The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Consumer Reaction with the Moderating Role of Corporate Core Competencies

Introduction: Corporate social responsibility is recognized as an essential action for organizations. Market studies show that there is a positive relationship between corporate social responsibility measures and consumer reaction to the company and its products. Banks, compared to other firms, play a key role in institutionalizing social responsibility in societies. The role of banks as facilitators and drivers of economic and business cycles, as wealth-creating institutions and as providers of services to local, national and international communities underscores the importance of these institutions in streamlining the social movement of social responsibility throughout the society.
Methodology: The present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of the data collection. The method of data collection is a field survey, and the tool of data collection is a standard questionnaire. The statistical population of the study is the customers of the banking industry in Ardabil. To determine the sample size, since the total number of the study population was unlimited, the Morgan table was used. In this table, a sample of 384 represented a large number of communities. To ensure that the number of sample cases was sufficient, and due to the possible non-cooperation of some people, the questionnaires were distributed among 600 people. Out of this number, 460 decomposable and analytical questionnaires were returned. The method of distributing the probabilistic questionnaire was available. The selection of this method was due to the big size of the community, the involvement of the customers of all the banks in Ardabil, time constraints for accurate classification, and difficult access to the customers. Based on this, with the discretion of the supervisor, a questionnaire was provided to those customers who were willing to cooperate. Of course, the researcher tried to distribute the questionnaires evenly among the city-level banks. In the present study, to test the research hypotheses, structural equation modeling was done using the Amos software.
Results and Discussion: Social issues and problems have recently attracted the attention of many experts and stakeholders in different societies as a result of the lack of care by organizations and managers for their social duties and responsibilities. Today, companies are committed to expressing the effects of their activities on the natural environment and society. Corporate social responsibility is considered essential for organizations. As a result, it has competitive advantages and positive economic results for companies. One of the most important stakeholders that are highly sensitive to corporate social responsibility initiatives are customers, who are at the core of corporate social responsibility to maximize profits in the long run. Investing in social responsibility programs that are reflected in the community shows that the company actually cares about the people and is willing to respond to the community. Banks, compared to other firms, play a key role in institutionalizing social responsibility in the society.
In recent years, financial institutions have broadened the range of social and environmental activities that can be implemented in their institutions. In addition to playing their role in managing the impact of their performance on the society, these financial institutions play a vital role in encouraging their customers (real and corporate) to take responsible actions and reduce the adverse social and environmental effects of their activities. The other variables that can play an effective role in provoking a positive customer response include the core competencies of the company. The competencies of the organization perceived through strong relationships between the service provider and the customer can lead to increased customer trust. The core competencies of companies today play a decisive role in the reaction of consumers to their services because customers are in touch with these competencies. Moreover, these competencies lead to a competitive advantage for companies and guide them in achieving their pre-defined goals. In order to achieve a more competitive advantage in their industry, banks also seek to strengthen their core competencies on the one hand and take a closer look at their social responsibility on the other. Social responsibility activities are effective in creating a growing and healthy society. They are an important type of financial institutions with an undeniable role in the society, and their performance affects the whole society. So, their attention to social responsibilities is very important. In this regard, more approaches to social responsibility and core competencies can provoke a positive reaction from consumers.
Conclusion: The findings showed that the social responsibility of banks and economic, legal, moral, and humanitarian responsibility have a positive structural effect on consumer reaction, and the core competencies of the company do not moderate the structural effect of corporate social responsibility on consumer reaction. Extensive studies have been conducted in this field, it is concluded that social responsibility activities are effective in creating a growing and healthy society. Since banks, as one of the most important economic institutions, have an undeniable role in the society and their performance affects the whole society, it is very important for them to pay attention to the category of social responsibilities. In this regard, banks can improve the welfare and economic conditions of the society by providing opportunities for growth in production and employment.