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

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to measure the absolute impact of corporate citizenship actions on the operable elements of the public image by developing an adequate and parsimonious instrument. Design/methodology/approach Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are used, where initially a literature review is systematized, then related statements are created, examined and confirmed. Altogether, 296 responses have been tested at discrete points, allowing for a temporal split-up of observations, where the first 148 forms have been used for exploratory factor analysis and the remaining 148 for confirmatory factor analysis. Findings The results of exploratory factor analysis revealed that the proposed instrument contains 13 items under three components: corporate citizenship and public affiliation; corporate citizenship and public allegiance; and corporate citizenship and public accomplishment. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis findings attest to the completeness, robustness and fitness of the same. Research limitations/implications This experiment would serve as an inducement that would bridge the theoretical and empirical gap between corporate citizenship and public image by imparting an extensive perspective. Originality/value Perhaps on account of the lack of an inclusive instrument, the holistic view of corporate citizenship has secured quite less empirical attention so far, particularly from the perception of that group of stakeholders who manifest wholeness. This study, thus by making a ground-breaking methodological endeavor with the conceptually established construct of public image, would abet in shaping a new class of “wholistic”, i.e. whole and holistic corporations.