Unternehmen und Verantwortung

The social and societal image of businesses from the point of view ofthe consumer. Purchase behavior and search for information. Judgementon businesses as criteria for purchase decisions. Topics: most important goals and tasks of economy and society (scale):economic recovery, unemployment, fighting unemployment, consumerprotection, housing supply, securing of peace, fair trade withdeveloping countries, European unification, foreigners in society,problem of asylum-seekers, equal rights, situation of the sociallydisadvantaged, support for art and culture, dealing responsibly withnew technologies, protection of the natural bases of life, developmentof environmentally friendly products, education about dangers ofaddiction; government, entrepreneurs or companies and individualcitizens or consumers as primarily responsible in these individualareas; assessment of the responsibility actually accepted bygovernment, consumers and businesses; insufficient contributions toproblem solution by businesses to achieve social goals throughnon-perception of problems, insufficient specialized subject knowledge,distinct profit orientation, insufficient responsibility, insufficientdeclaration of responsibility or competition pressure; developmententhusiasm, cost-effectiveness, success, employee orientation,environmentally conscious conduct, social commitment, support for equalrights or international success as criteria for one´s own judgementabout a company (scale); characterization of area of business regardingits social responsibility; most important criteria in decision topurchase a high-quality durable product (trip to store, consultation,brochures, display windows, consultation with friends, test results,newspaper advertisements, personal experience, advertising, consumeradvice centers, magazine articles or radio and television reports);personal opinion leadership or opinion allegiance (scale);characterization of intensity of personal behavior in searching forinformation before purchase; impulse purchase or planning ofacquisitions; price comparisons; pioneering consumer behavior; qualityand price orientation; product loyalty; store loyalty; shoppingexperience; self-classification of extent to which informed about thesocial and ecological effect of business activity; judgement onadvertising, brochures, job advertisements, consumer organizationbrochures and media as reliable sources of information about social andecological business commitment; interest in information about businessactivity from an independent institution such as e.g. the StiftungWarentest {foundation for product testing}; desire for more informationabout various business activities; the influence of social sense ofresponsibility of a business on one´s own purchase decision; aspects ofbusiness practices such as e.g. consumer protection, equal treatment ofwomen in the business, consideration of employee interests, handicappedjobs, environmental protection, doing without animal experiments,education about addiction dangers, sense of social responsibility indevelopment of new technologies, support of economic recovery in thenew states, contributions to integration of foreigners, partydonations, art and culture support, doing without production ofarmaments, doing without involvement in countries with human rightsviolations, just trade with developing countries as important criteriain purchase decisions; assessment of the power of consumers throughtheir purchase decisions, exerting pressure on manufacturers; relevanceon decisions of stamps of quality; influence of a possible newenvironment logo or ecological mark of quality for businesses or storeson personal shopping behavior; knowledge about the Trans-Fair symbol;personally purchasing this Trans-Fair coffee and in the case of notdoing so determination of the price limit.