Does corporate social responsibility contribute to strengthen brand equity? An empirical study

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one of the most vital component in this modern, competitive and complex business arena, contributing highly towards economic, social and environmental sustainability. Now, this is a quandary thought whether CSR act would be just performed philanthropically or would it be performing the role as a serious strategic move for enhanced brand equity. Present research is a sincere effort to explore the interrelation among CSR, social identity of the brand and social transformation with the purpose of explaining brand engagement and brand social linkages for the creation of CSR led sustainable brand equity. The research is based on 386 empirical samples collected from different stakeholders across India using stratified sampling. Structural equation modeling and path analysis have been used for data analysis. The current research contributes in the domain of CSR and branding. The findings show how CSR significantly contributes towards social transformation along with building of the social identity of the brands by generating brand social linkages and consumer engagement for higher brand equity.