4. Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Hai

5. Training institution: VNU - University of Economics and Business.

The thesis aims at evaluating the perception of consumers of the corporate social responsibilities (CSR) and testing the relationship among their perception, attitude and behavior intention towards products of food manufacturing and processing companies in Vietnam.

•  Scope of contents

CSR is a wide topic related to many disciplines of social sciences. Thus, this thesis only focuses on evaluating the perception of consumers using processed food products and analyzing the one way relationship among their perception, attitude and behavior intention. The thesis has not pay attention to other variables that affect the behavior intention of consumers. 

• Scope of research area

The thesis studies the issues of CSR from the consumer perspective in the industry of food manufacturing and processing in Vietnam as CSR is a hot and controversial issue nowadays, particularly in the industry. The consumer survey is administered in some provinces and cities in the North of Vietnam, mainly in the area of Red River Delta.

• Scope of timeline

The research timeline is limited to the period of 2009 – 2014 when the company stakeholders’ expectation of CSR implementation is increasing and the demand for CSR improvemetn is also becoming higher from the company itself.

• Analyze the context of food manufacturing and processing in Vietnam to clarify the rationale for CSR implementation toward sustainable development of enterprises;
• Evaluate CSR perception of consumers using food processed products
• Test the relationship among CSR perception, attitude and intention behavior of consumers towards food processed products in Vietnam;
• Propose some solutions to foster CSR implementation in food manufacturing and processing industry in Vietnam to meet the expectations of consumers.

• How are Vietnamese consumers perceive CSR?
• Does the CSR perception of Vietnamese consumers affect their attitude towards food products?
• §Does attitude play the role of mediator in the relationship between CSR perception and behavior intention of Vietnamese consumers?
• Does geographic variables affect the attitude and behavior intention of the consumers?

• Qualitative methods:

Qualitative methods are used to build the conceptual model and develop the scale. The author conducted literature review to find the research space, propose the conceptual research model and hypotheses. Furthermore, expert and consumer in-depth interviews are also conducted to get more additional information to support research results.

• Quantitative methods:

Quantitative research is conducted once the research model and scale have been developed from the conceptual model. The questionnaire is designed and evaluated through expert interview and pilot test. The pilot test aims at measuring the validity and reliability of scale, standardizing conceptual terms and modifying the scale to fit the Vietnamese context. On the basis of pilot test, the scale may be modified if needed.

The big sample size survey then is administerd with the modified scale. Repondents are consumers using processed food in provinces and cities in the North of Vietnam, mainly in the area of Red River Delta.

Primary data are analyzed to test the scale, the model and research hypotheses. Some statistical methods in SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 20.0 are used such as descriptive analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), structural equation modelling (SEM), multi-group analysis and ANOVA analysis.

The thesis has some new contributions as follow:

• Firstly, develop the scale of CSR perception, attitude and behavior intention of consumers from the adaptation of previous studies on CSR and consumers.
• Secondly, test the relationship among CSR perception, attitude and behavior intention of Vietnamese consumers in the context of food manufacturing and processing industry. Furthermore, the thesis generalizes the basis for CSR implementation in Vietnam food manufacturing and processing industry.
• Thirdly, propose some solutions for food manufacturing and processing companies in Vietnam to change their CSR implementation methods in the future to meet the expectations of consumers.