Predicting behavioral loyalty through corporate social responsibility: The mediating role of involvement and commitment
研究消费者对企业社会责任的感知能否预测行为忠诚，发现参与起正向中介作用，但承诺中介后效应转负，表明CSR对忠诚的贡献不如以往研究认为的稳健。
This study examines whether consumers' perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities can predict behavioral loyalty, and how two attitudinal constructs drawing from the means-end chain model—involvement and commitment—mediate this relationship. A field study of 634 customers of an Australian professional football team was conducted by combining attitudinal surveys with actual behavioral data collected one year later. The results revealed a positive mediating effect of involvement on the relationship between perceived CSR and behavioral loyalty. However, when the effect of involvement on behavioral loyalty was mediated by commitment, the indirect effect of perceived CSR turned negative. The findings of this study indicate that the contribution of CSR initiatives to behavioral loyalty is not as robust as past research suggests, and is also contingent upon specific psychological states activated by consumers' perceptions of such initiatives.