Abstract
Corporate social responsibility is a topic that has generally been analyzed and discussed in large national and transnational companies, and relatively few studies have been oriented in small and medium-sized enterprises, even though theoretical and empirical evidence has been provided that small businesses also carry out social responsibility activities. Likewise, brand equity has been scarcely related to corporate social responsibility, and there are few studies published in the current marketing literature that relate these two important constructs. Therefore, using a sample of 300 small firms and applying a structural equations model of second order, which allows to know in greater depth the relationship between corporate social responsibility and brand equity, the essential objective of this empirical study is the analysis and discussion of the effects of corporate social responsibility on the level of brand equity of small firms. The results obtained show that corporate social responsibility has a significant positive effect on the level of brand equity of small firms.
Highlights
The consumer's preference in the acquisition of a certain brand of a product or service intervenes in an integral way in the success of the businesses, mainly of the small firms, in a highly competitive and globalized market (Oliver, 1999; Kotler & Armstrong, 2010; Orel & Kara, 2014)
Other studies more published in the marketing literature, have provided theoretical and empirical evidence that show that the firms that adopted and implemented corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, obtained a greater preference in the acquisition of the brand of their products or services, than those companies that are not recognized by consumers as socially responsible (Hamlin & Wilson, 2004; Pracejus & Olsen, 2004; Lefferty, 2007; Bignéet al., 2012; Samu & Wymer, 2014; Wang & Korschun, 2015)
To respond to the hypothesis raised in this empirical study, a model of structural equations was applied with the support of the EQS 6.2 software (Bentler, 2005; Byrne, 2006; Brown, 2006), analyzing the nomological validity of the theoretical CSR model and the brand equity through the Chi-square test, by means of which the results obtained between the theoretical model and the measurement model were compared, obtaining non-significant results which allows establishing an explanation of the observed relationships between the constructs latent (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988; Hatcher, 1994)
Summary
The consumer's preference in the acquisition of a certain brand of a product or service intervenes in an integral way in the success of the businesses, mainly of the small firms, in a highly competitive and globalized market (Oliver, 1999; Kotler & Armstrong, 2010; Orel & Kara, 2014). Other studies more published in the marketing literature, have provided theoretical and empirical evidence that show that the firms that adopted and implemented CSR activities, obtained a greater preference in the acquisition of the brand of their products or services, than those companies that are not recognized by consumers as socially responsible (Hamlin & Wilson, 2004; Pracejus & Olsen, 2004; Lefferty, 2007; Bignéet al., 2012; Samu & Wymer, 2014; Wang & Korschun, 2015). All the studies mentioned above, except for the study conducted by Bignéet al. (2012), have evaluated the relationship between CSR activities and the brand as a one-dimensional construct, so it is necessary to analyze CSR activities http://ibr.ccsenet.org
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