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The purpose of this paper is to understand the perception of the bankers towards an integrated approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in a strategic way of achieving sustainable growth of the banking sector. The paper additionally provides insights into different CSR initiatives and their implementation process in the context of scheduled commercial banks (SCB) of India.

The study is exploratory and endorses the qualitative approach of primary research methodology by adopting a non-random stratified sampling method. The localist approach of the face-to-face interview has been applied to collect the data from 26 elite class respondents from 13 SCBs. The interview method was semi-structured and open-ended. The conformity, trustworthiness, credibility, transferability, dependability test of the study have ensured the quality of the data.

The study reveals that the bankers perceive CSR as a moral obligation for the benefit of the society, beyond the regular banking operations. Further, the study comprehends that the CSR initiatives play a vital role in establishing the bank's image, brand and reputation, as well as, building a strong bond of trust among the employees and the bank management. Besides, CSR activities facilitate to cultivate a better culture by improvising in the quality of customer service for achieving competitive advantages.

The findings of the study represent a significant contribution to CSR theory from the interface of banking and society. Significantly, the results confirm that CSR initiatives play a vital role in building trust and minimise the gap between the employees and the management of the bank. The banks can increase its acceptance in the society and achieve competitive advantage by integrating CSR objectives with the business objectives to strengthen the corporate personality and brand.

The study will help practitioners to develop the social identity of their firm to achieve competitive advantages in long-run. The bankers can channelise their limited resources while planning, designing and the implementation of different CSR activities with the overall goal of the bank in a cost-effective way. The study is confined only to public and private SCBs and limited to the geographical scope of one state in India. Therefore, further exploration may be carried out by considering other banks and geographic regions in India and different cross-cultural settings.

The originality of the study lies with the in-depth analysis and quality check of the data. The results can contribute significant value to the qualitative method of conducting research.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.