Impact of customers’ perceptions regarding corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility in the grocery retailing industry: The role of corporate reputation

Valérie Swaen (1) , Nathalie Demoulin (1) , Véronique Pauwels-Delassus (1)

1 LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221

Grocery retailers are making significant investments in their corporate marketing through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Yet, this sector has witnessed some of the greatest cases of corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR). The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating role of corporate reputation on the relationships between CSR/CSiR and customer trust, retailer equity, and share of wallet. As customers may hold a mixed set of positive and negative beliefs about retailers’ CSR and CSiR, this paper also explores how customers’ CSR and CSiR perceptions interact to impact corporate reputation. Based on a representative sample of 840 French customers surveyed with respect to a grocery retailer, our results show that customers’ CSR perceptions positively influence corporate reputation, but that this relationship is negatively moderated by their CSiR perceptions. Our study also highlights the mediating role of corporate reputation between CSR perceptions and customer trust, retailer equity, and share of wallet.

Mots clés: Corporate social responsibility; Corporate social irresponsibility; Corporate marketing; Corporate reputation; Customer trust

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Gestion et management

Valérie Swaen, Nathalie Demoulin, Véronique Pauwels-Delassus. Impact of customers’ perceptions regarding corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility in the grocery retailing industry: The role of corporate reputation. Journal of Business Research, 2020, ⟨10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.12.016⟩. ⟨hal-03132935⟩