The Relationship of CSR Communication on Social Media with Consumer Purchase Intention and Brand Admiration

Abstract

With the advent of the Internet and other digital technologies, contemporary businesses from all sectors are using social media for communication with consumers to engage them meaningfully with a brand. However, the use of social media for corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication is relatively new to the existing literature. Likewise, the impact of CSR communication through social media (CSR-S) on consumer emotions and behavior is, to date, underexplored. To address this, the present research aims to test the relationship of CSR-S on brand admiration and consumer purchase intention. The study proposes a direct relationship between CSR-S and purchase intention with a mediating effect of brand admiration. The data were collected from the banking consumers of Pakistan through a self-administered questionnaire. The authors distributed 800 questionnaires and received 463 questionnaires useful for data analysis, so the present research study response rate was around 59%. The data were analyzed using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique in AMOS. The results revealed that CSR-S is positively related to purchase intention (β = 0.233). The results further showed that brand admiration partially mediates this relationship (β = 0.079). The survey respondents confirmed that their bank’s CSR communication helps enhance their purchase likelihood and their feelings of admiration for their bank. These findings will help policymakers at banking institutions better understand the importance of CSR communication on different social media platforms to achieve consumer-related outcomes.

Influencer’larin Algilanan Özelli̇kleri̇ni̇n Tüketi̇ci̇ Satin Alma Davranişi Üzeri̇ndeki̇ Etki̇si̇

“…Another important finding of the study is that admiration has a significant and positive effect on purchase intention. Again, this result is similar to many research results in the literature (Freeman and Chan, 2015;Trivedi and Sama, 2019;Çolakoğlu and Köleoğlu, 2020;Gupta et al, 2021).…”

“…According to Freeman and Chen (2015), the consumers intending to purchase a product that admires influencers' are influenced positively. According to the literature, it is observed that admiration has positive effects on purchase intention (Trivedi and Sama, 2020;Çolakoğlu and Köleoğlu, 2020;Gupta et al, 2021). In this context, we investigate the effect of admiration on purchase intention in the view of influencers' characteristics.…”

The Linkage of Perceived CSR, Corporate Reputation, Organizational Commitment, and Purchase Intention

“…Therefore, CSR at this time is not only a social activity but also as a strategy to improve reputation and can lead to increased sales. Some literature proves that there is indeed a significant influence of CSR on purchase intention (Dang et al, 2020;Hoang et al 2020;Cheng et al 2021;Gupta et al 2021). Alniacik et al (2020 found that the relationship between CSR and purchase intention can be strengthened by the presence of a personal value orientation.…”

Fundamental Power of Social Media Interactions for Building a Brand and Customer Relations

“…Against the background of these developments, research in the fields of digital marketing and public relations (PR) has highlighted the potential of the Internet as a tool for dialogue and symmetrical communication [45,46]. The theoretical foundations have clearly shown that the orientation of organizations' dialogue towards consumers is a feature of modern social media communication [47,48]. The reasons for this are especially evident in digitalization, during which communication about products and services creates competitive advantages.…”