Emotional Attachement Effect On The Relation Between Corporate Social Responsibility And Customer Loyal Intention

The gap of dispute has narrowed between whether it should take corporate social responsibility or not as CSR theory explores. When it takes advantage of the corporate social initiative to avoid against the important stakeholders without lost of long benefits, the firm would involuntarily intend to commit CSR for profit maximization. The academic focus has transformed gradually from why to what and how. Nevertheless, the firms in CSR practice just take the role of ideological giant but behavioral dwarf. Lots of empirical study show, it is so complicate of relation between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance. The two performances are simultaneously both positive related and negative related as well as irrelevant. The same CSR thoughts result in different behaviors while the same behaviors lead to different financial outcomes. The gap narrowing in the theoretical discussion does not fortunately happen in practical conflicts. On the other hand, consumers come to take the CSR in regard when they buy products, and the firms depend on critically their money votes. Corporate social initiative makes more and more significant effect on consumer response. As the key stakeholder to the firm, consumers come to gather the most powerful group in social public. The firm just satisfy the customers with their economic benefits, however, the customers has taken caring from own benefits to the others' one with the proving of resistance to sweatshop and support to Wanglaoji in Wenchuan Earthquake donation. Is there any mediation in the transformation from corporate social initiative to corporate financial performance? And what is the mediate effect? After the satisfaction of own economic benefit, why consumers ask for more to identify the firm? What are those additional requirements? What kind of consumers would take sensitive reaction to the CSR? And what is the mechanism for firm to get consumers money votes?Focused on the relation between firm and consumers, the paper established a logic path of "CSR→Consumer Emotional Attachment→Loyalty Intention" to analyze systematically the relation between CSR and customer response. The theoretical study and empirical study are both applied in the research. First, it examines the CSR theory, CSR and customer response research and emotional attachment theory based on the international and domestic literatures. By the help of emotional attachment research, the paper studies the relation between CSR and consumer loyalty intention. On the view of firm-customer relation, the mediate effect of emotional attachment on CSR to loyalty intention, the moderate effect of customer personality traits (altruism, need of activity and self-enhancement) on CSR to emotional attachment, and the mediated moderatate effect of traits are explored. Second, the empirical research takes experiment to control the CSR level with the domain of environment protection, employee treatment and charitable giving. The investigation surveys customer personality traits, emotional attachment and loyalty intention by questionnaires. The theoretical model is tested for its reliability and validity by EFA and adjusted by CFA further. The hypotheses are proved to be true by the data analysis with ANOVA and regression method, and the theoretical model is explained of the personality traits and emotional attachment effect on firm-customer bond.Results indicate:(1) CSR is the internalization of stakeholders'personality inside the firm. Firm provides a stage for the stakeholders going while the stakeholders fill the firm with personality traits. Firm is not able to have personality. It is only human could get self-appraisal taking norm internalization to achieve self-gratifying, self-enabling and self-enriching. By the help from the firm, customer could satisfy its altruism, need of activity and self-enhancement from corporate social initiative.(2) It is the emotional tie that connects strongly between the firm and customers. As customers have various choices in the market economy, it is difficult to prevent betray and establish customer loyalty. Taking the customers'emotional attachment as the mediator variable, the paper investigates the relation of CSR loyalty→intertion and finds that, a high level of CSR leads to higher levels of emotional attachment than a low level of CSR; high customer emotional attachment results in high loyalty intention; customer emotional attachment mediates partially the effect of CSR on loyalty intention. Customers with emotiaonal attachment to the firm could keep even improve their customer loyalty through the affectional tie with the firm. CSR comes to be a mean of marketing strategy to set up the emotional bond.(3) It is indicated that CSR is the important resource offerred to the customers to make personality association with firm. Takeing the CSR as an antecedent of customer emotional attachment, the paper shows corporate social initiative provides hedonic, functional and symbolic resources for customer emotional attachment; with those resources supplied by firm, customers could realize self-gratify, self-enabling and self-enriching. By promotion of these three resources, corporate social initiative comes to be a mean to encourage customers'personality association and improve the connection between customers and firm.(4) Customers with specific personality traits would be more sentitive to corporate social initive. Thoses customers are identified with high altruism, high need of activities and high self-enhancement, which is contribute to firm's marketing segment.(5) Customers'personality traits are proved to be one of the key origins of firm to achieve money vote. In the dimention of personality traits, the paper investigates the boundry of CSR and emotional attachment and finds that, it is altruism, need of activity and self-enhancement that moderate the relation of CSR and customer emotional attachment. The heterogeneity of customer makes variations on emotional attachment induced by CSR change. The more the customer is altruistic and the higher level of need for activity and self-enhancement, the greater the CSR alters customers'emotional attachment.The values of the paper are as follows:Theoretically, the paper introduced a new paradigm in the research on CSR. By the help of emotional attachment, the psychological paradigm is used to study the consumer heterogeneity on CSR and loyalty intention. In addition, the paper brings new practical topic to emotional attachment theory. The corporate social initiative builds emotional bond between the firm and consumers and satisfy the customers' self-gratifying, self-enabling and self-enriching for emotional attachment. Moreover, the paper explores the attitude theory studying customers. By the help of emotional attachment research, it brings affection into the relation between customers and firm and indicates the emotion also cause customers'behavior intention through logical and empirical analysis.Practically, the paper surveys the CSR-emotional attachment link, customer emotional attachment-loyalty intention link, CSR-loyalty intention link and customers'personality traits affecting on CSR-emotional attachment. Recommendations are also discussed for firms:Firms should establish strategic relation with customers by emotional bond; Firms should distinguish customers' psychological attempt of self when taking CSR; Firms should focus on sharing heart in stead of sharing wallet when taking CSR.The paper also blazes new trails as follows:First, the paper selects the view from relation of firm and customers to examine corporate social initiative. There are two angle of CSR study, one is from external of the firm and other is from internal. AS CSR is a topic connecting firm and society, it is inappropriate neither on external nor on internal. The link of firm and customer helps to takes a new look on CSR and customer response.Second, the paper pioneers the emotional attachment on the research on CSR and customer response. Most customer relation strategy is studied at the paradigm of satisfaction-trust-loyalty. But it is exclusive and unpredictable to keep customer loyalty. The construct of emotional attachment is the one beyond the attitude to investigate relations of CSR and customer response.Third, the paper initiates the psychological analysis on research of CSR-customer response link. The stakeholder theory claims the firm-customer link is based on mutual satisfaction of benefits, especially of economic one. However, customers not only focus on their own but also the environment protection, employee treatment and charitable giving. By the psychological method, the paper explores customers' need for self-knowledge, self-experience and self-regulation to achieve the emotional tie by CSR.CSR research is a Multidisciplinary study cross philosophy, sociology, ethics, economics, management and psychology. What the paper established, "CSR→Consumer Emotional Attachment→Loyalty Intention", is a primary and partial framework. Limited by data, time and personal ability, the study has some shortcoming. It is expected to identify new determinants and explore their new effect process for further research.