Extended Signaling Theory and Role of Corporate Social Responsibility and Brand Personality

Abstract

This research has offered an extended signaling theory model, which has extended the body of corporate social responsibility (CSR) knowledge in the existing literature. This research examines the association between CSR and brand experience, corporate reputation, brand personality, brand loyalty & consumer trust. The mall intercept control group was used to carry out this research. For the data analyses, we employed an SEM-based multivariate approach and assisted the formulated hypotheses from respondents of smartphone users. The study's outcomes show that brand personality, corporate reputation, and brand experience positively influence consumer trust. The outcomes further demonstrated that corporate social responsibility significantly and positively impacts personality, brand loyalty, and customer trust. This research also examined the mediating effect of brand personality between corporate reputation and brand loyalty and between corporate reputation and consumer trust. Moreover, the mediation of brand personality between CSR and brand loyalty and between CSR and consumer trust. The outcomes demonstrate that brand personality mediates brand loyalty and corporate reputation loyalty relationship, consumer trust, and corporate reputation relationship. However, brand personality does not mediate CSR and brand loyalty and CSR and consumer trust relationships. This research has important managerial and theoretical implications for industry practitioners and scholars.