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The aim of the research is to identify the factors that create an authentic company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement and to investigate whether an authentic CSR engagement influences the purchase intention. In addition, the study attempts to provide insights into the mediation role of attitude toward the company and frequency of purchase on purchase intention.

In this study, a theoretical framework is developed in which major antecedents of authentic CSR are identified. A specific example of a brand and its corporate social responsibility activities was used for the study. An online questionnaire was used to collect the data. To verify the hypothesis, structural equation modeling with the partial least squares method was used. A total of 240 people participated in the study.

The results of the study confirmed that CSR authenticity positively influences consumer purchase intention. Furthermore, the hypothesized impact of CSR authenticity on attitudes toward the company and frequency of purchase could be verified.

Although there is research on the antecedents influencing the consumer's perceived authenticity of CSR, it has not addressed differences in impact and has not presented a full picture of influencing antecedents. In addition, CSR proof as a new antecedent is investigated in the study. Moreover, research on outcomes of perceived CSR authenticity still lacks depth. The study therefore addresses this research gap by providing an extensive research framework including antecedents influencing CSR authenticity and outcomes of CSR authenticity.

The current study aims to propose and empirically investigate a conceptual model of the most relevant antecedents and consequences of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) attribution, thus providing a practical and concise model as well as examining brand attachment as a mediator explaining the relationship between CSR attribution and its consequences.

A between-subjects experimental design was employed. The study included two experimental conditions; intrinsic and extrinsic CSR attribution and a control condition. An online self-administered survey was utilised for data collection. The sample was a convenience sample of 336 university students. Both one-way between-groups ANOVA and Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) were utilised for hypotheses testing.

The most significant antecedents of CSR attribution in order of importance are the firm's approach to CSR communication, past corporate social performance, CSR type and the firm's call for customers' participation in its CSR. CSR attribution exerted a significant direct positive impact on brand attachment and trust. Three significant indirect consequences of CSR attribution were PWOM intention, purchase intention and brand loyalty intention. Whereas trust played a significant mediating role between CSR attribution and its three indirect consequences, brand attachment exerted significant mediation only between CSR attribution and brand loyalty intention. Brand attachment might mediate the relationship between CSR attribution and purchase intention. However, brand attachment failed to play a mediating role between CSR attribution and PWOM intention.

Several studies marginally investigated CSR attribution. Despite the vital role of CSR attribution in how consumers receive firms' CSR engagement, the availability of CSR attribution-centric studies is limited. By introducing a model of the most relevant antecedents and consequences of CSR attribution, this study aids in understanding the psychological mechanism underlying consumers' CSR attribution and provides valuable implications.

This study examines whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives positively impact customers’ selection of retail banks in Hong Kong (HK) and identifies which CSR domains affect customers’ selection of banks.

This study adopted a quantitative approach. Primary data were collected from 416 customers of 22 retail banks in HK. The theoretical framework of this study was developed from a literature review, prior studies by Oberseder et al. (2013 and 2014), and CSR initiatives implemented by leading retail banks in HK. Descriptive statistics and statistical tests were used to analyze the data.

The study found that CSR initiatives positively affect customers’ bank selection. CSR initiatives related to the customer and environment domains are likely to have a greater impact on customers than those related to the society domain and are not likely to significantly impact customers’ bank selection.

This study contributes to the CSR literature by offering enhanced insight into the dynamics of CSR and its effects on customer bank selection. Furthermore, this study tests consumers’ perceptions of CSR initiatives in each CSR domain in the banking sector in Hong Kong – a novel approach that has not been previously explored in existing studies. These findings can help banks review the effectiveness of their CSR initiatives and make informed decisions on which initiatives should pursue improved CSR performance and efficient resource allocation.

This paper aims to determine what the brand performance consequences of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities would be during times of recession for well-known brands.

Based on signaling theory, this paper investigates if CSR activities serve to signal higher brand value for consumers via perceptions of better quality and greater differentiation, specifically during recessions. This study incorporates a representative longitudinal sample of known US firms for the analyses, which is accomplished through generalized method of moments estimations.

The findings empirically demonstrate that CSR initiatives during recessions are actually associated with increased perceptions of brand value. More specifically, during recessions, CSR initiatives such as charitable contributions provide a signal to customers of higher brand quality.

This study did not control for the costs of doing specific CSR activities that may be less visible to consumers.

While individual firms or managers may not be able to prevent recessions from happening, they can limit the negative impact of recessions on their performance by engaging in CSR activities (or refrain from cutting back) during these times.

Because CSR initiatives during recessions result in more favorable consumer perceptions of the brand, engaging in CSR aligns both social and managerial interests, owing to the economic gains from CSR investments.

During times of recession, some critics indicate that CSR may be an unaffordable luxury. On the contrary, this research shows that managers may want to consider CSR activities as a means of increasing the value of their brands, especially during economic recessions.

This paper aims to examine the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on financial performance (FP) of Indian steel industry in terms of value-added (VAM), profitability (PM), market (MM) and growth measures (GM).

It is an empirical study using secondary data of 40 companies for 14 years collected from CSR/annual reports/official websites of the companies and Prowess database. The panel regression analysis, MANOVA and univariate ANOVA have been conducted to examine the impact of CSR on FP.

The result indicates a positive impact of CSR on FP in terms of VAM, PM and GM, thereby indicating that more investments in CSR will generate wealth for shareholders, enhance profitability and sales. Moreover, this study shows no noticeable relationship between CSR and MM.

This study contributes to the literature on the CSR–FP relationship and also has implications for managers, investors and other stakeholders. Companies with higher CSR rating create a brand image, attract proficient employees, get greater profit, loyal customers and have less possibility of bribery and corruption. This study may result in being influential to companies confined not only to this sector but also reaching to the others, thus inspiring them to contribute their share of profit for the welfare of society.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, it is the first comprehensive study to examine the impact of CSR on FP of Indian steel industry by considering four dimensions for measuring FP. It provides evidence about the relationship between CSR and FP.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how hospitality companies can best explain controversial corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to consumers who may not agree with the CSR activity. This research explores message framing through emotional and cognitive appeals to influence consumer perceptions of the Gideon Bible in USA hotel rooms. The study uses the theory of deontic justice to measure the impacts of messaging on consumer perceptions of the morality of the Gideon Bible as suicide prevention in hotels and its relation to controversial CSR initiatives.

The study uses an experimental study design via a self-administered survey to analyze participants’ perceptions of the placement of the Gideon Bible in hotel rooms and participants’ attitudes toward CSR initiatives based on deontic justice and religion using different message framing conditions.

Results show that religion was a major determinant of attitude towards the Gideon Bible, but the sentiment analysis also revealed that negative perceptions can be mitigated through message framing via emotional and cognitive appeals. Additionally, the cognitive appeal did impact CSR perceptions, as did identifying as Christian. Moral outrage emerged as a significant moderator for the relationships between message framing, attitudes toward the Gideon Bible and CSR.

This study provides an extension of deontic justice research to examine justice traits in accepting controversial CSR.

This study aims to investigate how organizational culture (OC) and transformational leadership (TL) affect corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance (environmental performance and social performance) and financial performance (FP) in the context of the Italian manufacturing sector. Grounded in resource-based view theory, this study explores how these factors influence sustainable firm performance.

Data gathered from 260 employees were analyzed to examine the multidimensional aspects of CSR, encompassing social and environmental sustainability.

The findings highlight the pressing need for sustainable firm performance in the existing environment, supporting the hypothesis that firms achieve sustainable and FP through the recognition of TL and OC. Moreover, a positive and significant relationship between CSR performance and FP was established, underscoring the strategic importance of integrating CSR initiatives into core business practices. This study offers valuable insights for both academia and firms, providing theoretical and practical implications that underscore the importance of cultivating a robust OC to drive performance enhancements.

This study is novel because it is one of the first, to the best of the author’s knowledge, to analyze the relationships between TL, OC and performance components associated with CSR.

The study attempts to examine the impact of mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending and inclusion of firms into the environment, social and governance (ESG) index of BSE India on the performance of firms constituting firms under the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 100 Index.

The stock prices of the firms were collected from the official website of BSE India for a total of 32 firms and the System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) model was utilized for analyzing the data for the present study.

The study found that the investors in the Indian market do consider the CSR spending and ESG listing as a factor while framing the investment strategy; however, ESG listing is least preferred. Among the other variables, AGE, DPS, EPS and BVPS have a significant positive bearing on the firm's performance, while SIZE has a significant negative impact on the firm's performance.

Further investigation is needed to understand the factors that influence investment decision-making, including why investors tend to overlook CSR and environmental protection. Future research can identify ways to increase the importance of these factors in investment decision-making. Future research can explore the long-term impact of investing in socially responsible companies, including whether such investments lead to better long-term performance.

There is a need for increased awareness of the importance of CSR among investors. Educational programs and campaigns can be used to inform investors about the potential benefits of considering social responsibility factors in investment decision-making. Companies that prioritize CSR and environmental protection should distinguish themselves from competitors in the eyes of investors. This can lead to higher investment and potentially higher returns for these companies.

Since mandatory CSR expenditure and the launch of the ESG index by the BSE have been introduced in India recently, hardly any study in India has examined the impact of the same on the firm's performance.

Considering the significance of the human resource management (HRM) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) relationship, the aim of this research is twofold: first is to measure the cultural differences between HRM, CSR and sustainable performance relationship (study 1) and second is to identify the how HRM instigates CSR and sustainable performance (study 2) in the hospitality industry of UK and Pakistan.

A mixed-method approach was used to collect the qualitative and quantitative data from upscale hotels. In Study 1, a multi-respondent and time-lagged strategy was employed to collect the data from 162 Pakistani and 290 UK upscale hotels. In Study 2, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand the HRM–CSR–performance nexus.

The results of Study 1 highlight the significant cultural differences in the relationships of HRM–CSR–performance, while Study 2 explains that ethical culture, shared objectives, transparency, training and development, and economic incentives are the factors that push the employees to take part in CSR-related activities and attaining higher sustainable performance.

This study addresses the debate on the difference between cross-cultural studies related to implementing Western theories in shaping, developing and implementing business strategies, including CSR, HRM and sustainable performance in an Asian context.

As the new emerging workforce, Generation Y (Gen Y) is said to be demanding, influential and possessing strong bargaining power. This study examines the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on employee retention among Gen Y in the accounting profession. CSR is widely researched subject due to its applicability in multidisciplinary fields and industries. This research intends to investigate the nexus between CSR and human capital disciplines. It employs Carroll's pyramid of CSR as the main theoretical framework to establish its relationship with talent retention among Gen Y employees. This study has a threefold aim: (1) to determine the level of CSR awareness, (2) to determine the relationship between CSR dimensions and talent retention and (3) to examine the effect of CSR dimensions on talent retention.

The paper opted for an exploratory study using the structured questionnaire. A total of 377 Gen Y accountants who are currently working in accounting firms located in Klang Valley, Malaysia, were involved as respondents. Data were analyzed using descriptive, correlation and regression analyses to answer the research objectives.

The paper provided empirical insights about the impact brought by CSR practices in financial-based firms on employee retention. It was found that all CSR elements, as suggested by Carroll, have a significant relationship with employees’ retention. The interaction between the CSR elements and employee retention accounts for 16% of the research model. Based on the multiple regression analysis, it was found that only two CSR elements are the significant predictors of employee retention among Gen Y in the case of financial-based firms in Malaysia.

This research covers Gen Y employees in accounting firms; thus, generalization is not applicable to other generations. Besides, the predictors of the research study utilize Carroll’s pyramid of CSR. Therefore, future research studies are encouraged to validate the research model into other sectors. Other models of CSR could also be used.

This paper includes implication for the organization to understand employee retention practices on Gen Y who are currently dominating the workforce.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study how CSR practices could enhance employee retention among Gen Y in the organization.