The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility Activities on Consumer Loyalty in the Foodservice Industry: Focusing on Korean-Style Buffet Franchise

외식 기업의 CSR 활동이 고객충성도에 미치는 영향 : 한식 뷔페 프랜차이즈 기업 중심으로

Purpose - This study examined the effect of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) on cognitive trust, emotional trust, and loyalty among using Korean food buffet franchises. The result of this study is expected to provide practical implication to industry practitioners in expanding their understanding of the CSR effect in the marketing perspective. Research design, data, and methodology - The data was collected from a panel of online research companies who are over 20 years old and dined in at Korean style buffet franchise outlets more than five times. A total of 370 samples were used after eliminating outliers and missing data. the data were analyzed SEM with SPSS and AMOS. Result - The result of this study showed that: 1) social CSR activities have an effect only on emotional trust; 2) food-related CSR activities influence both cognitive trust and emotional trust; and 3) both cognitive trust and emotional trust have a significant impact on customer loyalty in Korean style buffet franchises. However, it is important to note that this study found no significant causal impact from environmental CSR activities. Furthermore, this study found that food-related CSR activities have the greater influence on the cognitive trust, and cognitive trust is more influential on the customer loyalty than the emotional trust. Conclusions - Based on the findings, this study provides practical implications to industry practitioners. First, that CSR has a significant impact on customer trust suggests that Korean style buffet franchises should focus on CSR activities to improve customer trust. Second, that food-related CSR activities have the greater influence on the cognitive trust implies that industry practitioners should reinforce food-related CSR activities as a marketing tool to enhance emotional trust and the overall credibility of their franchise. Third, we need to find CSR measures at the social level that can secure emotional trust so that customer loyalty can be formed. Fourth, Korean food buffet franchise food service companies should concentrate their efforts on CSR activities at food and social level among the three dimensions suggested by researchers in order to form customer loyalty. For next study, perceived concept of CSR on individual customer should be examined.