A study of the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility and price image on retailer personality and consumers' reactions (satisfaction, trust and loyalty to the retailer)

Cindy Lombart (1) , Didier Louis (2)

1 Audencia Recherche
2 LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique

This study investigates the impact of a retailer's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy and its price image on retailer personality, along with the impact of these two variables on the consequences of retailer personality: consumers' satisfaction, trust and loyalty toward the retailer (measured by their attitude and future behavioral intentions). Data were collected on a convenience sample of 352 consumers of a French grocery retailer. Using Partial Least Squares analysis (PLS), we show that perceived Corporate Social Responsibility and price image have a significant positive/negative influence on retailer personality traits ("agreeableness" and "conscientiousness"/"disingenuousness") and that Corporate Social Responsibility has also a significant positive influence on the "sophistication" personality trait. For the consequences examined (satisfaction, trust and loyalty to the retailer), we show that Corporate Social Responsibility, price image and retailer personality have a direct or indirect impact on these dependent variables.

Mots clés: Retailer personality; Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); Price image; Consumer satisfaction; Consumer trust; Consumer loyalty

Domaines: Gestion et management

Cindy Lombart, Didier Louis. A study of the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility and price image on retailer personality and consumers' reactions (satisfaction, trust and loyalty to the retailer). Journal of retailing and consumer services, 2014, 21 (4), pp.630-642. ⟨10.1016/j.jretconser.2013.11.009⟩. ⟨hal-01027577⟩