Abstract
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is envisaged to offer several outcomes and while customer-specific consequences are unclear or have not obtained due attention, there is a dearth of literature that focuses on perceptual, attitudinal and behavioral outcomes in tandem. Against this backdrop, this study entails the investigation of perceptual (service quality), attitudinal (affective commitment) and behavioral (customer citizenship behavior) outcomes of CSR through a serial mediation mechanism. A total of 994 responses obtained from fast-food restaurants, highlight the fact that CSR influences service quality, affective commitment, and customer citizenship behavior. Moreover, it is witnessed that CSR influences customer citizenship behavior indirectly as well, as the serial mediation mechanism is also proved. The practical and theoretical usefulness of the study is also provided at the end.
Highlights
A business roundtable covering the CEOs of the top 200 firms concluded that maximization of profits and shareholders’ wealth is no more the basic purpose of a business; rather businesses aim at creating value for suppliers, employees, customers, community and the environment at large (Forbes, 2019; Shah et al, 2019)
Tung et al (2017) highlighted the need for future studies focusing on the effects of repeated interactions on customer citizenship behavior (CCB), as such interactions have lasting effects on customers. Based on this and previous sections mentioning link among variables of interest it is assumed that the relationship between Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and CCB is explained by both service quality perceptions and affective commitment of customers, which is hypothesized as follows: H2: CSR and CCB positive relations are mediated by both service quality perceptions and affective commitment such that the relation is in serial mediation
As this study entailed that the investigation of an indirect relationship between CSR and CCB through serial mediation of service quality and affective commitment, the remaining part of the table covered the results of serial mediation mechanism
Summary
A business roundtable covering the CEOs of the top 200 firms concluded that maximization of profits and shareholders’ wealth is no more the basic purpose of a business; rather businesses aim at creating value for suppliers, employees, customers, community and the environment at large (Forbes, 2019; Shah et al, 2019). While assuming CSR as the care for society and its members, this study entails that such investment will foster a firm-customer bond and will make customers respond positively with high CCB (e.g., Servera-Francés and PiquerasTomás, 2019; Xie et al, 2019) Another theoretical premise is based on the Attribution theory (Heider, 1958), which proposes that humans attribute their attitude and behavior to internal or external factors. CSR, as an external force, is found to influence emotions positively which in turn influences perceptions about service quality and affective commitment The value of such mechanisms is valued by past studies, for instance, Xie et al (2017) commented that CCB association with predictors may better be explained by some explanatory mechanism. Based on this and previous sections mentioning link among variables of interest it is assumed that the relationship between CSR and CCB is explained by both service quality perceptions and affective commitment of customers, which is hypothesized as follows: H2: CSR and CCB positive relations are mediated by both service quality perceptions and affective commitment such that the relation is in serial mediation
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