Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of consumer perceptions of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) activities conducted by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on purchase intention, focusing particularly on the mediating role of corporate image and the moderated mediating role of consumers’ ethical consumption tendency. Based on data collected from 350 general adult respondents, SPSS PROCESS macro 4.2 was utilized to analyze direct, mediating, moderating, and moderated mediation effects. The findings are as follows. First, consumers' perceptions of SMEs' ESG activities significantly enhance both corporate image and purchase intention. Second, corporate image has a positive and significant effect on purchase intention and plays a mediating role in the relationship between ESG perception and purchase intention. Third, the mediating effect of corporate image weakens when consumers possess a high tendency toward ethical consumption, indicating that ethical consumers may be more critical and hold higher expectations for ESG practices by SMEs. Fourth, while ethical consumption tendency moderated the indirect effect of ESG activities on purchase intention through corporate image, it did not significantly moderate the direct relationship between ESG activities and purchase intention. These results suggest that ESG activities by SMEs contribute to enhancing consumer purchase intentions by shaping a favorable corporate image, although the strength of this influence varies depending on the ethical orientation of consumers. Practical implications include the strategic communication of ESG initiatives and the development of tailored ESG approaches that consider consumer ethical values to maximize their effectiveness.