A Qualitative Study of CSR in Multinational Coffee Shops: What Impact does it have on the Consumer’s Motivation to Purchase?

Abstract

This project focuses on multinational coffee shops and what strategies they have in place to ensure their business impact is corporately and socially responsible to the environment and those stakeholders that come within it. The aim of the research was to ascertain if CSR activities carried out from multinational coffee shops have any impact on the consumer’s motivation to purchase. This project has thoroughly believed throughout that this piece of research is extremely important as these coffee shop giants invest significant sums of capital into these strategies and it is quite unclear if this provides the additional benefit of consumer motivation to purchase. To reach the demands of the aim within this research problem, a qualitative questionnaire was distributed among a purposive sample of business associates. It was concluded that a qualitative methodology was most applicable in this project as it could delve into deeper meaning through the answers of the candidate. The questionnaire managed to fully encapsulate the sample’s opinions and beliefs on the matter from initially questioning their preferences in this sector and why and then onto more serious issues like CSR activities from the likes of Starbucks and Costa and how that impacts their behaviours. An example was when candidates were given a list of CSR practices from the major coffee shops and asked in an open question format how important each element was to them and if any activity took precedence over others. The researcher then analysed the data through a thematic analysis technique which generated some significant results. It was apparent that convenience of proximity of outlets held more priority than ethical consumption for numerous responses. On the other hand, many found the questionnaire quite alarming when they looked at their personal spending habits to discover that their investments weren’t aligned with their values and beliefs. Overall, it was generally agreed that the lack of innovation and marketing in the sector was at fault and the opportunity is there for sustainable growth through the additional benefit of the consumer’s motivation to purchase. This linked back to the literature review regarding other industries and sectors.