THE IMPACT OF CSR AND PRODUCT INNOVATION ON BRAND IMAGE AND PURCHASE INTENTION

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and product innovation are two important goals in management field to improve profitability and reputation of businesses as well as influencing consumer perceptions and purchase intention. Therefore, for businesses and managers in general, and in the cosmetic industry in particular, this field needs more research and development. However, at present this relationship is rarely resolved in literature, especially for research in Vietnamese market. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the impact of CSR and product innovation on brand image and purchase intention, in order to clarify the characteristics of the cosmetic market in Vietnam. Based on the advanced research, a questionnaire consisting of 19 questions and 5 hypotheses was designed to identify the 4 variables that were conducted. The study was conducted with a focus on students at universities in Hanoi, and a total of 429 valid responses were collected. Research results show that: (1) consumer perceptions about CSR and product innovation for Korean cosmetics have a positive effect on brand image, in which product innovation has a stronger impact than CSR.(2) Symbolic brand image has a stronger impact than functional brand image on consumer purchase intention; (3) Similarly, technological innovation is stronger than new product in increasing purchase intention.(4) Consumer awareness of social CSR tends to increase considered to buy, meanwhile environmental CSR has a stronger impact in increasing intended to buy. From the research results, researchers can refer to their experimental research. In addition, this study has shown the specific characteristics of the Korean cosmetic market in Vietnam, thereby helping the managers to define goals and development directions in the future.