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Curvilinear Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility and Benevolence on Loyalty

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Abstract

Building consumer loyalty remains a key priority but is also problematic for managers, since many loyalty improvement programs based on corporate associations investments regularly fail to deliver intended results. A possible explanation for this unpleasant situation likely relates to managers’ focus in maximizing rather than optimizing investments in loyalty improvement programs. Building on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and trust literatures, this study conceptualizes and empirically examines the non-linear effects of multiple loyalty and trust determinants, including values-driven CSR motivations, service quality, benevolence and trust. The results suggest the hygiene role of values-driven CSR-induced attributions, the motivator role of consumer benevolence and the bivalent mechanisms of perceived service quality and trust. Furthermore, the study recognizes consumer trust as an important mediating mechanism through which the postulated curvilinearities affect loyalty intentions. The study contributes to the study of consumer loyalty and trust mechanisms, by recognizing these mechanisms as being non-linear and complex.

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Notes

  1. Relevant calculation (see Figure 2) suggests an optimal point of 6.4 on a 10-point Likert scale.

  2. We thank an anonymous reviewer for suggesting this point.

  3. Relevant calculation (see Figure 2) suggests an inflection point of 5.0 on a 10-point Likert scale.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ALBA Graduate Business School at The American College of Greece, Athens, Greece

    Pavlos A Vlachos

  2. Graduate School of DEREE, The American College of Greece, Aghia Paraskevi, Greece

    Areti Krepapa

  3. Department of Marketing and Communication, Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece

    Nikolaos G Panagopoulos

  4. WIZZ IT S.A., Athens, Greece

    Argiris Tsamakos

Authors
  1. Pavlos A Vlachos
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  2. Areti Krepapa
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  3. Nikolaos G Panagopoulos
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  4. Argiris Tsamakos
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Appendix A

Appendix A

Table A1

Table A1 Measurement Model (Standardized Estimates)
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Vlachos, P., Krepapa, A., Panagopoulos, N. et al. Curvilinear Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility and Benevolence on Loyalty. Corp Reputation Rev 16, 248–262 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/crr.2013.15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/crr.2013.15

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