Corporate social responsibility in Indian banking sector: A moderated-mediation approach linking corporate social responsibility to purchase intention

This paper aims to empirically examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on the purchase intention of Indian banking customers. It also investigates the conditional indirect effect on purchase intention via customer trust. The data were collected using a questionnaire from 324 customers having bank accounts either in state bank of India or housing development finance corporation Bank. Conformity factor analysis was used to assure the reliability and validity of all constructs; structural equation modeling was used to testify the proposed hypotheses. This study reveals important findings first, CSR practices have a significant effect on purchase intention and customer trust; second, CSR awareness significantly moderates CSR and purchase intention relationship; and finally, the relationship between CSR and purchase intention (PI) via customer trust (CT) is significant using moderated mediation model. This study has been carried out using a sample of customers from the service industry, that is, state bank of India and housing development finance corporation banks. Similar analyses can also be conducted in other sectors of the economy. This study adds to the scarce literature on moderating role of corporate social responsibility awareness and the conditional indirect effect of CSR on purchase intention through customer trust.