Research on Retailers’ CSR Mechanisms and Behavior Strategies Considering Information Asymmetry Under Demand Uncertainty

The information environment is an important factor that affects enterprises’ implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Considering the uncertainty of product demand, this paper focuses on the retailer’s CSR behavior mechanism under information symmetry and asymmetry scenarios. By constructing four different Stackelberg game models, we obtain the product prices, green decision-making, and the revenues of supply chain members. Applying the game-theory-based method, we further analyze the impact of the market demand uncertainty factor, true CSR level, and estimated CSR level on the decision and performance. The results show the following: (1) Demand uncertainty enhances the CSR effect in the peak season but inhibits it in the off-season. (2) The difference in information structure affects the proportion of supply chain members’ green efforts and green costs. (3) The asymmetry of information makes it impossible for the retailer to enhance its economic benefit by implementing CSR within a reasonable range. Thus, from a profitable perspective, its optimal strategy is to discontinue CSR investment while pretending to undertake it. (4) When the retailer implements CSR, once the manufacturer cannot accurately obtain the true CSR information, its own revenue will decrease, and if overestimating, the retailer will benefit. The conclusions of this paper provide practical and management insights for information transparency in the green supply chain.