What drives customer loyalty? The role of corporate social responsibility

Given the importance of customer loyalty in the sustainability and success of the service industry, this study develops a loyalty-enhancement model that integrates corporate social responsibility, service quality, customer satisfaction, and trust and applies the model to the case of South Korean mobile telecommunication service companies in order to explicate the process through which these factors contribute to increasing the sense of loyalty among service subscribers. Results of a structural equation modeling analysis (N = 910) revealed that corporate social responsibility and service quality led customers to experience greater satisfaction with and trust in the service, which in turn encouraged customers to be more loyal to their current service providers. Implications of the notable findings and limitations are discussed.