Corporate social responsibility in B2B relationships: Examining the effects of multifaceted supplier CSR on business customers trust

Abstract

This study presents a model which integrates supplier CSR reputation, business customer trust and relationship commitment. In detail, while a supplier’s economic and legal CSR reputations are hypothesized to affect a business customer’s credibility-based trust in a focal supplier, ethical and philanthropic CSR reputations are hypothesized to affect benevolence-based trust. The proposed framework was tested using data from 129 buying firms based in Germany. Results showed that a supplier’s legal CSR reputation influenced a business customer’s credibility-based trust. In contrast, a supplier’s ethical and philanthropic CSR reputations were found to influence a business customer’s benevolence-based trust. No significant relationship was found between a supplier’s economic CSR reputation and credibility-based trust. In response to increasing calls to stretch the research scope of CSR concepts from consumer research to B2B marketing research, this study offers empirical evidence suggesting that supplier CSR may have positive effects on business customers’ outcomes, as reflected in increased levels of business customer trust in buyer–supplier relationships.