Abstract
Purpose
– This study seeks to examine perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) with a focus on ethical and legal questions, related to the constructs such as recovery satisfaction, customer trust, and loyalty after a service failure.
Design/methodology/approach
– An empirical test was conducted on this relationship in the context of service failure and recovery. A structural equation model was employed to test the hypotheses.
Findings
– Results indicate that perceived CSR has a significant impact on customer trust and loyalty and that customer trust serves as a key mediating variable in service recovery.
Research limitations/implications
– This study provides a theoretical implication for the relationship between perceived CSR and the relationship constructs such as service recovery satisfaction, customer trust, and loyalty.
Practical implications
– The results suggest that managers may need to be aware of perceived CSR as a key variable in restoring customer loyalty. The results further suggest that perceived CSR has a direct and indirect positive effect on loyalty; perceived CSR has a direct impact on loyalty, but it also has an indirect influence on loyalty through customer trust.
Originality/value
– In an attempt to deepen the understanding of how customer perceptions of firm CSR are connected with other customer-related outcomes during service recovery, the present research proposes a comprehensive model which encompasses CSR and other key relationship constructs after a service failure and recovery.