Socially responsible consumption in Russia: Testing the theory of planned behavior and the moderating role of trust

This paper adopts a multilevel approach to explore how socially responsible consumer behavior (SRCB) is shaped by a combination of micro-level psychological drivers and specifics of the institutional context in which the behavior is performed. The model first applies the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to test the effects of TPB-based behavioral predictors on the SRCB. Broad-scope trust in business (BST) is then applied to the model as a variable that characterizes quality of an informal institutional environment, hypothesizing that BST moderates the relationship between TPB-based behavioral antecedents and SRCB. The paper is based on a survey of 466 Russian consumers. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaires completed by students and alumni of a large public university in Moscow. Results show that BST moderates the effects of TPB-based predictors on SRCB. This implies that consumers who believe that the business is overall trustworthy are more likely to take company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) into account when making purchasing decisions. This study contributes to the multilevel research on SRCB and CSR and adds to the literature on public trust in business as a nascent area of study. Its findings are especially relevant for companies operating in low-trust environments, including postsocialist economies.