Measuring CSR Image: Three Studies to Develop and to Validate a Reliable Measurement Tool
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Measuring CSR Image: Three Studies to Develop and to Validate a Reliable Measurement Tool Andrea Pe´rez • Ignacio Rodrı´guez del Bosque
Received: 11 June 2012 / Accepted: 26 November 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012
Abstract Although research on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) dimension of corporate image has notably increased in recent years, the definition and measurement of the concept for academic purposes still concern researchers. In this article, literature regarding the measurement of CSR image from a customer viewpoint is revised and areas of improvement are identified. A multistage method is implemented to develop and to validate a reliable scale based on stakeholder theory. Results demonstrate the reliability and validity of this new scale for measuring customer perceptions regarding the CSR performance of their service providers. With regard to this, CSR includes corporate responsibilities towards customers, shareholders, employees and society. The scale is consistent among diverse customer cohorts with different gender, age and level of education. Furthermore, results also confirm the applicability of this new scale to structural equation modelling. Keywords CSR CSR image Measurement tool Scale development
Introduction A comprehensive definition for understanding corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to it as all ‘company activities demonstrating the inclusion of social and environmental concerns in business operations, and in interactions with
A. Pe´rez (&) I. Rodrı´guez del Bosque ´ rea de Comercializacio´n e Investigacio´n de Mercados, A Universidad de Cantabria, Avda. Los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Cantabria, Spain e-mail: [email protected]
stakeholders, also according to the ambition levels of corporate sustainability’ (van Marrewijk 2003). This concept is increasingly gaining attention from both practitioners and scholars (e.g. Maignan and Ferrell 2004) because CSR investment has been demonstrated to lead to the recovery of corporate credibility in product and company crisis (Lin et al. 2011), the improvement of employee attraction and retention (Kim and Park 2011) or the establishment of beneficial relationships with customers and other primary stakeholders (Matute et al. 2010; Peloza and Shang 2011). Nevertheless, the increasing academic interest in this concept has also led to the development of divergent definitions of CSR (e.g. Carroll 1979; van Marrewijk 2003; Panwar et al. 2006), the proposal of related yet different constructs such as sustainable development, cause-related marketing or corporate social performance (e.g. Carroll 1979; Varadarajan and Menon 1988; Wood 1991) and the proposition of several methodologies to measure stakeholder perceptions of this management strategy (e.g. Lichtenstein et al. 2004; Maignan 2001; Panapanaan et al. 2003). Therefore, as it stands right now CSR literature seems blurred and disconnected. If this is the case, then the CSR concept now requires clarification, and new integrative approaches to the s
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