Corporate social responsibility and customer loyalty

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Faculty of Management

corporate social responsibility and customer loyalty

Angulo Eddy

Master's thesis

in the field “Management” 38.04.02

of the “Global Business” Programme

Nizhny Novgorod, 2020

Introduction

Since the beginning of the 21^st century, brand loyalty has become a real managerial issue for the companies. Indeed, the globalization had an impact on local markets that were mostly dominated by local companies. Actually, every industries are impacted by this issue, but we will focus especially on the fast moving consumer goods industry (FMCG), and we will study deeply the influence generated by the corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the customer behavior. FMCG industry companies are working in B2C, and one big issue for the brands is the high level of price consciousness expressed by the consumers (Kumar and Advani, 2005).

After a screening, we have seen that some researches have been conducted around the same constructs that are CSR such as brand loyalty, in addition we will study more deeply the consumer trust and the customer identification (Mandhachitara & Poolthong, 2011; Martнnez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2013; Pйrez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2014), the Satisfaction and the loyalty of the customer (Chung, Yu, Choi, & Shin, 2015). Those researches will help us to define a framework in our research, and help us to understand better some constructs already established. This study will be a pioneer in the analysis of the FMCG industry and the attitude of the French consumers toward CSR. Hence we decided to address the following question: Does Corporate Social Responsibility can generate customer brand loyalty toward FMCG products ?

Some managers identify CSR and sustainable business practices as a real asset that can improve the perception of the consumer toward the company or the brand (Kiron, Kruschwitz, Haanaes, Streng, 2012). According to researchers, cutomers are preferring brands that are acting socially and responsibly. Furthermore, consumers are showing more requirement toward the brands and are expecting for high quality products, for relatively low prices (Y. He & Lai, 2014; Kumar, S., Advani, J., 2005). However, we must take into consideration that CSR initiatives are also related to scandals sometimes. Indeed, some CSR engagement taken by global firms have negatively impacted the opinion in the society about CSR practices, and those scandals have awakened doubts and put the sincerity of such actions into question (Han, Zhuangxiong, & Jie, 2018).

Some managers are finding some benefits in over-investing in business sustainable practices, in the aim to improve their own reputation and the coverage of the media, everything on the account of the shareholders of the corporations (Han et al., 2018). Another reason for CSR scandals is that, some corporations are benefiting about the good image of CSR initiatives in the aim to conceal the corporate misdeanour (Han et al., 2018).

We can take the example of the Shuanghui Group, that is one the of biggest meat processing company based in China, and that have been seriously hurt in 2011, by a scandal directly related with the quality of its products. According to one of the company's report, this scandal around the `lean meat powder' had seriously damaged the annual revenue of the company and resulted of a 6.65% loss (Han et al., 2018). Consequently, in the aim to reduce drastically the panic generated among the consumers, but also the investors and agencies, Shuanghui decided to react. As a reaction, Shuanghui decided to invest and participate in several CSR projects and initiatives, thus the company have made a donation of 130 Million RMB, on the other hand Shuanghui spent 830 Million RMB to association in charge of the environment protection (Han et al., 2018). Obviously, the weight of such investments is so heavy that it makes effect in the media, and with the consumers. As a result, the next year, the Shuanghui Chairman was awarded for this action of the prize of Outstanding Contribution People of Mainland China, and the firm received the award of Excellent Company, and all the event that happened before were considered as past (Han et al., 2018).

It is relevant to look at the dark side of CSR initiatives, because some companies in the FMCG industry could be impacted by the opinion of the consumers about their reasons to go for a more social and responsible business environment. In this research, we will see that it is important for the consumers to recognize himself inside a company, and those kind of scandals could not be forgotten by the consumers, or not so rapidly.

As a result, CSR initiatives have an impact on the consumer decision making, however it is still difficult to measure this impact in terms of benefit for the organization, and yet there are shadow areas that we must explore. Today, even if we know that sustainable business practices have an effect on the consumers, we are not sure that he is buying the products, and also we are not sure about the loyalty toward the brands. This is why in this research we will have a look first about csr practices in the FMCG industry to better understand the context.

Then we will have a look on how companies try to segment their consumers to better answer their attempt and satisfy them. It is important for the companies to identify which consumers will be more receiptive to csr, and thus potentially become loyal.

In this research we will also try to establish the link between CSR and the brand loyalty, and we will deal with the factors of the customer behavior that are important to understand for the companies, in the aim better understand if csr is a good reason or not for the customer to be loyal to a brand.

1. Literature review

1.1 CSR in the FMCG industry

The brand loyalty is a very important issue for the companies stemming from the FMCG industry, because in numerous countries as it is a factor difficult to control, as it is very difficult to read in the consumer minds, especially nowadays, with all the flow of information diffused by the brands through social media (Kumar, Advani, 2005). Several studies have raised the question about CSR and its effects on the consumer behavior, and states that CSR is sign of quality for the consumers and that these ones prefer to pay more for a social and sustainable, instead than only pay for the a good quality product at the lower price (I. Khan & Fatma, 2019).

In India, Swami & Humbe (2009), analyzed deeply the FMCG market and stated that sustainable initiatives are developed by many firms in the sector of healthcare notably, adult literacy, in the rural development, but also improving the hygiene of the populations and empowering the women in the society. However, in this research, they concluded that CSR practices cannot be more import in the spirit of the consumer than the product and the price themselves (Swami & Humbe, 2009). Companies in the FMCG industry are also facing a big challenge, that is to bring down the impact of their activity on the environment. That is why some of their initiatives aim to reduce the use of packaging for their goods (Khan, 2009).

When it comes about CSR, the interpretation of the consumers can be skeptical. That is why, the companies should target a result through the impact they want to create in the society, through their CSR implementations. These implementations must be related to the activity of the company. According to researchers, if the Corporate social responsibility actions implemented are not fitting with the firm's expertise, it might not have a positive impact on the consummers motivations, and this can even be damageable for the reliability of the firms (Ravichandran & Gowtham, 2016).

1.2 The companies and the motivations to adapt sustainable and social behavior

The Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives are linked to the actions and responsibilities implemented by the firms, and they aims to improve the social and environmental conditions (Mantovani, Andrade, & Negrгo, 2017; Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001). For Carroll, (1979), the CSR is implemented around a concept of discretionary dimensions that have for goal the improvement of the social as well as the environmental conditions, relied on the actions designed by the organizations, similar to the philanthropic contributions, and that is not expected by the society.

Corporate social responsibility is becoming hot topic nowadays worldwide and every multinational company have already implemented social and environmental measures. Indeed, CSR is becoming a major issue for companies and especially when it comes about investing money in it, as the firms are never sure about having their return on investment (Maqbool & Zameer, 2018; Peng, Tang, Yang, & Fu, 2020).

A lot of firms see the CSR as an opportunity to develop an ethic. Some previous researches have been conduced by academics and emphasizes the theoretical background of the integration of ethical beliefs of the business inside the framework economic and legal (Zhao & Xiao, 2019). Moreover, to have good social and environmental performances, may lead to good relations with governments, and increase the efficiency of the firm's investment but also it can contribute to a growth of the financial performances (McWilliams & Siegel, 2001). The political connection created by the CSR can potentially help to reach more social capital and consequently help the companies to access easier to the government resources like the bank loan provided by the state own banks for instance.

Of course the financial side remain the most important for the companies as it is unbelievable to imagine one second that the companies invest a lot of money in good manufacturing practices, employ peoples responsibly and participate or support the program minorities without expecting a return on their investment (Nan & Heo, 2007). A lot of CSR programs have been developed around the idea the customers are now ready to buy social and sustainable products or services in the aim to reward the companies that that feels concerned and act to contribute more to the social welfare (Becker-Olsen, Cudmore, & Hill, 2006; Mantovani et al., 2017).

We can take the example of the Chinese companies motivated by factors such as the capital market, which have increased their CSR efforts and progress over the past decennial. The Chinese Academy of Social Science which is every year publishing a report related to CSR initiatives within the Chinese companies, states that the average percentages of CSR reports regarding the registered companies is about 71.4% between 2014 and 2016 (Han et al., 2018). This growth can be explained through the stakeholder theory which emphasized that companies could benefit competitive advantages and generate firm value and corporate reputation stemmed from CSR (Jamali, 2008).

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) allows firms to keep a hand on their image, as nowadays with the digitalization and the globalization, the firms exercise difficulties to control their image. Through sustainable and social practices, the firms can show their stakeholders that they are engaged by adopting a responsible behavior. Although, companies want to hide their desire of financial performances behind the desire of acting well for the workers, for the environment and for the society (Shnayder, van Rijnsoever, & Hekkert, 2016). However, to have a good CSR, it is important for the companies to define goals that are social and environmental in the aim to well define the strategy and the measures to implement, and these ones must be in relation with the companies' activity.

One of the potential benefits of implementing CSR initiatives for the companies is to manage the reputation of the firm outside of managing the costs of purchasing and the risk. The firms presenting a good CSR performance can enhance their reputation, and create a brand equity. The reputation such as the brand equity is based on core values like the trust, the reliability, the quality and the consistency (Khan, 2009). These are also all these values that will be pushing the consumer to buy the product and make him loyal to a brand in B2C as for the B2B. In B2B, the suppliers do not have a direct exposure with the final consumer, however some buyers will tend to select them according to the sustainability of their supply chain, and the reputation can also be crucial for their activity (Khan, 2009).

1.3 Corporate Social Responsibility and consumers' motivations to a more sustainable purchasing behavior

Nowadays, the consumer purchasing behavior is precious for the companies regarding the variety of products available on every market, it has become more and more difficult to develop the customer loyalty. However, we can identity several different drivers that will motivate the consumers to go green and even become pro-social consumer. The pro-social behavior is identified as the as the acts stemming from a social group or from some segments of the society that will benefits to other peoples indirectly (Penner, Dovidio, Piliavin, & Schroeder, 2005). The pro-social behavior is not only expressed by the peoples but also by the brands. When a brand participates into a social action, this is also considered as behaving at a pro-social level because the result will be benefiting to the society in general (Carroll, 1979).

Several studies about corporate social responsibility (CSR) emphasizes on the involvement generated by the consumers through positive responses regarding the social causes promoted by the brands (Eason, Bing, & Smothers, 2015; Rim, Yang, & Lee, 2016). For examples, Eason et al., (2015) have found that the consumers are more set to join the loyalty programs of the brands if the benefits are donated to social causes. However, none of these researches can say that the pro-social behavior can match positively with the customer loyalty regarding a brand for social reasons.

Nowadays, only a few studies were conducted about the link between CSR and the development of a possible pro-social behavior expressed by the consumer. But still the few existing studies are emphasizing that there is an existing link. For example, (Lichtenstein, Drumwright, & Braig, 2004) have concluded that the CSR established by the companies do not have an impact only on the consumer perceptions and buying intention toward social and sustainable products or services but it also have an impact on the donations benefiting to the non-profit organizations.

Mantovani et al., (2017) have concluded that the CSR actions implemented by the companies could result in a better influence on the social behaviour of the consumers that will make them feel more involved than before in social causes more independently. According to this result, it is difficult to say if CSR can develop a brand loyalty with the consumer, as we can see that consumers tend to be very involved in social causes more than by the company itself.

1.4 Brand reputation and signal to the consumer

How can we mesure the value of a good reputation ? Through the corporate brands- this is what is reflecting the organization's identity and it's a mix perception stemmed from different stakeholders' with their vision of this organization's identity (Abratt & Kleyn, 2012). Also recently, some researchers have suggested that to have a argued that the customers expectations regarding sustainability and corporate social responsibility a have increased (Torelli, Monga, & Kaikati, 2012). Hence, if companies show a positive reputation, that can help them to develop a social brand equity (Naidoo & Abratt, 2018). Landrum, 2017, states that around 70% of the consumer assessed have expressed a willingness to spend more in the products of brands that are socially end sustainably engaged. We can see that CSR may influence the perceived value of the consumers. Corporate social responsibility is considered at the same level as any other actions that aim to enhance indirectly or not the reputation or the image of the corporate brand (Cowan & Guzman, 2018; Torelli et al., 2012).

In the past years, a bunch of studies have been led around the relationship between the brand reputation, and the brand actions. Through these researches, it have been showed that CSR is a factor full of importance that can potentially influence the reputation of a brand.

The research state that the consumers have an impact on the brands, as the way they perceives the reputable practices can have an influence on the different associations for social causes, or either change their own perception and attitude for a brand (Cowan & Guzman, 2018; Iglesias, Markovic, Singh, & Sierra, 2019). Hence, we can say that the consumer perception will play a very important role regarding the effectiveness of the different marketing activites stemmed from the corporate brands' (Guzman & Davis, 2017; Sweetin, Knowles, Summey, & McQueen, 2013).

If we have a better look and we go through a customer perspective, the impact of CSR is located beyond the framework of the product brand. The sustainable and social practices are increasing mainly the evaluation of the corporate brand (Sweetin et al., 2013). As a consequence, we can see that the consumers are very sensitive to any social and sustainable implementations. Also, corporate brand through their investment and perspectives want to make their reputation more positive and generate brand eauity and customer loyalty (Kiessling, Isaksson, & Yasar, 2016). Obviously, if the consumer is a loyalty expressed by the consumer regarding a brand, it is sign of sustainability and benefits for the brands.

1.5 CSR and customer loyalty

The loyalty is a very complex topic that companies would like to understand better in the aim to retain their customers and continuing doing benefit in the aim to remain sustainable. The loyalty can be studied according to the consumer's preferences and and purchasing intentions. This is the attitudinal loyalty. Through the attitudinal loyalty, we can identify a possible emotional relationship expressed by the consumer toward the company. The attitudinal loyalty can be generated if the evaluation of the company and its initiatives is positive and related to the consumer emotions toward the organization (Martнnez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2013). If the reaction is positive, this can generate a loyalty or a potential loyalty, as the initiatives and the activity of the company will be positively related with the consumer beliefs. Hence, if an attitudinal loyalty is expressed, the probability of an expression of an active loyalty is high, that is not only meaning that the consumer will repurchase the product, but that he will spread his desire to buy the product and generate a word of mouth that will benefit to the brand (Martнnez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2013).

According to some researches that were established regarding CSR, both theoretically (Martнnez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2013; Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001), as empirically (Marin, Ruiz, & Rubio, 2009; Martнnez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2013), however it is still not easy to understand what would link CSR with customer loyalty. In some ways, this relationship is possible as CSR and behavioural outcomes are linked, what means that if the consumer is feeling involved in sustainability that could push him to buy regularly products stemmed from brand implementing CSR initiatives.

1.5.1 Consumer Trust

Consumer trust can be represented around the belief on which the consumer can relie on the provider of the product and services, as this one is behaving in a way that during and after the act of purchasing will serve the client interest (Crosby, Evans, & Cowles, 1990). Some researches have analysed deeply the customer trust, and stated that it is one one the prerequisite for eventually the creation of a sustainable link with the customer and the brand (Morgan & Hunt, 1994). There is a great saying share by Reicheld and Scheifter (2000), “if you want to have loyal customers, you should instaure a climate of trust”. I saying is representing perfectly the idea of loyalty, and we understand that it is important first to develop a relationship with the customer that will insitate him to come back and buy the product and service again. Through CSR practices, this trust can be build around the idea from both the customer and the brand, that we want to make a better world together. Social and environmental initiatives are a very reliable way to create trust and loyalty in the FMCG industry, where brands are always fighting to retain customers. Especially inside an industry environmental issues are hot topic due to waste and package consumption.

1.5.2 Customer identification and relationship with the company

The construct Customer-Company Identification is similar and as important as customer trust to take into consideration because this is a factor that will impact on the loyalty of the client (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003; Marin et al., 2009). Some researchers have studied the customer identification with companies through the theory related to the social identity (Stets & Burke, 2000), such as the Self-Categorization Category (Hornsey, 2008). These theories helps to identify the motivations and the reasons that are pushing individuals to relate the companies (Martнnez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2013).

To better understand the customer identification, we need to explore deeply the premises of the individual behaviour. Individuals tend to go naturally beyond the perception they make about their own personal identity in the aim to generate an identity that is more suitable for them, in the hope to find groups of appartenance and articulate more the way they behave (Kreiner & Ashforth, 2004). In this way, customers can identify with a brand or any other organization, even if they do not are directly involved inside this organization (Scott & Lane, 2000).

Indeed, nowadays, a lot of peoples are engaged socially and environmentally, and through social actions, the individuals can perceive a group of appartenance, and even want to integrate new groups if they develop new beliefs. So then identify better to one company instead of another one because of csr initiatives and beliefs. It have been stated that the customers that generated a spiritual relationship with a company or a brand will become psychologically attached and will care more about the brand, hence their loyalty toward the company and the brand will be stimulated (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003; Marin et al., 2009).

1.5.3 Customer Satisfaction

The loyalty, could also be generated from the satisfaction of the consumer regarding the product or service purchased. According to some researches, if the consumers are satisfied with the brand that they selected, this satisfaction will motivate them to purchase again and again the product or service and become loyal customers. The consumer satisfaction is positively impacting on the way the customer will retain the product, as well as the use he will have (Martнnez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2013; Verhoef, 2003). Furthermore, the academic literature emphasized that CSR associations may positively influence the satisfaction. Indeed, CSR associations can generate sympathy around the brand and the company, that will result in a positive reflexion and judgement regarding the product or service experience (Brown & Dacin, 1997).

Luo & Bhattacharya (2006) have worked deeply on the existing relation between Corporate Social Responsibility and the satisfaction expressed by the consumer, and consequently, they designed three main reasons that justify this link that they called “the CSR activities-customer satisfaction effect”.

The first reasons is developped by (Maignan, Ferrell, & Ferrell, 2005) who suggested that the customer role, regarding the companies might not only be limited only in being a potential stakeholder that are concerned only by the economic results generated by the organizations. The customers nowadays is also caring about the overall standing of the organizations, especially regarding the social and environmental performances. Thus, the satisfaction is generated by the customers, if the companies and the brands develop social and environmental initiatives, and spread a responsible image and behaviour globally (He & Li, 2011).

Secondly, if the outcomes from CSR initiatives are strong and relevant to the customer, they will improve the image of the firm as customers will link the company and its brands as social and eco friendly. In addition, the attitude of the consumer and its personal evaluation toward the company will be positively influenced (Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001). Furthermore it resulted from an academic research that CSR implementations will increase the ability and the desire of the consumer to identify himself in brand or company and to buy products or services.

Thirdly, Mithas, Krishnan, & Fornell (2005) demonstrated that the perceived value is playing an important role regarding the promotion of the client satisfaction, as the more the perceived value from the consumer will be positive, the more the satisfaction will be high. In addition, the consumers are more able to generate a positive perceived value and express more satisfaction, if the product purchased is provided by social responsible companies (Luo, Bhattacharya, 2006).

2. Presentation of the research problem

Nowadays, corporate social responsibility represent a managerial issue for all the companies worldwide as it sometimes raise questions about the whole supply chain, and hence it can result in upheavals in the production. However as we know, these changings are necessary for the well being of the natural environment, as well as for the living conditions of the stakeholders that are working in the supply chain such as African farmers, or the clothing manufacturer in Bangladesh for instance.

Hence, the society is changing his mind and consumers are showing expectations regarding companies, that is why we decided to focus especially on the fast moving consumer goods industry as consumers are in contact everyday with those products. In this research, we want to analyse the consumer purchasing behaviour toward social and environmental initiatives implemented by the brands. We want to study the fators that might have an impact on the consumer attitude, that will help us to understand better how does the consumer can become loyal to a brand. In addition, it will be important for us to see if CSR initiatives are able to generate this loyalty, and if the loyal consumers are already pro social and environmental or not.

2.1 Brand Loyalty and Customer Satisfaction toward CSR practices

Today, organizations are thinking more about their reputation than about the quality of the products, as the core stance of the organizations is much more important than the offering in this new world of reputation, where communication is about everything (Karaosmanoglu, Altinigne, & Isiksal, 2016). In CSR we trust ? That would probably be a good slogan as for consumers, corporate social responsibility initiatives are a good starting point to learn more about companies' values and beliefs.

We can take the example of Google that in 2015 made its 5^th apparition at the top of the Global CSR RepTrak ranking for the fifth time, as a result of their global initiatives to improve our society, and notably in three main fields: the investments of renewables energies, citizenship practices, and the consumption of sustainable energies (Reputation Institute, 2015). In addition, in 2002 the Coca-Cola Company was starting a big operation through a program that aimed to eradicate the HIV/AIDS in Africa, also Vodafone the telecom operator has launched in 1994 a new service of community phone, and the aim of this program was to bring access to telecommunication to the population suffering from inequalities and difficulties to access to this service (Karaosmanoglu et al., 2016).

Indeed, social and responsible initiatives improve the society and the world and this allow company to build or reinforce their brand image, but not only, the CSR activities generates the enhancement of the customer extra-role behavior (Karaosmanoglu et al., 2016; Lii & Lee, 2012). Today organizations are facing challenges in emerging markets especially, they shows difficulties to adopt an effective social and sustainable strategy that match exactly with their brand values. Of course, these markets are showing a high potential for the business as the economic prosperity, such as the purchasing power are increasing. However, the new middle class that is generated stemmed from the benefits of this growth is expressing expectations, much more than what companies were prepared for (Hah & Freeman, 2014). This is why, in the aim to generate trust within the relation betweenthe customer and the brand, companies must comprehend the vision and the factors that might affect the evaluation done by the consumer.

Today, several researches have been made about the link betwenn social and environmental intitiatives and financial performances, but several factors are to take into consideration and especially regarding the attitude of the consumer.

Although variables such as the corporate reputation, or the institutional environment such as stakeholders in which we can find notable the employees, or the suppliers for example are also influencing the financial performances (Martнnez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2013). It is one of the reasons why we decided to analyse the customer satisfaction order to analyse the relationship regarding CSR initiatives from the FMCG brands and the customer brand loyalty.

Indeed, for many researchers, customers satisfaction is considered as an important factor which can be associated with corporate social responsibility (Lee & Heo, 2009; Xie, Jia, Meng, & Li, 2017). Also, the stakeholder theory claims that firms must take the point of view of their stakeholder into consideration, such as the customers' interest (Xie et al., 2017). Hence, we can state that it is important to evaluate the level of interest of the consumer in CSR in order to satisfy him. Furthermore, researchers claims that CSR is a major component nowadays in customer brand loyalty, and its influence on the customer is even bigger when the competition is high, just like in the FMCG sector (Martнnez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2013; Xie et al., 2017).

The satisfaction of the client maybe used by the company in the aim to evaluate the degree of loyalty of the customers such as the quality and their interest in the brand and the products or services provided. Thus, as a result, we can say that the satisfaction expressed by the consumer can also be represented by the way in which the products or services provided are matching with the expectations of the consumers.

Customer satisfaction is considered as part of the customer experience toward a product or a service. That is why, it is primordial to first satisfy the customer, in order to make him loyal, for many reason, but especially for the cost efficiency (Sun & Kim, 2013). According to several researchers, social and environmental initiatives would be positively related to customer impressions (Galbreath, 2010; Mandhachitara & Poolthong, 2011; Xie et al., 2017). As we know, the customer satisfaction is part of the brand equity, and according to the equity theory, there is a high possibility for the company to satisfy the customer, if the firm behave in a responsible manner with its different stakeholders, that inlude the clients themselves (Pйrez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2014).

Also, if we talk about the link with the satisfaction and corporate social responsibility, we can say that this satisfaction expressed regarding a product is stemmed from the way the customer is perceiving the product or the service but also the perception made around the corporate social responsibility (Walsh & Bartikowski, 2013). However, CSR initiatives developed by the companies are also enabling the customer to perceive quality and to be satisfied from the value obtained from companies with high implication and records in CSR. As a result, the customer is having the impression that his expectations are listened and respected (Walsh & Bartikowski, 2013).

H1: The evaluation of FMCG brand by the consumer is positively related to CSR initiatives implemented by the company, only if the consumers are presenting social and eco behaviour.

H2: The Brand Loyalty toward FMCG products can positively result in the importance of CSR for the consumers in the FMCG products and the frequency of purchasing.

2.2 CSR and Customer identification to FMCG brands

The customer identification toward a company or a brand is not very used by the companies, however it is still a relevant construct. Customer identification is closely linked with the consumer trust, and its effect is as important toward the customer brand loyalty (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003; Martнnez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2013). According to researchers, the customer identification is occurred through a cognitive assessment of categorization, in which, the individual is able to behave and position himself as member of a group, or an organization by expressing a common feeling with the members instead of expressing differences with the individuals that are not members of this organization (Martнnez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2013). Hence, if the individuals are aware of the fact that they are belonging and linked to an organization, this awareness is resulting on a positive social identity (Kreiner & Ashforth, 2004). Also, this connection between the individual and the organizations through the process of identification means that psychologically, the individual is recognizing this identification as part of his identity.

Consequently, the organizational customer through the process of social auto identification, will be able to express specific needs such as the self-definition need (Martнnez & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2013). Furthermore, it means that maybe before to become loyal through social and environmental initiatives to the brand or the company, the customer must be able to identify himself as a sustainable consumer.

Thus, we can say that the relationship company-consumer that is created by this self-identification of the consumer is considered as a cognitive state of self categorization but also as a connection and a proximity that the customer is expressing in regard of the company or the brand (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003).

The identification is brought by the reflexion made by the customer that will result in a comparison between the firm's identity and the one of the consumer himself (Ashforth & Mael, 1989).

The consumers that already identified themselves in the company will psychologically develop an attachement with the company, what will result to a close relationship and hence potentially to a loyalty (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003; Marin et al., 2009; Pйrez, del Mar Garcнa los Salmones, & Rodrнguez del Bosque, 2013). If we refer to Bhattacharya & Sen (2003), the loyalty is generated naturally by the company-customer identification, it can be explained by the fact that, if the consumer is identifying himself in the organization, his commitment will be increased and sustaibable in the time. Then, if the consumer is loyal to the company, one of the major consequence, will be that some minor changings on some products, will don't have any negative impact on the consumer, as his loyalty will be larger to one product or to one brand (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003). This is a case that is very interesting and notably toward FMCG industry, with MNC's that possess a bunch of brands and products.

That is why, it is interesting to see if by the initiative and the wish of making a better society and the earth a better place for everybody, the companies and brands can catch the feeling of the consumer and making him identifying himself in the company.

Hence, the question about the customer identification and the relationship generated toward a comapny that is initiating CSR brought us to define the following hypothesis:

H3: The customer identification in FMCG brands can positively result in brand loyalty thanks to CSR initiatives.

2.3 The relationship between CSR and brand image with consumer loyalty toward FMCG brands

Today, the companies are working a lot with their brands in the aim to enhance the image that they are sending to the consumer. It important for the firm to generate a reputation that is positive and the trend actually is very often about CSR. More and more, the stakeholders are expecting the company to behave responsibly, and to show to the whole society that the company is working hard in improving the living of everybody (Cowan & Guzman, 2018).

Several researchers emphasized that to have a good reputation is essential for the businesses especially in the 21^st century where the communication and the success is often driven by the social medias (Baalbaki & Guzmбn, 2016). In addition, the corporate reputation is presented as a crucial component of the brand equity, but not only, the more the reputation is good, the more it is benefiting to the company and resulting to a better access to new markets, a better profitability, the generation of price premiums, but also the creation of customer brand loyalty (Baalbaki & Guzmбn, 2016; Heinberg, Ozkaya, & Taube, 2018).

Landrum (2017), says that approximatively 70% of the consumers that participated to a study are ready to spend more in order to buy sustainable products. Corporate social responsibility initiatives are even considered as activities that are used by the organizations in the aim to voluntarily develop a positive corporate image and reputation (Cowan & Guzman, 2018).

It is important for the brands to work on their reputation in the aim to solidify their brand image, and present the best image possible on the market. Hence, the fact to have a good brand reputation is a strength for the brands as it allow them to deliver a more important value to their stakeholder.

It is not anymore the secret that the CSR actions and the intentions to improve the society are well seen by the consumers. Zairi (2000) states that there is a proven influence generated by CSR initiatives that is bringing the corporate brands to more attractivity and to a certain competitive advantage. For all these reasons, the integration of CSR into the business excellence models is completely justified. Likewise it is stated by Berrone, Surroca, & Tribу, (2007), that corporate image is generating a real competitive advantage and that the firms ethical stance must be considered as an asset that is abl to increase performances of the organizations.

The combination of both corporate brand image and CSR aims to align with the sustainable development goals of the companies to better result in managing the expectations of the consumers (Tourky, Kitchen, & Shaalan, 2019).

We can see that corporate brand image and corporate brands performances are highly connected to corporate social responsibility and that little by little CSR is arriving at the heart of the decision taking inside the organizations. Hence, it is relevant to analyze the importance of the corporate brand image associated with CSR and its effect toward the customer brand loyalty in the FMCG industry.

H4: If the brand image spread by FMCG brands is positively linked with the CSR, the possibility of enhancing the consumer brand loyalty is high.

2.4 The price of green and social products affect the brand loyalty

As we may know the expression of loyalty toward a brand by a consumer is reinforcing the image that this consumer can have toward this brand or company, that the other consumers cannot do (Bolton, Kannan, & Bramlett, 2000; Martin, Ponder, & Lueg, 2009). In addition, the loyal customers due to their relationship with the brand are more willing to face obstacles in the aim to keep this relationship and its benefits such as the confidence and the social impact (Martin et al., 2009).

Also, FMCG products are sold through the channel of the groceries or through the big retail chains that very often are influencing the prices of the products by increasing them or by decreasing them through promotions notably. Hence some practices used by the retailers could affect the consumer loyalty to a product if this one is already established (Martin et al., 2009). In these practices we can find the derivation of the prices, and for sure consumers are not unsensitive to such practices by the retail chains. This question about the derivation of prices raised questions in the mind of several consumers today, and the increases of the prices are not well seen and judged as unfair by the consumers, especially if there is no justifications to implement such a practice (Martin et al., 2009; Xia, L., Monroe, K., Cox, J.).

Hence in this research it is interesting to see if the sustainable products are seen as more expensive by the customers, and if it is really a factor that has a huge importance for the generation of customer loyalty.

H5: The brand loyalty toward FMCG products that presents CSR characteristics is positively influenced by the income of the consumers.

3. Research Methodology

3.1 Design and Participants

As we may know, global warming and its effects are increasing, as much as the gap between the rich and the poors have never been so high. Hence, in the research, we want to analyse if the environmental and social emergencies can be translated in the consumer behaviour. This is why, through this research, we want to analyse the behaviour of the French consumer toward CSR actions and FMCG, and the result on the customer brand loyalty.

To analyse this consumer loyalty toward FMCG brands influenced by CSR initiatives it is interesting to make a survey that will be run through a questionnaire to a segment of French consumers. The initial objective was to collec the answers of 100 of respondents, however, we did not have the opportunity to collect as much answers, and only 91 respondents replied this questionnaire. All the data from this this survey were collected through a questionnaire designed on Google Form. In order to reply to this questionnaire, it was necessary that the respondent was aged between 20 - 30 years old, and French, because we wanted to analyse the consumption behavior of the young French active. It was relevant for us to study this segment, because this is a population that grew up with technologies, and social media, but also with all of the current environmental issues, and inequalities around the world. This is a new generation, and they will raise the adults of tomorrow.

The sample have been selected by considering two socio-demographic factors that are the age of the respondents, and their nationality. There was no particular social status of appurtenance, only the requirement of the age and the nationality, to have the most precise analyse possible.

For all these reasons, it is interesting for us to analyse their behaviour in the procurement of day to day products, such as the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG). First, in this survey, cthe respondents are asked to mention if yes or no, they are aware of social and environmental business initiatives. Then, the respondents are asked to mention a brand that comes to their mind first, when we are talking about corporate social responsibility or environmental and social investment.

The questions were focused on the customers knowledge of sustainable brands in the FMCG industry, but also on their consumption habits, such as the frequency at which the customers are going to the supermarket, or the frequency of consumption of the sustainable brand cited. In a second time, the questions were more focused about the perceived image, and the feeling of the consumer toward the brand that he/she cited.

Our research hypothesis have been defined in the idea that some factors can immediately affect the perception of the brand by the consumer and its behaviour, what could result at the end in a customer brand loyalty. Hence, the questionnaire addressed to our sample of 91 French consumers will better help us to understand if customer loyalty can be stemmed from corporate social responsibility initiatives in some cases.

If we take the socio demographical results of this research, we can see that 53 over the 31 respondents were Male and 38 were female, in addition, if we have a look at the employment situation, the majority of the respondents is represented by 45 students while 32 are full time employed, 11 are part-time employed, and 3 are self-employed. The majority of the household income represented by 46 respondents between 10k and 50k EUR per year, while 45 respondents potentially students are located below 10k EUR per year.

3.2 Measures

In the aim to measures our variables, we created a questionnaire that we sent to our sample of French consumers. This questionnaire is not based on a Likert scale type like the majority of researchers used in previous researches. This can be explained by the reason that, not a lot of researches have been made regarding the loyalty toward FMCG brands based on corporate social responsibility. Of course, we are using some questions Likert scale in the aim to identify the degree of importance regarding social and environmental initiatives on the consumers behaviour, but we are also using typical `yes-no questions'.

Also, in this research we have experienced a type of questionnaire that have not been made before to identify a consumer behaviour toward sustainable and social products in the FMCG industry. This research consist in asking the respondent to cite a brand that he is coming to his mind when we talk about social and sustainable initiatives, related to FMCG products.

In the aim to identify the sensitivity of consumers toward social and environmental initiatives, we used `yes no questions', and some Likert scale type questions. We also asked to our sample to cite brands, and then to share their vision about this brand and its social and environmental implementations.

We have also designed some questions that aim to evaluate the image of the cited brand, and see if the respondents have an opinion of this brand like a responsible brand, or and expensive brand, not expensive, or other… Then, to identify the loyalty of the consumer toward a brand we have made some likert scale questions, that will define the frequency at which the respondent is doing its procurement, and the frequency at which he is buying products stemmed from the cited brand. To analyse the customer loyalty we also defined a `yes-no questions' that is asking the consumer if he is buying only products stemmed from this brand, and why ?

In this research, we have for objective to identify if the CSR initiatives can enhance the loyalty of the consumers toward FMCG brands that are providing day-to-day products. Hence, there are questions in this questionnaire that use to identify some components of the consumer attitude, because it is necessary for us to study in a first time the consumers attitude toward brands or products and then see if the csr can generate loyalty by complementing components of the consumer attitude such as the identification of the consumer toward a brand, or the perception of the brand image by the consumer, or the consumer satisfaction regarding this brand and its implementations.

Hence, to analyse the identification of the consumer toward FMCG brands, we have asked if the consumers was recognizing himself in the brand and its engagement in terms of social and environmental responsibility, but also if he was sharing the social and environmental characteristics of the products with other peoples for example. This can help us to recognize a certain form of customer identification, and loyalty.

Very often, some consumers are very sensitive about prices when they are going to the supermarket, and to study the influence of the price on the consumers purchasing behaviour, we have taken some statistics into account, such as the revenue of the consumers, its social situation, and we played about the brand image factor to see if yes or no, the social and environmental characteristics can have an impact on the price toward the eyes of the consumers.

The consumer satisfaction is measured by the question that is asking the respondents about their satisfaction regarding the social and environmental initiatives about the brand that they cited, but also through the question that is asking if the consumer is purchasing exclusively products from its brand.

Then, as we want to evaluate the influence of the CSR on the brand loyalty, we will first measure the impact of the corporate social responsibility on the different component of the customer attitude such as the customer identification, the vision he makes about the brand, customer satisfaction, and price perception of the products. To finish, we identify the direct link between questions relqted to CSR and the questions related to the customer brand loyalty.

3.3 Validity

According to our research, we identified seven latent variables each refers to our research hypothesis that have been defined. In the aim to evaluate our hypothesis, we designed a questionnaire where each questions are referred to our latent variables. The latent variables are the following: client satisfaction, the identification of the customer toward the brand, customer trust, brand image, the price of the product, CSR and the loyalty of the consumer.