CSR, brand image, brand advocacy and brand commitment: a moderated mediation approach

Purpose This study aims to identify the wide scope of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in brand-related consumer outcomes and to map its effect on CSR congruence. This study proposes a moderated mediated mechanism that combines brand identification as a mediator and CSR congruence as a moderator to examine the impact of CSR on consumer brand advocacy, brand image and brand commitment in retail banking services. Design/methodology/approach The sample of 391 Indian retail bank clients served as the source of the responses for this descriptive study. The respondents, chosen using the convenience sampling method, were given self-reporting questionnaires. The proposed hypotheses were tested using path analytic processes with the PROCESS 3.0 macro and measurement model analysis with IBM AMOS 21.0. Findings The findings show that brand identification mediates the relationship between consumer perception of CSR and brand image, brand advocacy and brand commitment, and CSR congruence moderates between CSR and brand image, brand advocacy and brand commitment, with higher/lower levels of CSR congruence strengthening/weakening the impact of CSR on brand image, brand advocacy and brand commitment. Originality/value This study uses a mediated moderation model to explain the importance of consumer perception of CSR to brand-related outcomes by integrating and extending prior findings into a nomological network of micro-CSR.