not be normal product attributes.

Suggested Citation

  • Jana Friedrichsen, 2017. "Is Socially Responsible Production a Normal Good?," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1644, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1644
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    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.553081.de/dp1644.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Feicht, Robert & Grimm, Veronika & Seebauer, Michael, 2016. "An experimental study of corporate social responsibility through charitable giving in Bertrand markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 88-101.
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    3. Roland Bénabou & Jean Tirole, 2010. "Individual and Corporate Social Responsibility," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(305), pages 1-19, January.
    4. Markus Kitzmueller & Jay Shimshack, 2012. "Economic Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 51-84, March.
    5. Christoph Engel, 2007. "How Much Collusion? A Meta-Analysis Of Oligopoly Experiments," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(4), pages 491-549.
    6. Loureiro, Maria L. & Lotade, Justus, 2005. "Do fair trade and eco-labels in coffee wake up the consumer conscience?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 129-138, April.
    7. Mark Pigors & Bettina Rockenbach, 2016. "Consumer Social Responsibility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(11), pages 3123-3137, November.
    8. Danz, David & Engelmann, Dirk & Kübler, Dorothea, 2012. "Do Legal Standards Affect Ethical Concerns of Consumers? An Experiment on Minimum Wages," Working Papers 12-03, University of Mannheim, Department of Economics.
    9. Urs Fischbacher, 2007. "z-Tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 10(2), pages 171-178, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Who buys social responsibility
      by Nicholas Gruen in Club Troppo on 2017-03-05 18:03:40

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    Cited by:

    1. Stehr, Frauke & Werner, Peter, 2021. "Making Up for Harming Others — An Experiment on Voluntary Compensation Behavior," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242396, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Fehr, Dietmar & Rau, Hannes & Trautmann, Stefan T. & Xu, Yilong, 2020. "Inequality, fairness and social capital," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    3. Björn Bartling & Vanessa Valero & Roberto A. Weber, 2018. "Is Social Responsibility a Normal Good?," CESifo Working Paper Series 7263, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social responsibility; consumer behavior; market experiment; wealth effect;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles

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