How does consumers’ understanding of CSR influence their sustainable consumption behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic in China? Focus on Chinese e-commerce companies

The occurrence of serious social events, such as a pandemic, often has an unimaginable impact on the transformation of the business model, consumers’ purchase intention and behaviour. As a rare period in history, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is worth exploring, thus it is the original intention of this study. By the end of January 2020, COVID-19 spread rapidly in Wuhan, China, forcing the city to be locked down. It has caused an unexpected negative impact on social development, especially economics. Notably, Internet technology provides a new way for people to maintain their daily activities, for instance, consumers can satisfy their needs by shopping online. Therefore, during the period of lockdown in China due to COVID-19, e-commerce has developed greatly, giving ecommerce companies new opportunities to grow. In recent years, more and more consumers are accustomed to shopping online, which is more convenient. However, people have different preferences for different e-commerce companies, thus these companies are always looking for ways to attract more consumers. As known to us all, CSR has always been regarded as an important part of corporate behaviour, which is concerned by stakeholders and even all sectors of society and is related to the reputation and long-term development of enterprises. Based on the theory of rational behaviour (TRA), many previous studies have proved that consumers' understanding of CSR has an impact on their purchase intention and following consumption behaviour, especially when they trust the companies. What's more, due to the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the instability of the social situation, there are some changes in perceived consumer effectiveness and the fear of the pandemic, thus consumers pay more attention to the environmental and social development, and their online purchase intention has a more significant influence on sustainable consumption behaviour. To get more insights into the significance of CSR activities and the changes in consumers’ online purchase intention and behaviour, consumers' understanding of CSR, consumer trust, online purchase intention, perceived consumer effectiveness, pandemic fear and sustainable consumption behaviour were used to build the conceptual model in this study. Specifically, the relationship between consumers' understanding of CSR, consumer trust and online purchase intention were tested in this study through moderation analysis, and perceived consumer effectiveness, pandemic fear and sustainable consumption behaviour were tested in this study through mediation analysis. According to the results of the studies, it was found that consumers' understanding of CSR has a positive influence on their online purchase intention during the COVID-19 pandemic, while consumer trust has no mediating effect on the relationship between them. Moreover, consumers' online purchase intention has a positive impact on sustainable consumption behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, pandemic fear has a moderating effect on the relationship between the two variables while perceived consumer effectiveness is not a moderator, thus it can be reckoned that changes in consumer sentiment during the pandemic affect their sustainable consumption behaviour. Therefore, it is significant for e-commerce companies to pay more attention to their CSR during the pandemic, which can contribute to improving consumers' shopping intentions. In addition, consumers are more concerned about the environment and social development, which may be beneficial to environmental protection and socially sustainable development in the future.