ABSTRACT
This chapter points to the importance of social responsibility in building mutual trust among market participants. Social responsibility is an attitude characterized by voluntary action that leads to positive changes in the immediate social environment. One of the components of this attitude is trust, which plays an important role in the relationship between the company and the consumer. In a turbulent environment with mounting crises, much attention is paid to corporate social responsibility and consumer social responsibility, with trust being their integral element. The emergence of consumer social responsibility means that the previously observed fight for consumer demand and wallets is not based solely on price, convenience, reliability and availability but has expanded to include factors such as social justice, consumer rights, responsibility, trust and sustainability. Originally, usability was defined as trust in products’ functional usefulness. At present, it also focuses on consumers’ trust in a company’s ethical performance. As part of a project implemented by the Institute of Management of the Warsaw School of Economics, the authors conducted a survey on consumer social responsibility in economic, social and environmental dimensions. The survey covered a representative sample of 1,030 Poles and was carried out in the period 15.02–03.03 2022. The results of this survey confirmed the importance of trust in each of these areas.
