Corporate Social Responsibility And Consumer Buying Behavior

Business operation affects the external environment and is a great influence on society and consumer behavior.Therefore,corporate social responsibility is considered as a strategic approach to overcome the negative impacts on the external environment.In the literature,corporate social responsibility may be at a mature stage,but specifically considered from a marketing point of view,corporate social responsibility has become an emerging topic among stakeholders and in the business world.In recent days corporate social responsibility has become a competitive strategy for corporations to increase profits,customer satisfaction,customer loyalty,corporate reputation,and positive attitudes towards the company’s brands.An increasing demand for social responsibility initiatives from the stakeholders is a clear indication of the business world,which telling business leaders to highlight the social issues in their business operation to gain the confidence of the ultimate customer and convert loyalty into a competitive edge(Googins&Rochlin,2006;Pomering&Dolnicar,2009).The findings of past studies suggested that consumers are very keen about the company’s social initiatives because such initiatives lead to consumer purchase intentions and a customer loyalty cycle.Corporate social responsibility has been extensively discussed and linked to firm performance,but a significant research gap remains unexplored:measuring the association among corporate social responsibility,customer loyalty,and purchase intention.In the last three decades,corporate social responsibility has captured much attention from scholars and business analysts,who have discovered that corporate social responsibility is a multidimensional construct.Initially,three main theories,expectation customer disconfirmation theory,stakeholder theory,and the resource-based view support our conceptual model.Drawing on the resource-based view,expectation customer disconfirmation theory,and stakeholder theory,this study proposes a conceptual model of the influence of corporate social responsibility on telecom customer loyalty and purchase intention by simultaneously including corporate reputation,customer satisfaction,and trust as mediators,and corporate abilities as a moderator.The current research used a quantitative methodology to investigate the relationship between hypotheses.Using a cross-sectional survey method,data was collected from 591.post-paid telecom users in three large metropolitan cities(Lahore,Karachi,and Islamabad)of Pakistan.Overall response rate was 59.1%(i.e.591 out of 1000).Hypothetical relationships were tested using structural equation modeling based on the partial least squares(PLS)through Smart-PLS 3 software.The findings demonstrate that corporate social responsibility initiatives are positively linked with customer loyalty and purchase intention,confirming that firms will be rewarded for their social activities.Moreover,corporate abilities are shown to play a significant moderating role in the relationship between the corporate social responsibility initiatives and customer outcomes,because high corporate abilities with well-executed corporate social responsibility initiatives lead to high loyalty and positive intention among the customers.In the proposed conceptual model,customer loyalty and purchase intention are indirectly influenced by corporate social responsibility via corporate reputation,satisfaction,and trust.The findings of the research show that customer satisfaction,corporate reputation,and customer trust mediates the effects of corporate social responsibility on customer loyalty and purchase intention.Moreover,this study found that corporate ability moderates the effect of corporate social responsibility and corporate reputation on customer loyalty.The current research extends the previous literature on corporate social responsibility and customer behavioral outcomes in three ways.First,studying the direct relationship between the corporate social responsibility,customer loyalty,and purchase intention have captured much attention among scholars.Second,a further reason is that little evidence has been found of a positive association among corporate social responsibility initiatives,customer loyalty,and purchase intention.As a result,we require some deeper understanding to examine the relationships because scholars considered corporate social responsibility as a multidimensional construct.Therefore,the primary relationship may need some other constructs(mediators&moderators)to support this direct relationship.Third,this research fills the gap and empirically validates whether corporate abilities moderates the effects of corporate social responsibility and corporate reputation on customer loyalty and purchase intention.Finally,the results suggest some guidelines to policymakers,scholars,environmental scientists,and telecom firms managers wanting to create a sustainable environment.