Andrea Pérez

The social role of financial companies as a determinant of consumer behaviour

Purpose – The present study aims to analyze the influence of ethical and philanthropic responsibility of a financial entity on consumer behaviour. Specifically, it aims to analyze relationships among these dimensions and diverse constructs, such as the relationship satisfaction, trust, identification with the firm, business performance, relational outcomes and loyalty.Design/methodology/approach – The benefits of corporate social responsibility as a marketing tool are analyzed in a real context, directly asking the user for his/her perceptions about the financial entities. A personal survey for users was carried out, obtaining 789 valid responses. In order to comply with the aims of this research a model of structural equations was developed.Findings – It is seen that the relationship satisfaction, trust and identification with the entity are the main determinants of loyalty, while the ethical and social dimensions have an indirect effect. The ethical behaviour influences the perceived commercial performa...

Measuring Corporate Social Responsibility in tourism: Development and validation of an efficient measurement scale in the hospitality industry

Abstract This article aims at developing an efficient measurement scale for corporate social responsibility in the tourism industry, given the contextual character that is recognized in the practice of this construct. Indicators were generated on the basis of a literature review and qualitative research. To assess the reliability and validity, first- and second-order confirmatory factor analysis were carried out. Results show a multidimensional structure of this construct—including economic, social, and environmental issues. This study contributes to the advancement of knowledge in the field of social responsibility through its practical application regarding concepts of sustainable development which have mainly been theoretical. The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for many helpful comments and suggestions.

Corporate social responsibility and customer loyalty: exploring the role of identification, satisfaction and type of company

– The aim of the authors of this paper is to propose a cognitive – affective – conative sequential model to study how three dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) image (society, customers and employees) impact customer affective (identification and satisfaction) and behavioural (recommendation and repurchase) responses in the banking industry. The authors also test how the type of company (savings banks vs commercial banks) moderates customer responses to these three dimensions of CSR image. , – A multi-group structural equation model is tested using information collected from 648 savings banks’ customers and 476 commercial banks’ customers in Spain. , – The findings demonstrate that the perceptions of customer-centric CSR initiatives positively and consistently impact customer identification with the banking institution, satisfaction, recommendation and repurchase behaviours in the savings and commercial banks’ samples. The dimensions of CSR image that concern the activities oriented to society and employees only positively impact customer responses in the savings banks’ sample. , – The findings of this study can assist scholars in creating more informative CSR-based loyalty models that take into consideration new variables (satisfaction and type of company) and better approaches to the conceptualization of CSR image (e.g. the formative approach). The findings can also assist savings and commercial banks in better designing their CSR and communication initiatives to benefit from customer affective and conative responses. , – The contributions of the paper are threefold: the authors include satisfaction as a new variable in the study of the CSR-based loyalty model; the CSR image is conceptualized as a formative construct, and this provides new justifications for the mixed results reported by previous scholars who have analysed the effects of CSR image on customer loyalty; and the authors explore the moderating role of the type of company on the CSR-based loyalty model proposed in the paper.

Customer CSR expectations in the banking industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine customer corporate social responsibility (CSR) expectations in the crisis context of the Spanish banking industry. The paper also takes into consideration the role that corporate governance structure plays in customer CSR expectations. Design/methodology/approach – Analysing 648 customers of savings banks and 476 customers of commercial banks, several univariate statistics and two cluster analyses are implemented. Findings – The authors identify significantly consistent patterns in the CSR expectations of savings banks and commercial banks customers. The customers of both types of banking companies have similar high expectations concerning the CSR oriented to customers, shareholders and supervising boards, employees, the community and legal and ethical CSR. Also customers of both types of banking companies can be consistently classified as customer oriented, legally (customer)-oriented and CSR-oriented customers depending on their CSR expectations. Practic...

Corporate reputation and CSR reporting to stakeholders: Gaps in the literature and future lines of research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a literature review of the underdeveloped stream of research that analyses corporate reputation as an outcome of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. Design/methodology/approach – The author systematically reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the CSR reporting-reputation relationship, identify several gaps in the body of knowledge and provide new lines of study to develop this relevant stream of research. Findings – The literature review demonstrates that CSR reporting is especially useful to generate corporate reputation. The justification for this idea is provided by as many as five theoretical approaches, while the management of corporate transparency, information quantity and information quality is shown to be crucial to the success of CSR reporting. Originality/value – The value of the paper resides in making the rather underdeveloped, heterogeneous and inconclusive literature on the CSR reporting-reputation link more access...

CSR influence on hotel brand image and loyalty

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on brand image and loyalty in the hotel industry. Design/methodology/approach A reflective structural equations model was developed to test the research hypothesis. The study was tested using data collected from a sample of Spanish consumers who assessed the top ten Spanish hotel chains operating in the Latin American context. Findings The role of CSR as a tool to generate both functional and affective brand image, and loyalty was confirmed. CSR has a greater influence on the affective dimension of brand image, whereas functional image has a greater influence on brand loyalty. Furthermore, CSR can be seen as having a direct positive effect on brand loyalty. Research limitations/implications It is necessary to extend this study to other subsectors in the tourism industry and to other Latin American countries. Future research should measure CSR as a formative construct to provide a greater consensus re...

Customer responses to CSR in the Pakistani banking industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold: to empirically analyse how customer corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions impact on the perceived service quality (PSQ)-loyalty relationship in the banking industry of Pakistan; and to evaluate the mediating role of customer trust in that model. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a field survey of 408 customers of five different banks of Pakistan, the hypothesized model is tested through partial least squares based structural equation modelling. Findings – The findings demonstrate that banking customers in Pakistan recognise CSR as a multidimensional construct that serves as a direct determinant of PSQ, trust, repurchase and word of mouth (WOM) intentions. PSQ also influences customer trust directly and positively and trust has a direct and positive impact on repurchase and WOM intentions. On the contrary, PSQ does not influence repurchase and WOM intentions directly. Its effect is mediated by customer trust. Practical implications – Contrary...

Extending on the Formation Process of CSR Image

In this article, the authors aim to clarify the process that leads customers to form a certain corporate social responsibility (CSR) image of their banking service providers. The authors analyze whether the proposals of associative learning theory, attribution theory, and persuasive communication are adequate to anticipate CSR image in a banking services context. A causal model is positively tested that allows the researchers to anticipate CSR image based on three variables: the coherence between the company and its CSR policy, the attribution of altruistic motivations for the company to implement CSR activities, and corporate credibility in developing CSR initiatives. Two new contributions to literature are made. First, the process is accepted in a context where CSR is a broad corporate strategy that includes significantly more initiatives than just cause-related marketing or the sponsorship of social causes. Second, the role of both company–CSR coherence and altruistic motivations is better explained in this article. Their influence on CSR image seems to be dependent upon the current situation of the international banking industry.

Corporate reputation and CSR reporting to stakeholders

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a literature review of the underdeveloped stream of research that analyses corporate reputation as an outcome of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. Design/methodology/approach – The author systematically reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the CSR reporting-reputation relationship, identify several gaps in the body of knowledge and provide new lines of study to develop this relevant stream of research. Findings – The literature review demonstrates that CSR reporting is especially useful to generate corporate reputation. The justification for this idea is provided by as many as five theoretical approaches, while the management of corporate transparency, information quantity and information quality is shown to be crucial to the success of CSR reporting. Originality/value – The value of the paper resides in making the rather underdeveloped, heterogeneous and inconclusive literature on the CSR reporting-reputation link more access...

How customers construct corporate social responsibility images: Testing the moderating role of demographic characteristics

This paper discusses the formation process of CSR images from a customer perspective. It analyses the influence of company-CSR coherence, motivational attribution and corporate credibility in the way customers evaluate CSR images in the banking industry. It also describes the impact of customer gender, age and educational level on the formation of CSR images. Results show that CSR images are based on customer perceptions of the company-CSR coherence, the attribution of altruistic motivations and corporate credibility when developing CSR initiatives. The findings also demonstrate that gender, age and educational level do not allow identifying differences in the way customers construct CSR images. Thus, they are not useful in segmenting customers for the design of better CSR and communication strategies.