The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility Practices and Environmental Factors through a Moderating Role of Social Media Marketing on Sustainable Performance of Firms’ Operating in Multan, Pakistan

Abbas Abbas,Aman Aman,Ali Ali,Raza Raza,Mahmood Mahmood,Bano Bano,Nurunnabi Nurunnabi

doi:10.3390/su11123434

Abstract

This precise study performed a focalized investigation to examine the association of environmental effects, new product development performance, superior customers’ value, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) on sustainable performance. This research study aimed to investigate how social media marketing application moderates the association between corporate social responsibility and sustainable performance of the firms located in Multan Division, Pakistan. This study applied a simple random sampling approach to execute this research, and the authors sent a questionnaire with an invitation letter and informed consent form to 752 respondents. Based on 548 valid responses from the targeted population, the first step was to screen and analyze data through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-V25) and the Smart PLS V-3.2.8. The results indicated that corporate social responsibility presented a positive impact on firms’ sustainable performance. The findings also revealed that social media marketing tools moderated the relationship between CSR and sustainable production of business firms. As a final point, the study only included respondents from Multan Division, therefore, limiting the generalizability of the findings to other Pakistani business firms. The implications of this study may provide further directions for researchers and academicians to consider the larger sample size and the addition of new variables in other regions worldwide. The findings are useful for filling the gap between the relationship of environmental effects, CSR, and social media marketing application to calculate the sustainable performance of business firms.

Highlights

In recent times, several scholars have emphasized corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices associated with business ground and have considered CSR as a useful research area for numerous businesses, practitioners, academicians, and managers
The findings of this specific study indicate that strategies of social media marketing significantly affect customers’ satisfaction, and these results show consistency with past studies [43,138,141,142,143]. This precise study applied the smart-PLS-SEM technique by performing a comprehensive analysis for evaluating and assessing the structural and measurement models, and the study results approved the validity of these models. This model implemented the advanced tools of the smart-PLS-SEM software-3.2.8 and applied a multivariate analysis technique for assessing and evaluating models that have variance-based structural equations [49]
This study explored how social media marketing application moderated the relationship between CSR and firms’ sustainable performance

Summary

Introduction

Several scholars have emphasized corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices associated with business ground and have considered CSR as a useful research area for numerous businesses, practitioners, academicians, and managers. According to Famiyeh and Moir, CSR practices restrict firms from continuing the commitment of being socially responsible in contributing to communities and economic growth, which could, improve employees’ and their families’ life quality at large [2,3]. Scholars found that there are numerous indications that CSR leads to customer loyalty and enhances corporate reputation. Branco and Rodrigues (2006) stated that corporate social responsibility signifies organizations’ and business firms’ commitment to contributing to economic growth and working on the well-being of employees, business managers, their families, the society in which they live, and the local community at large [4]

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Discussion

Conclusion