In pursuit of goodwill? The cross-level effects of social enterprise consumer behaviours

Social innovation and social enterprises have not only changed the concept of operating nonprofit organisations but have also blurred the line between society and business. The current social purpose environment is dynamic and continuously evolving, with firms needing to balance dual social-business goals. This paper employs the decomposed theory of planned behaviour to deconstruct goodwill and commerce factors and analyses the behavioural intentions of consumers when they are purchasing social enterprise products and services. Additionally, this study uses a cross-level perspective to examine the role of reference groups and adopts a hierarchical linear model for verification. The results suggest that consumer behavioural intention increases with the level of perceived behavioural control. Attitude is the main factor influencing consumer purchases of social enterprise products and services. Furthermore, consumers consider the opinions of members of their reference groups when purchasing social enterprise products. This study suggests that social enterprises can communicate service concepts and strengthen product links by highlighting their goodwill-related nature. They should also increase the transparency of organisational operations to enhance consumer confidence in social enterprise products and positive goodwill connectivity.