Evaluation of Corporate Social Responsibility by Consumers: Use of Organic Material and Long Working Hours of Employees

Makiko Nakano
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Makiko Nakano: Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 19, 1-16

Abstract: Many previous studies on consumer choice have examined consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for attributes related to environmental issues. In Japan, long working hours have caused many problems, including death through overwork. However, to the best of the author’s knowledge, there are no previous studies examining WTP for the attribute related to long working hours in Japan. Therefore, this study aims to examine whether consumers prefer products without involving employees’ working long hours and to demonstrate the difference in WTP between the attribute of environmental issues (the product is made from organically grown raw cotton) and the attribute of long working hours in order to reveal Japanese consumers’ preference. The research methodology is a choice experiment using a questionnaire survey in Japan. The results indicate that the use of organically grown raw cotton can increase the WTP by JPY (Japanese yen) 121 on average. When an overworked employee who works more than 80 h of overtime per month is present, the WTP decreases by JPY 230 on average. The contribution of this study is to reveal WTP and show that consumers are interested in employees’ working hours in addition to the environmental issue. Preference heterogeneity is also examined.

Keywords: long working hours; organic cotton; choice experiment; consumer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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