Eco-labeling as a Tool to Implement the Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility: The Results of a Pilot Study

The considerations of this study are focused on determining the role that eco-labeling can play in the process of implementing the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In addition to the essence and basic functions of eco-labels, attention was also paid to the problems accompanying the dissemination of eco-labels. The main part of the article is a subsection presenting the results of own research, the main objective of which was to identify the impact of the implementation of the CSR concept, and in particular, used by eco-labelling companies, on purchasing decisions of respondents. Using the syllogistic reasoning in the process of analyzing the results of the aforementioned research, the authors also tried to answer the question: Can eco-labeling be an effective tool for implementing CSR? The application of research methods is the analysis of literature and surveys. The conducted research shows that messages of the social responsibility of a given company may arise consumers’ desire to buy products of that enterprise. For the majority of respondents—regardless of gender—the product’s social or ecological mark had no impact on their purchasing decisions. Research has exposed the very low level of knowledge of eco-markers, which combined with the treatment of eco-markers as a sub-criterion of purchase decisions, questions the efficiency of eco-labeling as a tool for implementing the CSR concept.