Customer responses to the CSR of banking companies

The purpose of this paper is to apply a thoroughly tested model to the study of how corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions impact customers’ affective and behavioural responses in the banking industry. As a contribution to the previous literature, the moderating role of the type of company (savings banks vs. commercial banks) in the conceptual model is explored.

A structural equation model is tested with information collected from 648 customers of savings banks and 476 customers of commercial banks.

The findings demonstrate that CSR perceptions positively impact customer identification with the banking company, emotions, satisfaction, recommendation and repurchase behaviours in both samples. However, CSR is perceived differently by customers depending on the type of banking company that implements it. Thus, its effects on customers’ affective and behavioural responses are different.

Practitioners should not try to promote the best CSR approach for a standardised organisation, regardless of its special industry characteristics. They should be aware of the differences customers perceive in companies to adapt their CSR initiatives to the expectations of their targets.

The contributions of the paper are two-fold. On the one hand, the banking industry has been scarcely explored by previous scholars. On the other hand, the authors explain the role that the type of banking company plays in the conceptual model proposed in the paper because significant differences are observed among savings bank customers and commercial bank customers concerning their affective and behavioural responses to CSR perceptions.