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The purpose of this research is to investigate the brand social responsibility (BSR) construct, and to develop a scale to measure this construct.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to investigate the brand social responsibility (BSR) construct, and to develop a scale to measure this construct.
Design/methodology/approach
Using corporate social responsibility scales and the existing literature, a pre‐test to establish an initial list of items is followed by exploratory factor analysis in order to obtain a list of descriptors and statements to measure brand social responsibility. Then, the retained items of the BSR scale and existing CSR scales are tested on a panel of 248 participants.
Findings
The brand social responsibility scale tested in this research was more focused on a brand's trustworthiness, awareness, and the brand's philanthropic activities from a consumer's perspective. The descriptors used in the scale more accurately measure consumers' perceptions of a brand's social responsibility than CSR scales, and also take into consideration the possible differences between a parent brand's SR and its subsidiary's SR.
Research limitations/implications
This study, while investigating the brand social responsibility construct and developing a scale to measure it, compares existing CSR scales and emphasizes the possible differences between a parent brand's SR and its subsidiary's SR.
Originality/value
The brand social responsibility scale in this study is important as it is one of the few scales in the field that takes into consideration the consumer's perspective as well as the possible effects of a parent brand and its subsidiaries.
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Suvendu Kumar Pratihari and Shigufta Hena Uzma
The study aims to examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate branding (CB) and brand loyalty (BL) in the Indian Banking industry. The study further…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate branding (CB) and brand loyalty (BL) in the Indian Banking industry. The study further intends to examine the direct and indirect effect of CSR on BL when CSR becomes an integral part of CB.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured questionnaire using seven-point Likert’s scale is the instrument for data collection. Stratified random sampling is used to collect the cross-sectional data from 430 savings bank customers in India. A new scale is developed and used to measure the CB as a single construct. A multi-model path using structural equation modelling is used to test the hypotheses. Direct and indirect model path analysis is used to examine the integrated effect of CSR and CB on BL.
Findings
The results of the study show that there is a significant impact of CSR components (economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic) on CB to enhance customer BL. The study offers new insight into the relationship between CSR and BL by introducing CB as the mediating factor. However, the relationship between “legal responsibility to CB” and “philanthropy responsibility to BL” demonstrate a negative coefficient in the path analysis. Further, the result of the direct and indirect model path analysis confirms that customers’ BL can be enhanced more efficiently when CSR becomes an integral part of CB.
Practical implications
The strategic incorporation of CSR tools as an integral part of CB strategy can help the managers in the banking industry to enhance their customers’ BL. Besides economic and legal responsibilities, managers need to give more emphasis on the ethical and philanthropic responsibilities as critical positioning tools to develop firm’s corporate brand followed by enhancing BL.
Originality/value
Scale development and validation of CB as a single construct is an original move in this study. Additionally, the study is a pioneer to examine the direct and indirect effect of CSR on customers’ BL using CB as a key mediating factor.
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Rong Huang, Xinyue Zhou, Weiling Ye and Siyuan Guo
This paper aims to clarify an important nuance by proposing that people attribute human mind to brands on two distinct dimensions: think and feel.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to clarify an important nuance by proposing that people attribute human mind to brands on two distinct dimensions: think and feel.
Design/methodology/approach
Eight studies were conducted to first develop and validate the 14-item Brand Anthropomorphism Questionnaire, and then to investigate how the two subscales, think or feel dimensions, influence consumer moral judgment of brands.
Findings
This research developed a 14-item Brand Anthropomorphism Questionnaire with two subscales, which are psychometrically sound and show discriminant validity with regard to existing brand constructs. Furthermore, think or feel brand anthropomorphism dimensions can predict consumers’ moral judgment of brands.
Research limitations/implications
The present research offers preliminary evidence about the value of distinguishing between think brand and feel brand in consumer moral judgment. Further research could investigate other potential impact of the two dimensions, and possible antecedents of think/feel dimensions.
Practical implications
Managers can use the scale for assessment, planning, decision-making and tracking purposes. In addition, in the event of brand scandal or brand social responsibility activities, public-relations efforts can use the findings to earn or regain the trust of consumers, as this research demonstrates that marketers can shape (tailor) the feel or think dimensions of brand perception to change consumers’ moral judgment of the brands.
Originality/value
This research makes theoretical contribution to the brand anthropomorphism literature by differentiating the two dimensions and exploring the influence of anthropomorphism of consumer moral judgment.
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The current study was developed in response to the profound impact of ethical practices on the beverage industry. It aims to examine the mediating role of perceived brand…
Abstract
Purpose
The current study was developed in response to the profound impact of ethical practices on the beverage industry. It aims to examine the mediating role of perceived brand trustworthiness in the relationship between brand social responsibility and brand positioning in the Tanzanian beverage industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a post-positivist approach, as it encompasses a deterministic perspective where causes are believed to determine outcomes or effects. The study focused on customers of two major beverage companies in Tanzania, namely Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Data were collected from 458 customers and analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings indicate that brand social responsibility serves as a valuable intangible asset, capable of establishing a competitive edge when integrated into the value proposition. Additionally, the results reveal that brand trustworthiness plays a mediating role in the connection between brand social responsibility and brand positioning.
Research limitations/implications
The study employed a convenience sampling technique; hence, generalization of the findings should be approached with caution.
Originality/value
This study represents one of the few scholarly endeavors that explore the role of social responsibility at the product brand level in establishing brand positioning. By doing so, it contributes to the advancement of knowledge concerning the impact of brand social responsibility on building competitiveness within the context of today's competitive business environment.
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Johan Anselmsson and Ulf Johansson
This study aims to enhance the understanding of what significance consumers place on different aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) when evaluating and purchasing…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to enhance the understanding of what significance consumers place on different aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) when evaluating and purchasing grocery brands and products.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper builds on existing literature and theories on CSR and marketing, as well as literature on consumers' perceptions of CSR related issues. The Swedish empirical study has two parts; the first explorative stage based on qualitative method and in‐store face‐to‐face interviews through which important consumer attitude‐based attributes of social responsibility are identified in a grocery context. The second quantitative part is based on questionnaires that describe the grocery brand positions and performances along these attributes.
Findings
Results point to three general attitude‐based dimensions for CSR positioning and that retail brands can indeed, in relation to leading national brands, build a CSR image. Further, this image is shown to have an impact on consumers' intention to buy. This is also the case for “me‐too” retail brands. The CSR dimension of greatest impact on overall CSR image is product responsibility, whereas human responsibility influences the customer purchase intentions the most. Environmental responsibility, perhaps the most commonly used CSR dimension, is in this study recognised to exert least impact on both overall CSR image and on purchase intentions.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to a Swedish context and to one specific purchase situation. Future studies could involve validation of factor structure, relationship between CSR and preference, and ability to positioning in another market, perhaps in more mature markets in terms of well‐developed structures of CSR and health/organic organic products (e.g. the UK). A postal survey would allow the use of longer and evaluated measurement scales previously used in organic food research.
Originality/value
This study substantiates that retailer brands can indeed be distinctly positioned according to aspects other than price, e.g. as here exemplified, the concept of CSR. This relationship has hitherto not been identified outside the UK. The finding that CSR is less clearly connected to the expected dimension of environmental responsibility entails new added knowledge to this research field. The analysis has, moreover, resulted in more a simplified description of the basic dimensions of CSR containing three instead of, as often in the literature, six dimensions.
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Hongwei He, Weichun Zhu, Dennis Gouran and Olivia Kolo
This paper aims to examine how consumer moral identity (MI) affects the impact of cause-related marketing (CRM). CRM is a popular hybrid marketing tool that incorporates…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how consumer moral identity (MI) affects the impact of cause-related marketing (CRM). CRM is a popular hybrid marketing tool that incorporates charitable initiatives and sales promotion. CRM has strength in simultaneously encouraging consumer purchases and doing something good for the society. Drawing on the moral identity (MI)-based motivation model, this research examines how consumer MI influences consumer behavioural response to CRM.
Design/methodology/approach
Two field experiments were conducted to test a series of hypotheses relating to the conditional effect of MI on behavioural response to CRM.
Findings
Brand social responsibility image and emotional brand attachment positively moderated the relationship between consumer MI centrality and intention to purchase CRM sponsor brand.
Originality/value
Findings contribute to the literature on CRM, MI-based motivation of consumer behaviour and emotional brand attachment.
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This study aims to adopt a mixed-methods approach (accounting and business data) to analyse the effects of the financial institution’s governance on both the knowledge of social…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to adopt a mixed-methods approach (accounting and business data) to analyse the effects of the financial institution’s governance on both the knowledge of social responsibility and the consumer’s attitudes and behaviours, and testing the moderating role of the brand identification in the banking sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this concept has been neglected in previous studies.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a sample of 600 respondents in two major Tunisian cities. Participants were selected on the basis of a convenience sampling in which the structural equation modelling method was adopted through SMART PLS 3.0 software.
Findings
The results showed that good corporate governance has a positive influence on the knowledge of the company's social responsibility, which positively influences its brand image. Therefore, the company's brand image positively influences the customer’s satisfaction, which positively influences the recommending behaviour of the financial institutions in the COVID-19 era. However, the brand identification has no moderating effect.
Practical implications
Managers of financial institutions are advised to pay particular attention to good corporate governance, as it is mandatory for these companies to assume social responsibility and make it known to clients. Therefore, it is obvious to create a good image in the mind of the consumers to satisfy them to recommend the company in question. It is interesting to mobilise the period of health crisis (COVID-19) to create a favourable attitude among the customers because they are sensitive when evaluating and ranking financial institutions according to the relationships that exist especially during this period.
Originality/value
In fact, there are many studies that dealt with the banking sector. Some of them dealt with the sector through the institutional accounting section while others dealt with the sector through the commercial and marketing section. Therefore, the first contribution of this research is to test a mixed model made up of accounting and commercial data. This model is among the first to determine the effects of the financial institution's governance on the knowledge of social responsibility and on the consumer’s attitude and behaviour to test the moderating role of brand identification in the banking sector. The second contribution is to test this model in a period of health crisis (COVID-19). The third contribution is the use of a mixed sample of data collected from two regions. Then, the fourth contribution is the addition of tests for the verification, robustness and validation of the results obtained. Finally, the fifth contribution is the addition of control variables to test their effects on the research model.
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Dana E. Harrison, O.C. Ferrell, Linda Ferrell and Joe F. Hair, Jr
The purpose of this paper is to theoretically develop and empirically validate separate scales that represent a consumer’s expectations of business ethics (BE) and corporate social…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to theoretically develop and empirically validate separate scales that represent a consumer’s expectations of business ethics (BE) and corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review and qualitative research were conducted to generate items for the scales. Initial item reduction was performed qualitatively based on a panel of experts. A follow-up quantitative assessment using an exploratory factor analysis further reduced the items. The scales were then validated using confirmatory composite analysis with partial least squares-structural equation modeling.
Findings
Separate scales representing consumers’ expectations of BE and CSR behaviors were developed. The scales exhibited reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity and external validity.
Practical implications
The separation of these scales into two components will facilitate more precise examination of consumer perceptions of these two components of product and brand images, and how they may impact brand attitudes and brand trust.
Originality/value
This is the first effort to develop separate scales for consumer expectations of ethics and CSR, and assess their impact on brand outcomes.
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Anni Rahimah, Ben-Roy Do, Angelina Nhat Hanh Le and Julian Ming Sung Cheng
This study aims to investigate specific green-brand affect in terms of commitment and connection through the morality–mortality determinants of consumer social responsibility and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate specific green-brand affect in terms of commitment and connection through the morality–mortality determinants of consumer social responsibility and the assumptions of terror management theory in the proposed three-layered framework. Religiosity serves as a moderator within the framework.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are collected in Taipei, Taiwan, while quota sampling is applied, and 420 valid questionnaires are collected. The partial least squares technique is applied for data analysis.
Findings
With the contingent role of religiosity, consumer social responsibility influences socially conscious consumption, which in turn drives the commitment and connection of green-brand affect. The death anxiety and self-esteem outlined in terror management theory influence materialism, which then drives green-brand commitment; however, contrary to expectations, they do not drive green-brand connection.
Originality/value
By considering green brands beyond their cognitive aspects and into their affective counterparts, morality–mortality drivers of green-brand commitment and green-grand connection are explored to provide unique contributions so as to better understand socially responsible consumption.
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