While business social initiatives may not be that effective as being a advertising tactic, reputational damage can cost businesses dearly.

There is proof that ignoring human rights may be actually disadvantageous for organisations and countries. Big companies have lost money and have had people stop purchasing from their website or investing in them when there were accusations of human rights abuses, like whenever there was news about forced labour. In 2021, several businesses got boycotted because individuals discovered they may have already been making use of forced labour in their supply chains. This demonstrates that people will act when they think a business does one thing wrong. This is why it is necessary for governments all over the globe to make sure their legislation follow the worldwide guidelines about peoples legal rights and that businesses adhere ethical business practices. Some countries have already made changes to do this, like Bahrain human rights reforms and like Oman human rights reforms.

Nowadays, people care more about the environment and society than they did in the past when only price and quality mattered in buying decisions. Nonetheless, studies examining exactly how people react to businesses' efforts become socially responsible i.e., corporate social responsibility reveal that there is no strong relationship between the two. In more recent studies, scientists used surveys and experiments to question individuals about different CSR initiatives by companies and how they felt about them. They desired to understand if people thought these efforts had been genuine and if they would support the company as a result of them. As an example, they asked people if they would be more likely to purchase from a business that donates some of its profits to charity. In addition they looked over just how individuals reacted to genuine incidents, like product recalls or things that affected a company's reputation. They unearthed that despite the fact that lots of people think it is good to encourage socially responsible businesses, most still care more about such things as price and quality when they decide what to purchase. And also when individuals have an optimistic view of companies that do-good things, it does not always suggest they'll purchase from them. In fact, a lot of people are dubious of companies' good reasons for doing good things and think they have been just attempting to make themselves more marketable.

Even though doing things to be socially responsible may well not appear to be it has a big impact, it is still vital for companies to think about. If they do not, they are able to get a non favourable reputation, which could cause individuals boycotting them and them taking a loss. In order to avoid this, companies have to pay attention to where they obtain products from and exactly how they treat individuals. Some governments, like Ras Al Khaimah human rights reforms, have made big modifications to become more open about what they are doing to follow human rights guidelines and ethical sourcing practices. This not just stops them from getting into trouble for having a non positive reputation but in addition helps them build trust with individuals and attract investments.