The impact of CSR on consumer-corporate connection and brand loyalty A cross cultural investigation

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship among consumers' corporate associations, consumer-corporate connection, and corporate brand loyalty, with a particular focus on the moderating role of national culture. Design/methodology/approach - The conceptual framework is tested on American and South Korean subjects. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypothesized framework. Findings - The positive influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations on social self-concept connection is stronger in collectivist than individualist culture, whereas the positive influence of personal self-concept connection on his/her loyalty to the corporate brand is stronger in individualist than collectivist culture. Research limitations/implications - The study relied on participants' memory about a product and a manufacturing company of a product. It is possible that their memories about the product and manufacturing company could be incomplete and be tainted by their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a particular product they experienced rather than overall brand image of the company's products. Practical implications - Firms are advised to assess how customers of the target market across different national cultures perceive their CSR initiatives and corporate competences in deciding on the type of images and associations to invest and build, that is, either authentic CSR activities or product quality competence. Originality/value - A substantiation of the moderating role of national culture on the impact of a consumer's corporate associations on his/her self-concept connections as well as on the impact of self-concept connections on his/her corporate brand loyalty.