The impact of corporate social responsibility on customer loyalty: The mediating role of corporate reputation, customer satisfaction, and trust

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility has been extensively discussed and linked to the firm performance by the researchers. However, a significant research gap remains unexplored and that is measuring the association between corporate social responsibility and customer loyalty in the developing countries’ context. Drawing on the resource-based view and stakeholder theory, the present research develops the underlying mechanism through which corporate social responsibility influences the customer loyalty by simultaneously including corporate reputation, customer satisfaction, and customer trust as mediators, and corporate abilities as a moderator. Data were collected from telecom users. The findings demonstrate that corporate social responsibility initiatives are significantly and positively associated with corporate reputation, customer satisfaction, and customer trust. Moreover, the mediating results reveal that corporate reputation, customer trust, and customer satisfaction have mediated the relationship between corporate social responsibility and customer loyalty. Additionally, the moderating result reveals that corporate abilities play a significant role in strengthening the association between corporate social responsibility initiatives and customer loyalty because high corporate abilities with well-executed corporate social responsibility initiatives lead to high loyalty. The research highlights the significance of the corporate social responsibility actions are mandatory for organizational success and guides the policymakers, managers, and scholars.