The impact of corporate social responsibility on brand equity of Indian firms

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nexus of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and brand equity (BE). Although numerous studies have been conducted in this domain, conflicting results are reported. This is because prior studies did not consider the role of mediating and/or confounding factors, which can change the direction of the relationship. Therefore, this study has considered brand awareness (BA), brand image (BI), brand loyalty (BL), and purchase intention (PI) as potential mediators in the relationship between CSR and brand equity performance. On the other hand, the study controlled the confounding effects of firm's industry affiliation, ownership and size while testing the CSR-BE relationship. By using structural equation modelling (SEM) approach, results provide an evidence of the positive and significant effect of CSR on BE via mediating variables. Multigroup analysis was also conducted to verify this relationship across the group of companies with respect to its industry affiliation, ownership and size. Results of multigroup analysis reveal a consistently positive and significant relationship between CSR and BE for all type of companies.