Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) has become a standard tool for analyzing complex inter-relationships between observed and latent variables in tourism and numerous other fields of scientific inquiry. Along with the recent surge in the method’s use, research has contributed several complementary methods for assessing the robustness of PLS-SEM results. Although these improvements are documented in extant literature, research on tourism has been slow to adopt the relevant complementary methods. This article illustrates the use of recent advances in PLS-SEM, designed to ensure structural model results’ robustness in terms of nonlinear effects, endogeneity, and unobserved heterogeneity in a PLS-SEM framework. Our overarching aim is to encourage the routine use of these complementary methods to increase methodological rigor in the field.

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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of customerbased perceptual corporate sustainability on customer loyalty in a comparative manner, in four important industries (mobile telecommunications services, retail banking services, dairy products and personal care products) in a developing country. A consumer survey was implemented among a sample of 1464 consumers from the urban area of a developing European country. Our research reveals that customer-based perceptual corporate sustainability significantly and positively impacts customer loyalty in all investigated industries, with a stronger impact in retail banking services and a lower one in the case of personal care products. The research identifies those perceptual corporate sustainability dimensions which significantly impact customer loyalty and on which companies should focus within their marketing communication in order to increase customer loyalty. The paper brings relevant multi-sectorial insights, filling a regional knowledge gap, in the particular socio-cultural and economic context of a developing country, and thinking forward the general theoretical knowledge regarding the relationship between customer loyalty and perceptual corporate sustainability as complex constructs. Moreover, by using a quasi-exhaustive manner to conceptualise corporate sustainability, this paper complements previous research on the topic, in which corporate sustainability was constructed narrowly, within limited conceptual frameworks.

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