The Importance of Consumer Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility to Meet the Need for Sustainable Consumption: Challenges in the Sportswear Sector

The main objective of this chapter is to contribute theoretically to the literature on consumer perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable consumption by investigating the possible relationships between them. First, this chapter presents a theoretical overview of the importance of investigating the perceptions of CSR as a three-dimensional construct from a consumer perspective and explores the crucial theme of sustainable consumption. Second, this chapter illustrates the quantitative empirical research carried out on Italian consumers. The results confirm the relevance of deepening consumer perceptions of CSR by using a multidimensional scale (Alvarado-Herrera et al., 2017) and its relationship with sustainable consumption while focusing on a specific firm and category of sustainable products. Only in this way can the social responsibility of consumers and firms be integrated and, hence, constitute the basis for building a sustainable industry.