Negative Determinants of CSR Support by Generation Z in Central Europe - Infodemic´s Gender-Sensitive Impacts in a 'COVID-19' Era

Abstract

The success of sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) depends upon the active support of all stakeholders. Hence, it is highly relevant and becomes the goal of this paper to perform a pilot case study about the negative determinants of readiness of the new Central European generation of financially sufficiently strong consumers to support CSR, in particular, to answer two research questions: (i) which is the prevailing determinant and (ii) is it gender sensitive. Therefore, 53 male and 53 female Generation Z students from a private university in Prague, ready to pay a CSR bonus, were surveyed in the Summer of 2021 regarding the negative determinants for their decisions. The collected answers were statistically processed via cross-tabulation and Chi-Squared Test measures, and the dependence between negative determinants and genders was considered to answer both research questions. The analysis of such data implies four prevailing negative determinants, two of them related to the infodemic, represented differently by male and female members of Generation Z. This leads to propositions linked to prior studies and advancing them in a new direction. Namely, this indicative pilot case study suggests that Generation Z's readiness to support CSR by paying a CSR bonus is eroded by the infodemic and that male members of Generation Z are more sensitive in this respect than female members. Implications for Central European audience: This article targets the underplayed issue of the factors deterring committed young consumers from their support for sustainability via their readiness to pay a CSR bonus. It empirically points out the relevancy of proper information and the negative and gender-sensitive impacts of the infodemic. Theoretical implications include a pioneering contribution to the conceptual appreciation, methodological processing and assessment of particular aspects of infodemic and negative CSR determinants on an emerging cohort of Central European consumers. Practical implications include the dramatic importance of enhancement of awareness and practical suggestions regarding how to inform these male and female consumers and engage them in sustainability and CSR.