In a pioneering study examining consumer response to corporate behavior, Creyer and Rossi examined consumer intentions to reward or punish corporate behavior. They found that consumers expected companies to behave responsibly and that they were prepared to punish those that did not. While important in establishing a theoretical link between company behavior and consumer expectations, the authors did not examine specific consumer reactions to company behavior or consumer willingness to pay.

Only two recent studies have specifically investigated willingness to pay. In the first, consumers’ actual buying behavior was inconsistent with their positive attitudes toward ethically produced products.ii Specifically, consumers were willing to pay more for ethical products than one would expect from their surveyed attitudes. In the second, researchers were able to provide estimates of the relative value that consumers placed on certain products’ social features.iii We also know from research, although not based on willingness to pay, that cause-related marketing influences consumer choice, especially when there is a good fit between the brand and the cause supported by the company.iv The findings of these studies suggest that ethically produced products matter to consumers; what we do in our research is to put a price on how much it matters to them.