Abstract
Purpose– The aim of the authors of this paper is to propose a cognitive – affective – conative sequential model to study how three dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) image (society, customers and employees) impact customer affective (identification and satisfaction) and behavioural (recommendation and repurchase) responses in the banking industry. The authors also test how the type of company (savings banks vs commercial banks) moderates customer responses to these three dimensions of CSR image.Design/methodology/approach– A multi-group structural equation model is tested using information collected from 648 savings banks’ customers and 476 commercial banks’ customers in Spain.Findings– The findings demonstrate that the perceptions of customer-centric CSR initiatives positively and consistently impact customer identification with the banking institution, satisfaction, recommendation and repurchase behaviours in the savings and commercial banks’ samples. The dimensions of CSR image that concern the activities oriented to society and employees only positively impact customer responses in the savings banks’ sample.Practical implications– The findings of this study can assist scholars in creating more informative CSR-based loyalty models that take into consideration new variables (satisfaction and type of company) and better approaches to the conceptualization of CSR image (e.g. the formative approach). The findings can also assist savings and commercial banks in better designing their CSR and communication initiatives to benefit from customer affective and conative responses.Originality/value– The contributions of the paper are threefold: the authors include satisfaction as a new variable in the study of the CSR-based loyalty model; the CSR image is conceptualized as a formative construct, and this provides new justifications for the mixed results reported by previous scholars who have analysed the effects of CSR image on customer loyalty; and the authors explore the moderating role of the type of company on the CSR-based loyalty model proposed in the paper.
Highlights
Loyalty behaviour is one of the most representative ways in which customers express their satisfaction with corporate performance and it is closely linked to the profitability of companies (García de los Salmones et al, 2009)
C-C identification was significantly and positively influenced by customer perceptions of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) oriented to the society (β=0.24, p
Customer perceptions about the CSR oriented to customers significantly and positively impacted customer satisfaction (β=0.28, p0.05)
Summary
Loyalty behaviour is one of the most representative ways in which customers express their satisfaction with corporate performance and it is closely linked to the profitability of companies (García de los Salmones et al, 2009). Loyalty is a complex concept, and the models that scholars apply to describe its formation continue finishing off with the plus of new variables with explicative power. Along this line, scholars have started to consider the inclusion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) image in loyalty behaviour models. While some scholars perceive positive effects of CSR image on customer loyalty (Pérez et al, 2013), this influence is rejected in other studies (Carrigan and Attalla, 2001). New research is needed in this field to clarify the role of CSR image in the formation of customer loyalty behaviours
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