An impetus for the research paradigm of corporate citizenship and customer loyalty: imprints from scale construction

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to construct a logical, consistent and validated instrument to appraise the effect of corporate citizenship on customer loyalty, all-inclusive of possible factors.Design/methodology/approachTo attain this intent, a literature review is organized at the onset and then statements are created, improved and confirmed. In total, 384 customer-filled forms have been analyzed in parts, initially with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and thereafter with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).FindingsEFA outcomes obtain 26 items and three dimensions: corporate citizenship and customer acquisition, corporate citizenship and customer inclination, and corporate citizenship and customer patronization. The comprehensiveness, solidness, and judiciousness of the same have been tested by CFA.Research limitations/implicationsThis investigation would function as an impetus that can further evolve the empirical paradigm of corporate citizenship and customer loyalty by significantly impacting theory and practice.Practical implicationsIt presents the pragmatic perspectives of customers about modern-age citizenship endeavors for marketers, thus attuning their socially responsible marketing movements with upright citizenship actions.Originality/valueSince the discipline of corporate citizenship has received inadequate empirical understanding from the marketing outlook, possibly because of the lack of a confirmed and consistent instrument from the customers' angle, this developed scale can fill up that space.

Measuring corporate citizenship and public image: evidence from scale development and validation

“…To gain an all-inclusive understanding, the position of public certainly needs to be put into examination, that too from the lands of developing states where this premise received relatively less consideration. For the construction of such a scale that could fill this methodological, theoretical and population gap, the instrument–development methodology of Churchill (1979) has been principally used as well as the useful measurement development practices (Hinkin, 1995), systematic research procedures (Piha et al , 2021), tips on the multilevel informant approach (Ko et al , 2019), matter-of-fact research directions (Quoquab et al , 2019) and essential guidelines for setting scale-development research design (Gulati and Shankar, 2023). To accomplish this, factor analysis has been used, as it is deemed to be a ubiquitously used method for scale development (Floyd and Widaman, 1995).…”

“…employees) or external (i.e. customers) stakeholders (Gulati and Shankar, 2023; Homer, 2022b; Küskü and Zarkada-Fraser, 2004; Lin and Liu, 2019; Maignan et al , 1999). But any research till now has neither made an attempt to fathom this concept from the perspective of the public nor contemplated the effect that creates an efficacious image for the corporation in their minds.…”