The Influence of Consumer and Brand Social Responsibility on Brand Loyalty in Quick-Service Restaurants

Social responsibility and ethics have been shown to have a positive influence on consumer behavior, however the vast majority of related research has measured this relationship indirectly through scenario analysis of hypothetical firms rather than consumers' perceptions of real-world firms. This dissertation focused on a real-world application of the theory. Each hypothesis that specified a positive relationship was supported. These results show that Brand Social Responsibility Image not only positively influences Brand Loyalty, but also influences the perception of both Product Quality and Service Quality. Concurrently, it was found that both Product and Service Quality Image influenced Brand Loyalty. When controlling for the effect of other variables, some of the relationships proved to be weaker than expected. There were three hypotheses that tested the moderating effect of Inclination to Reward Brand Social Responsibility Image. The moderating influence of Inclination to Reward Brand Social Responsibility Image (RSRI) on the relationships between Brand Social Responsibility Image (BSRI) and Product Quality Image and between BSRI and Brand Loyalty were greatest for low levels of BSRI. Consumers rated Product Quality Image and Brand Loyalty lowest under conditions of L-BSRI and H-RSRI. Alternatively, when BSRI was high, both high and low treatments of RSRI resulted in similar sample means for both Product Quality Image and Brand Loyalty (i.e., minimal moderating effect). Inclination to Reward Brand Social Responsibility Image (RSRI) appeared to moderate the relationship between Brand Social Responsibility Image (BSRI) and Service Quality Image at high levels of BSRI. In other words, the perception of service quality was relatively high when both BSRI and RSRI were viewed as being high. Under conditions of H-BSRI and L-RSRI, Service Quality Image was substantially lower. Under conditions of L-BSRI, there was very little difference between L- and H-RSRI.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Hospitality and Tourism Management

Department dc:contributor.department

Hospitality and Tourism Management

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Reich, Allen Z.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• McCleary, Ken W.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Williams, John A.
• Sirgy, M. Joseph
• Uysal, Muzaffer S.
• Khan, Mahmood A.

• Social Responsibility Image
• Inclination to Reward Social Responsibility Image
• Product and Service Quality
• Brand Loyalty

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-09062002-160833

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/28876