Co-creating a CSR Strategy with Customers to Deliver Greater Value

A CSR corporate social responsibility strategy that delivers socialsocial value to the communitycommunity , altruistic value to the customer, and value to the firm undertaking the program has the potential to ensure long-term commitment by firms to invest strategically in CSR corporate social responsibility . In further exploring the relationship between stakeholderstakeholder managementmanagement and CSR corporate social responsibility , co-creation and customer engagement is receiving a lot of attention within the discipline of Marketingmarketing , and extending this to thinking about how customers can act as a useful resource for, and be truly engaged in addressing social issues is an exciting direction. The developmentdevelopment of the Preference, Engagement, Loyalty ModelPreference, Engagement, Loyalty Model answers three critical questions—customers prefer firms address social issues which are aligned with their core purpose; customers are willing to be engaged in addressing the social issue, and if engaged, customers will be more loyal to the firm. Customer engagement was found to be a full mediator of the relationship between CSR corporate social responsibility issue preference and loyalty. These findings are significant. For organisations investing in a CSR corporate social responsibility program, adoption of the Preference, Engagement, Loyalty model demonstrates an opportunity for firms to not only deliver social benefit to the community, but to also use the program as a co-creation platform with their customers to achieve greater loyalty. Educators must embed the concept of engagement and co-creation within the teaching of CSR corporate social responsibility , and future research should further explore the relationship between societal marketing and engagement.