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A Dissertation Proposal on

CONSUMER ATTITUDES TOWARDS ONLINE SHOPP

DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Submitted by
ROSHAN MANANDHAR
Kabhre Multiple Campus
Campus Roll No: 74
Exam Symbol No: 19145/19
TU Registration No: 7-2-547-73-2014

Submitted to
Research Committee
Kabhre Multiple Campus
Faculty of Management
Tribhuvan University, Nepa
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1. Background of the Study

In today’s world, almost every organization whether it is public or private sector, has
shown its concerns towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Moreover, CSR has
been used as an important tool by the organizations to build a good image in the society
and to maximize their brand value. The importance of CSR in an organization has been
increasing and its impacts can be seen in the changed perspectives of the business
operations. So a well implemented CSR policy has been of great advantage in promoting
the business of organizations. The concept of CSR has been accepted as obligations,
which have been obligatory by societal expectations for guiding business behaviors
(Carroll, 1999). Although there is no agreement on a universal defamation and dimension
of CSR, the substance of the concept is unswerving (CSR refers to the responsibility of
businesses to benefit the entire society). The role of corporate social responsibility on
employees is becoming an integral part in the business world, one of the reasons being
that successful companies should attract, hold the best work force. If employees are
satisfied and have a good feeling towards the company, they will recommend it to friends
and family as a good employer (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2008).

Kim and Reber (2008) suggested that corporate social responsibility is a “central
relationship building activity within organizations”. As such, there are numerous
potential benefits of engaging in corporate social responsibility activities, which may
include anything from increased profits to increased levels of volunteerism, positivity in
the workplace environment, more media coverage, reduced costs, and a better public
image. These benefits may create long-lasting impacts such as reputation enhancement,
creating organizational value, and stakeholder loyalty.

The social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical, and
discretionary [later referred to as philanthropic] expectations that society has of
organizations at a given point in time (Carroll, 1979). Business people, in particular, like
to think of their economic/financial/profitability performance as something that they are
doing not only for them- selves, but also for society, as they fulfill their institutions’
mission to provide goods and services for society. The four categories of CSR –
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economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic – address the motivations for initiatives in the
category and are also useful in identifying specific kinds of benefits that flow back to
companies, as well as society, in their fulfillment. Of course, these concepts can be
overlapping and interrelated in their interpretation and application, but they are helpful
for sorting out the specific types of benefits that businesses receive, and this is critical in
building the ‘business case’.

CSR is fundamentally about taking resources from the business, and investing those
resources in being a good corporate citizen: recycling, giving money to social causes,
reporting on social and environmental impacts, and engaging employees in community
works (Porter, 2012). Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is corporate self-regulation
by which companies integrate social, environmental, and economic concerns into their
values and operations in a transparent and accountable manner. CSR allows an
organization to take responsibility for the impact of its decisions and activities on society,
the natural environment, and its own future profitability.

CSR requires companies to do more than they are obligated to under applicable laws
governing product safety, environmental protection, labor practices, human rights,
community development, corruption, and so on. It implies that the companies should
consider not only the interests of shareholders, but also other stakeholders. CSR is a
relatively modern concept and, over the years, has been progressively developed.

2. Problem Statement

Corporate sustainability or named corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an

increasingly important issue in current business scenarios. The rapid diffusion of CSR
practices could be attributed to the positive influence of CSR on business performance,
such as improvement in reputation and profits. Although CSR has attracted growing
attention, the majority of studies only focus on external stakeholders, such as customers,
while paying lesser attention to the internal stakeholders, such as employees. Therefore,
there is need to examine the influence of CSR on employees, who form an important part
of an organization. In addition, previous studies are largely inconclusive about the nature
of the relationship between CSR and corporate image, reporting positive, neutral, and
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even negative associations. Therefore, it is safe to consider that some missing links exist
in the relationship between CSR practices and corporate image. Moreover, none of the
studies examine the potential mediatory role of the employees’ attitudes and behaviors in
this relationship. This study is going to answer the following questions.

i) What might be the impact of Economic Component on Corporate Image?

ii) How is the impact of Legal Component on Corporate Image?

iii) What is the impact of Ethical Component on Corporate Image?

iv) How is the impact of Philanthropic Component on Corporate Image?

3. Objective of the Study

The general target of this examination is to recognize the main considerations that decide
the corporate social responsibility and its impacts on corporate image.

Specific Objectives are:

i) To measure the impact of Economic Component on Corporate Image of Microfinance.

ii) To measure the impact of Legal Component on Corporate Image of Microfinance.
iii) To measure the impact of Ethical Component on Corporate Image of Microfinance.
iv) To measure the impact of Philanthropic Component on Corporate Image of
Microfinance.

4. Hypothesis of the Study

Since this research aims to explore the impact of CSR on Corporate image, the following
set of alternative hypotheses are drawn:

H1: Economic Component has a significant positive influence on employee’s corporate

image.
H2: Legal Component has a significant positive influence on employee’s corporate
image.
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H3: Ethical Component has a significant positive influence on employee’s corporate

image.
H4: Philanthropic Component has a significant positive influence on employee’s
corporate image.

5. Rational of the Study

Although there have been countless studies undertaken on corporate social

responsibility, Nepal still lacks research in this particular field of organizational behavior.
Very few studies are available for the impact of CSR on corporate image. Therefore, this
study will be a valuable contribution in analyzing the relationship of corporate social
responsibility with performance in the private sector organizations of Nepal.

The purpose of this study is to explore employee perceptions of Corporate Social

Responsibility practices undertaken by the organizations and the impact on the corporate
image. Such employee perceptions serve as a link between organizational CSR practices
and performance. In this study where the perception of employees towards CSR
initiations affects the corporate image and the citizenship behavior of the employees, it
also tries to explore how it affects corporate image.

6. Brief Review of the Literature

Frederick (2006) argued that there were three core ideas about CSR that stood out in the
1950s. These included the idea of the manager as public trustee, the balancing of
competing claims to corporate resources, and corporate philanthropy – business support
of good causes.

Frederick (2008) characterized the 1960s and 1970s as a stage of ‘corporate social
responsiveness. Another characteristic of the 1960s was an absence of any coupling of
social responsibility with financial performance (Lee, 2008). In other words, social
responsibility was driven primarily by external, socially conscious motivations, and
businesses were not looking for anything specific in return.
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The European Commission (2001) defines CSR as a voluntary practice in which

Organizations agree to contribute to improve the society and create a cleaner
environment. Lii and Lee (2012) stated that CSR is a way for the firm to improve its
public image and reputation by including activities that satisfy society’s needs. Zwetsloot
(2003) said that CSR is not a traditional management instrument, and looked at it as an
ethical responsibility rather than commercial approach. Branco and Rodrigues (2007)
linked CSR involvement in human resource management, consumers, suppliers,
environment, health, security protection and positive relationships through communities.
Khoury et al. (1999, p. 120) described CSR as “The overall relationship of the
corporation with all of its stakeholders. These include customers, employees,
communities, owners/investors, government, suppliers, and competitors”. Kurucz et al.
(2008) mentioned four benefits for CSR activities: cost and risk reduction, reputation and
legitimacy enhancement, competitive advantage and synergistic value formation.
Consequently, CSR encourages better a relationship between business and society by
defining the roles and responsibilities of private businesses within that society (Keinert,
2008). Transparency with employees and engaging them more in firms’ strategy make
them satisfied (Walton and Rawlins, 2010).

Del Brı´o and Lizarzaburu (2017) studied the influence of CSR on corporate reputation of
four major banks in Peru and observed that CSR could affect both corporate reputation
and investor confidence. They also found that corporate reputation could act as a
moderating variable between CSR and investor confidence. Ramlugun and Raboute
(2015) also studied. The impact of CSR activities of banks but on customer satisfaction
and loyalty. The authors used Carroll’s (1991) approach of CSR, which is being used in
our study, and included economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic. They found that
philanthropic, economic and ethical, in their order of descending importance and were
significant predictors of customer satisfaction and loyalty, while legal responsibility was
insignificantly influencing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Al-Samman and Al-Nashmi
(2016) studied relationships between CSR and nonfinancial organizational performance
of for-profit public and private enterprises and found that CSR components, economic,
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legal, ethical and philanthropic, were positively influencing relationships but had
different impacts on performance.

7. Research Methodology

Research Design
The study utilized a non-experimental, quantitative correlation research to determine if
specific relationships exist between corporate social responsibility and corporate image
among representatives from various private organizations of Nepal.

The aim of the study was to determine whether the perception of employees towards
various CSR initiations by the organizations would impact the corporate image. A
quantitative approach was chosen in this study as the researcher was interested in
measuring variables by using questionnaires to assess CSR and corporate image.

This research study had specific hypotheses, and data was collected from a sample of
employees working at various private organizations. A correlation design seemed
appropriate as the researcher was interested in assessing positive, negative or no
relationships between the variables. Instrument used in the research consists of four main
construct, Legal Component, Economic Component, Ethical Component and
Philanthropic Component. Factors identified from the principle component analysis were
tested for Cronbach’s Alpha which resulted in a value of 0.825 showing good internal
consistencies of the constructs.

Population and Sampling Procedure

Both Primary and Secondary sources of data were used in conducting this research. For
the collection of reliable and valid information, relevant questionnaires were prepared
and distributed among 250 employees of 10 different microfinance in Nepal. Also
various books, magazines, newspapers, articles and journals were also used for the
secondary data. This has helped identify the definition and measurement of key concepts,
findings and the data sources used by other researchers.
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Nature and Sources of the Data

This section deals with the descriptive analysis of the data collected through the
questionnaires during the research process. Descriptive analysis incorporates calculation
of statistical measures such as mean, standard deviation, including maximum and
minimum values. These values help researcher to analyze the data with respect to
frequencies and aggregation relating to research questions and variables. For this
purpose, ‘Five Point Likert Scale’ questions were asked to the respondents.

Research Framework and Definition of Variables

The research framework of the study is the study is as follows:

Dependent Variable
Independent Variable

Economic Component

Corporate Image
Legal component

Ethical Component

Philanthropic Component

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework of Corporate Social responsibility on Corporate Image

Definition of variables

Economic Component:. Economic responsibility initiatives involve improving the firm's

business operation while participating in sustainable practices – for example, using a new
manufacturing process to minimize wastage G Heal (2005).

Legal Component: Corporate social responsibility refers to initiatives companies take to

assess their effects on the environment and impact on social welfare. CSR is largely
voluntary and there are no specific laws that govern it T Lambooy (2014).
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Ethical Component: It's concerned with protecting the interests of all stakeholders, such
as employees, customers, suppliers, and the communities in which businesses operate Z
Gheraia (2019).

Philanthropic Component: Philanthropic responsibility refers to a business's aim to

actively make the world and society a better place. In addition to acting as ethically and
environmentally friendly as possible, organizations driven by philanthropic responsibility
often dedicate a portion of their earnings J Hwang (2020).

Corporate Image: It is defined as the efficiency and impactiveness of the organization

measured in high profits, cost saving, brand image and market value. A corporate image
of a company can be defined as an image that people hold in their mind about the
company, its products, and its services. The corporate image of a company is
the product of a company’s performance, media coverage, and its activities A Mahmood
(2020).

Methods of Analysis

The data gathered are inserted into Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS)
computer software version 20. In order to analyze the data and hypothesis testing, an
appropriate statistical technique is chosen and it depends on the types of questions to
answered the number of variables, and scale measurement. There are few series of SPSS
analysis which are descriptive analysis, reliability analysis, person correlation
coefficient analysis and multiple regression analysis.

Descriptive Analysis

Descriptive analysis is used to describe the main characteristics and summarize set of
data that received from the respondents. It is used to provide a clearly picture for the
readers so that the researchers have to interpret the data easily because it provides a
general pattern of the respondents. Averages, frequency distribution, percentage and
distribution of demographic information given by respondents are calculated by using
descriptive analysis.
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Reliability Test

Reliability indicates the degree to which measurement scores are free of random errors
and ensures consistent measurement across time and items in the instrument (Zikmund,
2003). In other to evaluate the validity and reliability of the questionnaire the participants
were asked to give the opinion on the variable of internal social responsibility and
employee engagement. The participants also asked to indicate any unclear or
uncomfortable wording in the questionnaire in order to estimate how long it would take
to fill in the questionnaire and to redesign it according to participant's comments and
criticisms. It was found that the validity of the quantitative data depends upon the
structure of the questions in the questionnaire and how accurately they are related to the
research area (Collis & Hussey, 2003). The cronbach's alpha was used to test the
reliability of the measurement scales (Hair et al., 1989). The rules of thumb of cronbach's
alpha coefficient of < 0.6 is poor, 0.6 to <0.7 is moderate, 0.7 to < 0.8 is good, 0.8 to <
0.9 is very good and 0.9 and above is excellent. (Zikmund. 2003). Cronbach’s alpha of>
0.70 is considered more appropriate (Pallan, 2011).

Multicollinearity Test

Multicollinearity test is conducted to discover collinearity, which refers to condition

whether more than two independent variables are highly correlated. Multicollinearity
also be identified by looking at tolerance value or variable factor (VIF)index in
"Collinearity Statistic" column. As the rule of thumb. multicollinearity will exist if the
tolerance value is smaller than 0.1 or VIF value is bigger 10 (Cooper &
Schindler,2011). Sheehan, et.al. (2007) have argued that lest of multicollinearity is
essential for testing the hypothesis using regression model. This study tested the
multicollinearity using VIF statistic using SPSS 20 version.

Pearson Correlation Analysis

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Person correlation analysis is a statistical measure of the association, strength of linear

relationship or co-variance between two metric variables (Zikmund, 2003). The
coefficient (r) is used to analyze the direction of the relationship ranging from -l that
reflects the perfect negative relationship to +1 that reflects the perfect positive
relationship. When the correlation is 0, it indicates that there is absolutely no linear
relationship between the metric variables. The rule of thumb interpreting the size of a
correlation coefficient of0.90 to 1 (-0.90 to -1) is very high positive (negative)
correlation. 0.70 to 0.90 (-0.70 to -0.90) is high positive (negative) correlation, 0.50 to
0.70 (-0.50 to -0.70) is moderate positive (negative) correlation. 0.30 to 0.50 (-0.30 to -
0.50) is low positive (negative) correlation and 0.00 to 0.30 (0.00 to -0.30) is little if any
correlation (Hinkle et al., 2003). To analysis the relationship between internal social
responsibility and employee engagement the Pearson correlation analysis was used in
this study.

Multiple Regression Analysis

The multiple regression analysis is to learn more about the relationship between several
independent or predictor variables and a dependent or criterion variable. It is an
extension of bivariate regression analysis, which allows testing the effects of two or
more independent variables on a single dependent variable simultaneously (Zikmund,
2003). Bivariate regression depending on only single independent variable, whereas
multivariate regression is depending on two or more independent variables in order to
forecast the react of dependent variable. As a result, this study used multiple regressions
analysis to assess impact of the independent variables (i.e. Economic Component,
Legal Component, Ethical Component and Philanthropic Component) on the dependent
variable (i.e. Corporate Image).
The beta (ß) coefficients for each independent variable generated from the model, was
subjected to a t- test, in order to test each of the hypothesis under study. The regression
model used to test is shown below:
Yα=α+β1EC+β2LC+β3EC+β4PC+e
Where Yα= Corporate Image
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α =Constant
β1 ……….. β2 = Slope representing degree of change in independent variable by one-unit
variable.
EC= Economic Component
LC= Legal Component
EC= Ethical Component
PC= Philanthropic Component
e = Error term
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