Developing and validating a CSR model of stakeholder satisfaction and loyalty: multidimensional constructs

Mohd Isa, Salmi

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an important strategic policy for organisations despite increasing pressures for its incorporation into business practices. A considerable amount of attention has been paid to the construct of CSR and yet research on the precise measurement of CSR has remained limited. Measures have been hampered by a lack of clarity in theoretical frameworks and empirical methods for the CSR construct. Given that the empirical study of CSR measurement is in an undeveloped state, this research describes efforts to justify and prove the relationship between measurement items and the construct. An instrument is developed based on a critical review of both the conceptualisation and practice of CSR. Based on a study among Malaysian stakeholders, this research conceptualises CSR as a multidimensional formative construct consisting of eight dimensions: process, policy, values, environment, personal, profit, people and political and offers a more universal framework to enhance developing country adoption and practice of CSR. Moreover the results of the study demonstrate how corporate social responsibility (CSR) multidimensional formative construct impacts on satisfaction and loyalty of stakeholders. The study’s hypothesised relationships were principally supported, i.e. CSR is positively associated with stakeholder loyalty and stakeholder satisfaction mediated the relationships. What has been expressed is a set of ideals that are possible, are likely to be manageable, and that pay due regard to the need for feasibility in regard to CSR measurement. This research should be seen as a response to a problem of the prolonged dilemma that the disciplinary boundaries of the contested concept of CSR often make it difficult to contend with. The analysis led to the development of a practitioner-based model of CSR multidimensional formative construct that in some aspects differs from the existing conceptualisation of CSR. The formative CSR construct and insights gained from stakeholders’ view open up a critique that diverges from a discourse dominated by the technical question of how to perform CSR better or more efficiently. A CSR measurement model, the constraints of the process of the development of CSR measurement are acknowledged and the attempt made to reform it from within is presented in this study. In this regard, it is proposed that the agenda and scope of CSR, as well as the measures used to implement it, are a manifestation of the formative construct that corporations have to operationalise.

Citation

Mohd Isa, S. (2011). Developing and validating a CSR model of stakeholder satisfaction and loyalty: multidimensional constructs. (Thesis). University of Hull. Retrieved from https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4211603

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Nov 22, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 22, 2023
• Keywords: Business
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4211603
• Additional Information: Business School, The University of Hull
• Award Date: May 1, 2011