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Impact of customers’ perceptions regarding corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility in the grocery retailing industry: The role of corporate reputation

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  • Valérie Swaen

    (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Nathalie Demoulin

    (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Véronique Pauwels-Delassus

    (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Grocery retailers are making significant investments in their corporate marketing through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Yet, this sector has witnessed some of the greatest cases of corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR). The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating role of corporate reputation on the relationships between CSR/CSiR and customer trust, retailer equity, and share of wallet. As customers may hold a mixed set of positive and negative beliefs about retailers' CSR and CSiR, this paper also explores how customers' CSR and CSiR perceptions interact to impact corporate reputation. Based on a representative sample of 840 French customers surveyed with respect to a grocery retailer, our results show that customers' CSR perceptions positively influence corporate reputation, but that this relationship is negatively moderated by their CSiR perceptions. Our study also highlights the mediating role of corporate reputation between CSR perceptions and customer trust, retailer equity, and share of wallet.

Suggested Citation

  • Valérie Swaen & Nathalie Demoulin & Véronique Pauwels-Delassus, 2020. "Impact of customers’ perceptions regarding corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility in the grocery retailing industry: The role of corporate reputation," Post-Print hal-03132935, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03132935
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.12.016
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    5. Yi Luo & Hua Jiang & Linzhi Zeng, 2023. "Linking Informative and Factual CSR Communication to Reputation: Understanding CSR Motives and Organizational Identification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-22, March.
    6. Raghavendra, Ananya Hadadi & Bala, Pradip Kumar & Mukherjee, Arindam, 2024. "Text mining analysis of retail and consumer service leaders' sustainability narratives: Are they actually true?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Sánchez-Chaparro, Teresa & Soler-Vicén, Miguel Ángel & Gómez-Frías, Víctor, 2022. "Be good and look good: Communicating the triple bottom line through corporate websites," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 136-145.
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    9. Anita Mendiratta & Shveta Singh & Surendra Singh Yadav & Arvind Mahajan, 2023. "Bibliometric and Topic Modeling Analysis of Corporate Social Irresponsibility," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 24(3), pages 319-339, September.

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