TITLE:
Analysis of the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Customer Loyalty in the Egyptian Hypermarkets Sector
AUTHORS:
Nada H. Naguib, Niveen M. El Saghier, Nada M. Eman
KEYWORDS:
Corporate Social Responsibility, Loyalty, Trust, Brand Image, Satisfaction, Hypermarkets, Egypt
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.10 No.6,
June
29,
2023
ABSTRACT: Hypermarkets have experienced an increasingly growing and competitive market in the recent past including many multinational and local companies all battling to achieve customer loyalty. Thus their condition has necessitated the development of new models that have modernized elements. Businesses all around the globe are recognizing the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in their survival and development (Cuesta-Vali?o et al., 2019). The current study seeks to add information on the impact of CSR activities on improving trust and brand image, and simultaneously investigate the impact of these variables on customer satisfaction and loyalty. To accomplish this objective, a causal framework was developed and tested using a structured e-survey. The questionnaire was collected from a sample of 539 customers (of which 350 were valid responses) in hypermarkets in Egypt. An analysis using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Structural Equational Modeling (SEM) tests revealed that ethical, philanthropic, and economic CSR activities carried out by the hypermarket significantly impacted brand image, while only ethical and legal responsibilities had a direct and substantial influence on customer trust. Finally, it was revealed that trust and image impact customer satisfaction and eventually lead to loyalty. To sum up, these findings support CSR’s indirect effect on customer loyalty, which is intervened by these relational variables. As a result, in the context of hypermarkets, CSR is a crucial method for creating a long-term consumer-company connection.