Purpose This study aims to ascertain the impact of customer perception of CSR activities (philanthropic, environmental and ethical) conducted on various consumer and corporate related dimensions including; customer loyalty, consumer attachment, corporate performance and repurchase intention. The study also adds value by taking customer perception of CSR as a mediator between green image and performance. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modelling is used after using different (valid and reliable) instruments to measure latent constructs. The study has a sample size of 250 “CSR Consumers”, who had some knowledge and awareness of CSR and green image being advertised and or labelled by the company (such as printing “Recycled” or other eco-friendly images/labels on shopping bag, fliers, outlets, etc.) and are consumers/customers of such firms. The respondent’s awareness was measured by randomly asking them to recall organizations that might have eco-friendly policies. Findings The key findings of the study are that perceived fit of culture along with CSR capability radically influences CSR perception within consumer minds and so, subsequently, customer attachment and overall performance of the corporation. The outcomes bestow significant ramifications for marketing and advertising philosophy combined with practice. Practical implications Stakeholders exist in the form of consumers other than employees. So consumer satisfaction must be imparted its fair share of importance. Managers must make sure that initiatives for societal benefit are well accepted and well recognized by consumers in a positive array of light. Corporations enthusiastically involved in initiating CSR activities and forecast a positive income. The study guides managers into not falling in this misconception and by recognizing that the fact is that the company managers must only expect higher performance levels once their CSR is in synchronization with the firm’s culture. Originality/value A number of studies have been conducted about CSR practices in the Indian context for example (Khan and Atkinson, 1987; Krishna, 1992; Arora and Puranik, 2004; Sood and Arora, 2006; Mishra and Suar, 2010); however, there is dearth of research in its neighbouring country Pakistan about CSR practices and consumer perceptions. Therefore, this research aims to fill this gap by examining CSR practices in Pakistan which has similar historical and colonial roots with India. In doing so, this study ascertains the impact of CSR activities conducted on various consumer and corporate related dimensions that incorporate customer loyalty, consumer attachment and corporate performance.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether an organization can create customer engagement by practicing market orientation, personalization and using multi-channel marketing. The proposed conceptual framework is empirically tested using quantitative data. Survey data were collected from 240 students of both private and public universities in Pakistan. The findings show support that market orientation and personalization do not lead to customer engagement but multi-channel marketing does have a relationship with customer engagement. The proposed mediation of personalization and multi-channel marketing was not empirically supported. The results of this research suggest that firms should practice multi-channel marketing to interact with the target market. Multi-channel marketing is most likely to keep the existing and potential consumers engaged. This study adds value to the literature by providing an explanation of the impact of the two inbound marketing themes; personalization and multi-channel marketing and their consequent relationship with customer engagement.

This study explores how the attractiveness of digital influencers effects a customer’s relationship with the influencers and the brands they endorse on Instagram. The structural model analyzes the impact of social attractiveness, physical attractiveness and attitude homophily on parasocial interaction; and parasocial interaction’s effect in establishing brand engagement in self-concept, brand loyalty and brand relationship quality, while simultaneously examining the level of privacy concern consumers have in sharing personal information. Survey research was conducted whereby online questionnaires were distributed to followers of fashion influencers on Instagram. To analyze the results, a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was adopted using Smart PLS 3.0 in order to test the proposed structural model. The results showed that the model was highly reliable with strong validity. All constructs were statistically significant with full mediation, however the moderator, tested through multi-group analysis, proved to be insignificant.

With the presence of increasingly similar products in the fashion apparel retail industry, the real challenge today is to steer marketing communication efforts in the direction of developing consumer-brand bonds that are interpersonal in nature, and also simultaneously acknowledging the role of market mavens as strong external influencers in this regard. Hence, the major area of focus this to analyze the relationship among three brand positioning strategies; feature, surrogate and benefit brand positioning strategy with brand love, while investigating the effect of market mavens on brand love and brand positioning. Building onto the extant literature, for the purpose of this study, a theoretical model is proposed and tested with survey data from 607 young consumers of private universities. All of the three brand positioning strategies show a significant relationship with brand love, which is moderated by an interpersonal influence of market mavens. However, the interaction effects of all three brand positioning strategies vary in strength. The results of the study also draw up a demographic profile of market mavens, suggesting that they are most likely to be female, well educated, slightly older consumers residing in metropolitan cities, thereby suggesting concrete practical implications towards the end.

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