Corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a customer satisfaction and retention strategy in the chain restaurant sector

Abstract

This study intended to frame the specific role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in customer retention process by taking into account the mediating impact of brand attitude, service quality, and satisfaction while investigating the moderating impact of brand love in the chain restaurant industry. Using covariance-based structural equation modeling on 330 responses, our results show that economic, ethical, and philanthropic CSR are important contributors towards increased brand attitude and service quality. Interestingly, the aforementioned relationships contributed to enhanced customer retention. Our findings also revealed how brand love has a significant moderating impact on the relationship between brand attitude and retention, while brand attitude being a salient factor in determining retention. The present study provides a deeper understanding of chain restaurant CSR strategy and valuable insights for the chain restaurant industry, by demonstrating that specific CSR activities affect patrons’ brand attitude and customer retention.