Analysis of the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Customer Loyalty in the Egyptian Hypermarkets Sector ()
1. Introduction
Due to strong competition, fast growth of hypermarkets, coupled with the recent transformations they have endured, necessitates the development of new sustainable management models (Ardito, Carrillo-Hermosilla, del Río, & Pontrandolfo, 2018) [1] . Therefore, to remain competitive, hypermarkets need to manage consumers’ expectations more effectively.
Customers are becoming more conscious of corporate responsibility as a result of improved education and the media’s impact. Given the increased awareness of CSR in general, consumers have anticipated hypermarkets to develop overall strategies that take CSR-related activities into account. Indeed, Organizations must understand that CSR efforts are long-term investments, not financial burdens on them (Porter & Kramer, 2006 [2] ; Brick, 2011 [3] ; El-Garaihy et al., 2014 [4] ).
In the Middle East, in particular, CSR studies remain in their infant stages, although the 2012 collection edited by Jamali & Sidani is a clear indication of the academic interest in the region. CSR is a less well-understood area of research in developing countries (Carroll & Brown, 2018) [5] . There is still a scarcity of research on the causes and consequences of CSR that is centered on consumer behavior, so little is proven about the impact of CSR for these stakeholders, their thoughts of it, or the effect that CSR dimensions have on variables like image, quality, satisfaction, and loyalty (Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001 [6] ; Maignan & Ferrell, 2004 [7] ). As a result, more understanding of both CSR aspects in emerging economies and their possible linkages with the determinants driving consumer loyalty to hypermarkets is required. As a result, the purpose of this research is to determine the impact of economic, philanthropic, legal, and ethical dimensions of CSR on building trust and brand image, as well as to investigate the impact of these variables on satisfaction and, ultimately, loyalty in the Egyptian hypermarkets sector.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Corporate Social Responsibility
The notion that businesses should engage in the advancement of society, beyond the minimum conditions provided by their legal or economic obligations, has been consolidated over the years (McGuire, 1963 [8] ; Carroll, 1979 [9] ; Jamali & Mirshak, 2007 [10] ), and hence the principle of CSR emerged. Despite the fact that CSR is a subject in academic research, academics have not reached an agreement on a single definition of it (Freeman & Hasnaoui, 2011 [11] , Mackenzie & Peters, 2014 [12] ), as it is a difficult term to define (Moon, 2002) [13] due to its multidimensional nature (Rowley & Berman, 2000) [14] . Bowen’s earlier definition of CSR (1953) [15] is essentially an organization that owing to its corporate operations is obliged to give back to society. Subsequently, more complex CSR definitions refer to “considering and responding to issues beyond the firm’s narrow economic, technical and legal requirements to achieve social benefits along with the company’s traditional economic gains” (Davis 1973 [16] in Carroll 1999: 277 [17] ). One of CSR’s most cited definitions is that given by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), which defines CSR as “Business effort to contribute to sustainable economic growth, collaborating with workers, their families, and local communities” (Jamali & Mirshak, 2007) [10] . CSR may be further defined as an organization’s obligation to be liable to all parties influenced by its operations as defined by Nicolau (2008) [18] . Businesses interact with a diverse set of stakeholders, including stockholders, customers, workers, suppliers, governments, labor unions, and community groups (Carroll, 1991 [19] ; McWilliams & Siegel, 2001 [20] ; Hillenbrand & Money, 2007 [21] ; Carroll & Shabana, 2010 [22] ; Kemper et al., 2013 [23] ). Under this study we will be focusing on consumers. CSR in this study will focus on two main theories:
・ CSR Pyramid developed by Carroll’s (1991) [19] , which describes CSR as “the economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic obligations of corporations” (Gjolberg, 2009) [24] , is one of the most cited and influential CSR models relied on in previous studies. Firstly, economic responsibility entails acting in a manner compatible with profit maximization (Carroll, 1991) [19] . Philanthropic duty is defined as actively participating in activities that supports human benevolence (Carroll 1991) [19] . Legal responsibility suggests that businesses must follow the rules and regulations enacted by federal, state, and local governments (Carroll, 1991) [19] . Ethical duties are actions that are expected or banned by the society, even if they are not written in legislation (Carroll 1991) [19] . After studying the CSR situation in Egypt, the question is now: “are current Western CSR models adequate to describe CSR in developing countries?” If we consider Carroll’s (1991) [19] CSR pyramid which is the most widely used model, it is based mainly on research in the American culture. Several studies demonstrate that culture may substantially influence the perception of CSR priorities (Pinkston & Carroll, 1994 [25] ; Edmondson & Carroll, 1999 [26] ; Burton et al., 2000 [27] ). In this manner, in the developing world, the sequence of the CSR tiers changes from the traditional Carroll pyramid and was later adjusted by Visser (2009) [28] . Consequently, economic responsibilities continue to receive the most attention in developing nations, owing to a lack of foreign direct investment, severe unemployment, and widespread poverty. As a result, it’s no surprise that the economic contribution of businesses in developing nations is extremely valued by society and governments (Visser, 2009) [28] . Philanthropy comes in second, followed by legal duties and finally ethical ones. Scholars have argued that Islamic philanthropy values navigate CSR initiatives in Muslim countries. Therefore, philanthropy is the mainstream; it is regarded as the correct thing that businesses should do (Quazi & O’Brien, 2000) [29] . Legal obligations in developing countries are typically less prioritized and lag behind the developed world in terms of incorporating human rights and other CSR problems into legislative action (Mwaura, 2004) [30] . In underdeveloped nations the CSR agenda is least impacted by Ethics since corruption is still a major issue in these countries (Reed, 2002) [31] .
・ Stakeholder theory where businesses need to take into account the interests of all parties who might be influenced by their actions―stakeholders (Freeman, 1984 [32] ; Lantos, 2001 [33] ; Walsh, 2005 [34] ). In other words, the stakeholder theory sheds light on the essence of involving a corporation in socially responsible actions (Davis, 1960) [35] .
Ding et al. (2020) [36] & Qiu et al. (2021) [37] discovered that CSR-related activities in the context of COVID-19 help to capture the attention of stakeholders. During a crisis period, the bond formed between the brand and customer may be more valuable and lasting than in “peaceful” times. In order to survive a pandemic, customer loyalty is a crucial aspect in ensuring company stability (Dwidienawati, Kusuma, Kartini & Wijaya, 2022) [38] . Thus, the current pandemic certainly provides a broad variety of substantial opportunities for those with a more mindful and responsive approach to CSR (Hea & Harris, 2020) [39] .
2.2. Brand Image
Among the earliest definitions of brand image was by Levy (1959) [40] , who introduced the concept and indicated that products have social and emotional characteristics, and that customers create emotional associations with the brands. Nguyen & Leblanc (2001) [41] put forward the notion that brand image is an overall perception about a company created in the minds of the public. These impressions are related to business name, design, good or service variety, tradition, ideology, and quality impression expressed by each employee who interacts with the customers. Worcester (2009) [42] , Arendt & Malte (2010) [43] defined brand image as the sum of all the company-related experiences, impressions, beliefs, emotions, and information people have acquired. Similarly, Kotler (2006) [44] ; Zeithaml & Bitner (2011) [45] highlighted that: brand image is a view of a company mirrored in the association that is held in customer memory.
2.3. Trust
Without trust all social relationships will collapse or operate irregularly (Patrick, 2002) [46] . Academic literature has defined trust as the anticipation of an individual or a group that the word of another person or a group can be depended on (Rotter, 1967) [47] . Moreover, those who trust others are willing to tolerate vulnerability―a key component of the concept of trust based on (positive) expectations about this person’s intentions and actions. (Rousseau et al., 1998 [48] ; Colquitt et al., 2007) [49] . Thus, Scholars define trust as a party’s (trustor’s) willingness to be vulnerable to the acts of another party (trustee), because the trustor believes the trustee will do a specific act that is vital to the trustor, regardless of the trustor’s ability to oversee and regulate the other party (Moorman, Zaltman & Deshpandé, 1992 [50] ; Rousseau et al., 1998 [48] ).
While the preceding definitions mostly concern interpersonal trust, trust in a buyer-seller connection may also be defined as the buyer’s confidence in the trustworthiness and honesty of the seller (Morgan & Hunt, 1994) [51] . In the service context, trust depends on the service provider’s ability to meet consumers’ expectations regularly and resist doing anything that might threaten the customer (Ganesan, 1994 [52] ; Ganesan & Hess, 1997 [53] ).
2.4. Satisfaction
Besides the wealth of research on customer satisfaction, Giese &Cote (2000) [54] admit that there is no universally agreed definition. In general, however, consensus from previous literatures revolves around satisfaction being a phenomenon associated with cognitive judgments and the responses’ emotional nature (Giese & Cote, 2000) [54] . Oliver (1980) [55] , Engel, Blackwell & Miniard (1990) [56] , who defined satisfaction as an overall affective reaction to the difference between perceived expectations and actual performance, were among the earliest proposed definitions. Customer satisfaction is, according to Anderson, Fornell & Lehmann (1994) [57] , a general assessment based on the purchase and usage experience with a product over time. Recently, satisfaction has been defined as a person’s sentiments of enjoyment or disappointment as a result of comparing the perceived performance of a product to his/her expectations (Kotler, 2003) [58] .
In the case of retailers, Maxwell et al., (2010) [59] claimed that customer satisfaction is evaluated on the following basis: satisfaction with the choice to shop in a specific hypermarket, choosing to shop in this particular hypermarket is rational, the shopping experience in this particular hypermarket is enjoyable, and satisfaction with the products offered.
Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (1985) [60] , is widely used since it is considered one of the most influential models of consumer behavior prediction (Ajzen, 2011) [61] . The TPB can be used to analyze the factors affecting loyalty (Lee, Yeh, Chang, Tsai, & Yu, 2022) [62] , thus this theory is relied on in this study to justify the satisfaction-loyalty relationship. The TPB is composed of three components. The first one is attitude which is described as the extent to which an individual assesses the behavior positively or negatively (Ajzen, 2001) [63] . Conceptually, attitude is similar to the concept of satisfaction and drives consumer intentions, including loyalty formation, for future behavior (Froehle & Roth, 2004) [64] . The second construct is Subjective Norms (SN) and is defined as the sense of societal pressure to do or refrain from performing the activity (Verbeke & Vackier, 2005) [65] . Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC) is the third component which reflects the perceived ease or difficulty in completing the task (Ajzen, 1991 [66] ; Taylor & Todd, 1995 [67] ).
2.5. Loyalty
Customers are deemed to be loyal to a brand when they have exhibited a willingness to repurchase items from that brand in the future, and when the situational influence or marketing efforts of other companies to get them to switch brands are not affecting them (Oliver, 1999) [68] . According to Foster & Cadogan (2000) [69] , Customers’ readiness to make the firm their first choice, customers’ willingness to buy items supplied by the organization, customers’ willingness to urge others to buy, and customers’ willingness to communicate positively about the company are all signs of customer loyalty. In 2005, Yoo & Chang [70] revealed that positive wording and repetitive purchases, together with a willingness to buy again, formed customer loyalty. On top of that, Kotler & Keller’s (2012) [71] indicators for customer loyalty are repeat purchases; retention; referrals.
The loyalty concept has also been the essence of research in the retail sector (Cooil, 2007) [72] . The increasingly competitive retail environment and also the slow growth faced by today’s retailers’ demands the crucial pursuit of consumer loyalty. Chen (2008) [73] identified hypermarket consumer loyalty as the desire to constantly shop at this specific hypermarket.
3. Research Methodology
3.1. Population and Sampling
Unit of analysis in this research was individuals; those individuals include customers in the hypermarkets sector in Egypt. The sample was composed of 539 customers of both genders, over the age of 18 who are in charge of shopping for their homes at hypermarkets in Alexandria and Cairo, and that were most easily accessible and interested to take part in this research. Alexandria and Cairo due to their population density as per World Population review’s report (2023) were chosen as the representative cities and because they have the largest number of hypermarkets located in them. Specifically, the present study’s target group included shoppers from four different hypermarkets (Carrefour, Fathallah, Spinney’s, Hyper One) in Egypt. A non-probability “river” sampling technique was utilized. River sampling entails requesting respondents to click on a link to a survey that has been put on a web page, email, or anyplace else where people of the target group are likely to see it (Lehdonvirta, Oksanen, Räsänen, & Blank, 2020) [74] .
3.2. Data Collection
Data was collected in this study using self-administrated online questionnaires. The e-questionnaire was designed on google forms in English language. A link to it was placed on online platforms mainly on Facebook groups and Whatsapp due to the difficulty of distributing it in hypermarkets during the global COVID-19 pandemic and respondents were given anonymity and were informed that the survey was for educational purposes.
3.3. Research Framework
Figure 1 depicts the suggested integrated model based on a thorough literature review. It was adopted from merging models from previous research which were developed in the following researches by the authors: “The impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the customer commitment and trust in the retail sector (Servera-Frances & Arteaga-Moreno, 2015) [75] and ‘The impact of corporate social responsibility on customer loyalty in hypermarkets: A new socially responsible strategy’” (Valiño, Rodríguez, & Barriopedro, 2019) [76] .
3.4. Research Hypotheses
According to Deegan (2002) [77] , CSR development may help to improve the brand’s image not only for consumers but for all stakeholders (Rowley & Berman, 2000 [14] ; Freeman et al., 2000 [78] ; Martínez et al., 2014 [79] ). Hemdi & Othman (2013) [80] analyzed the investigated the CSR brand image-customer retention link and discovered that CSR initiatives had a favorable and significant impact on both brand image and customer retention. Furthermore, literature has identified a direct and positive association between CSR and image (Mohr & Webb, 2005 [81] ; Polonsky & Jevons, 2006 [82] ). Based upon these findings, hypotheses one was developed:
H1a: Economic CSR activities directly and positively influence company image;
H1b: Philanthropic CSR activities directly and positively influence company image;
H1c: Legal CSR activities directly and positively influence company image;
H1d: Ethical CSR activities directly and positively influence company image.
It has been found from previous studies that CSR has the biggest influence on
trust since it includes actions that demonstrate the company’s dedication to social concerns rather than just profits (Abbasi, Aghakhani, Azizi, Peikanpour, & Mehralian, 2022) [83] . Moreover, customers hold higher trust levels for companies that are seen to be socially responsible (Du et al., 2007) [84] . Pivato et al. (2008) [85] proposed that trust is the key consequence of CSR activities and is closely tied to specific CSR practices. Specifically, according to Pivato et al., (2008) [85] customer faith in a company’s ethical practices was one of the most immediate effects of the company’s social performance and strongly influenced consumer behaviors in response to CSR (Osterhus, 1997) [86] . Based upon these findings, the second hypotheses were developed:
H2a: Economic CSR activities directly and positively influence customer trust;
H2b: Philanthropic CSR activities directly and positively influence customer trust;
H2c: Legal CSR activities directly and positively influence customer trust;
H2d: Ethical CSR activities directly and positively influence customer trust.
The stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984) [32] , on which this study is based, suggests that CSR actions may result in an enhanced brand image for consumers, staff, and other stakeholders, implying that such activities can eventually boost customer satisfaction. Andreassen & Lindested (1997) [87] & Bloemer et al., (1998) [88] conducted studies that revealed a link between image and customer satisfaction. Past research has also shown that the brand’s image has a major influence on customers’ perceptions of value, satisfaction, and intention to revisit (Andreassen & Lindestad, 1998 [89] ; Cretu & Brodie, 2007 [90] ; Ryu et al., 2008 [91] ; Lai et al., 2009 [92] ). Revolving from this token, hypothesis three was developed:
H3: Building up brand image directly and positively influences customer satisfaction.
Sanzo et al., (2003) [93] conducted research on the indirect impact of CSR activities on satisfaction, examining this as a result of the variables of commitment and trust, demonstrating the fact that building trust and commitment from the side of the customer due to CSR activities of the firm will lead to an increase in customer satisfaction. Other studies suggested that trust comes before satisfaction (Lin & Wang, 2006 [94] ; Chiou & Pan, 2009 [95] ; Ercis et al., 2012 [96] & Chang, 2012 [97] ; Gul, 2014 [98] ), arguing that customers initially trust the product suppliers based on several criteria that influence satisfaction. According to these findings, the following fourth hypothesis was put forward:
H4: Building up trust directly and positively influences customer satisfaction.
Loyalty is reliant on satisfaction, which acts as a prerequisite to it (Bloemer & Kasper, 1995 [99] ; Oliver, 1999 [68] ; McDougall & Levesque, 2000 [100] ; Lewis, 2004 [101] ; Chang & Tu, 2005 [102] ; Li & Green, 2011 [103] ). A satisfied customer is also more inclined to repurchase the offering (Selnes, 1993 [104] ; Oliver, 1999 [68] ; Baker & Crompton, 2000 [105] ; Olsen & Johnson, 2003 [106] ; Yoon & Uysal, 2005 [107] ; Mao, 2010 [108] ) and to promote it by spreading favorable word of mouth with their friends, family, or even other customers ? essence of loyalty (Homburg & Giering, 2001 [109] ; Olsen & Johnson, 2003 [106] ). Satisfaction is believed to have a positive effect on brand loyalty. According to Wong & Zhou (2006) [110] , & Consuegra et al., (2007) [111] Customer satisfaction influences loyalty. Therefore, the fifth formulated hypothesis is:
H5: Customer satisfaction directly and positively influences customer loyalty.
3.5. Research Variables Measurement
In this research, variables can be categorized into three sets: CSR dimensions in developing countries (Independent variables), Image, trust, satisfaction (Intervening variables), and Customer loyalty (Dependent variable).
Economic, philanthropic and legal CSR were adapted from the scale developed by Carroll & Shabana (2010) [22] . However, the indicators used to measure the fourth CSR responsibility; ethical, was formulated by Maignan & Ferell (2001) [7] , and Carroll (2010) [112] . The measurement scale of image complies with the studies of Winters (1986) [113] , Barich & Kotler (1991) [114] . In addition, the measure of trust was composed by Ranaweera & Prabhu (2003) [115] . Satisfaction has many proposed measures of which the one formulated by Kaur & Soch (2012) [116] was relied on in this study. Lastly, Martinez & del Bosque (2013) [117] put together the items used to measure customer loyalty.
4. Research and Findings
The research variables and hypotheses mentioned above were investigated using descriptive, reliability, validity, correlation, regression analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). As a result, the statistical packages SPSS version 24 and AMOS version 25 were both used.
4.1. Confirmatory Factor Analysis
In order to verify validity before proceeding to SEM, the researcher applied Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The CFA model fit was determined in Table 1. They all comply with their recommended values range according to Hair et al., (2016) [118] thus indicate good model fitness.
Figure 2 depicts the use of CFA, with the factor loadings of items shown by arrows. The values indicate good factor loadings as it is recommended to be at least 0.40 to refer to an adequate validity.
4.2. Validity and Reliability Analysis
The validity and reliability tests of the research variables are shown in Table 2. It was discovered that the data had Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measures of sampling adequacy (KMO) larger than 0.5, which was regarded satisfactory and this indicated that the constructs are adequate and the researcher can proceed with factor analysis. Factor analysis using average variance extracted (AVE) and factor loadings have been jointly used to measure validity. AVE was found to be more than 50% for all constructs which confirms with Hair et al., (1998) [119] ; Chin
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Table 1. Fit indices and thresholds for measurement model.
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Table 2. Validity and reliability test.
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Figure 2. CFA for the measurement model.
(1998) [120] , Fornelll & Larcker, (2018) [121] recommend that constructs should exceed the 0.5 threshold. In addition, all factor loadings are above 0.4, therefore they all have a good loading and no factor should be removed from the analysis. In addition, all Cronbach’s alpha values exceed 0.7 which confirms with the threshold proposed by Nunnally (1978) [122] .
4.3. Descriptive Analysis
After gathering 539 questionnaires, 505 were completed and returned by respondents and 34 were incomplete. 30.3% of the respondents who returned a complete questionnaire answered that they were not aware of the CSR activities conducted by their preferred hypermarket, thus these were excluded from the analysis along with 3 respondents that lived in cities not part of the representative sample of choice, leaving a total of 350 useable replies available for statistical analysis. It was reported that the number of Female respondents was more than Male respondents that added up to 70.9%. Whereas the age group 18 - 25 has a larger rate of 43.4% than the other age groups. Moreover, respondents are well educated, with 54% having a College Degree, and 37.4% earning a postgraduate degree. Furthermore, the Single respondents were higher than other marital status as it got 53.1%. Finally, average monthly income above 20,000 is higher than other monthly income ranges with a percentage of 31.4%. Moreover, respondents were undoubtedly requested to indicate their most visited hypermarket. 49.4% participants indicated that Carrefour was the hypermarket they visit most.
4.4. Testing Research Hypotheses
4.4.1. CSR Dimensions and Company Image
Using Spearman’s correlation analysis, it was found that there is a significant direct relationship between Economic, Philanthropic, Legal, and Ethical Responsibilities and Image, as the P-values are lower than 0.05 and correlation coefficients are 0.509, 0.529, 0.528, and 0.571 respectively.
Using multiple regression, it was also found there is a positive significant influence of Economic, Philanthropic, Legal, and Ethical Responsibilities on Image since the regression coefficients are 0.202, 0.083, 0.132, and 0.376 respectively and the P-values are lower than 0.05. On top of that, the R square is 0.552 which suggests that the CSR dimensions explain 55.2% of the variation in brand Image.
Using SEM analysis there is a significant direct impact of Ethical, Economic, and Philanthropic responsibilities on Image as the estimate vales are 0.365, 0.318, 0.073 and the P-values are lower than 0.05, whereas there is no significant influence of Legal Responsibilities on Image as its P-value is greater than 0.05. Moreover, the R square is 0.669 which suggests that Ethical, Economic, and Philanthropic Responsibilities explain 66.9% of the variation of Company Image.
The model fit indices; CMIN/DF = 1.580, GFI = 0.967, CFI = 0.992, AGFI = 0.942, and RMSEA = 0.041 are all within their acceptable ranges.
4.4.2. CSR Dimensions and Customer Trust
It was found that there is a substantial direct association between Economic, Philanthropic, Legal, and Ethical responsibilities and Trust using Correlation analysis, as the calculated P-values are below 0.05 and correlation coefficients are 0.434, 0.432, 0.572, and 0.739, respectively.
Using multiple regression analysis, there is a significant direct impact of Legal and Ethical Responsibility on Trust, with regression coefficients of 0.183 and 0.653 and P-values under 0.05, whereas Economic and Philanthropic Responsibilities have an insignificant effect on Trust, with P-values greater than 0.05. Besides that, the R square is 0.659, indicating that Legal and Ethical Duties explain 65.9% of the variation in Trust.
It ought to be mentioned that using SEM, Ethical and Legal Responsibility have a significant positive effect on Customer Trust, with estimate values of 0.749 and 0.179 respectively and P-values lower than 0.05, whereas Economic and Philanthropic Responsibilities have an insignificant effect on Trust, with P-values greater than 0.05. Furthermore, the R square is 0.871, indicating that Ethical and Legal Responsibility can explain 87.1% of the variation in Trust.
The model fit indices; CMIN/DF = 1.803, GFI = 0.975, CFI = 0.991, AGFI = 0.945, and RMSEA = 0.048 are all within their approved limits.
4.4.3. Company Image and Customer Satisfaction
Using correlation analysis, it was revealed that there is a significant positive link between brand Image and customer Satisfaction, as the P-value is lower than 0.05 and the correlation coefficient is 0.671.
In addition, there is a significant positive influence of Image on Satisfaction under a simple regression model, with the regression coefficient being 1.242 and the P-value being lower than 0.05. Besides this, the R square is 0.543, indicating that Image can explain 54.3% of the variation in Satisfaction.
The SEM analysis was used, and it was noticed that Image has a significant positive influence on Satisfaction, as the estimate value is 1.270 and the P-value is less than 0.05. Moreover, the R square is 0.594, indicating that Image can explain 59.4% of the variation in Satisfaction.
The model fit indices; CMIN/DF = 1.549, GFI = 0.988, CFI = 0.998, AGFI = 0.969, and RMSEA = 0.040 are all within their acceptable levels.
4.4.4. Customer Trust and Customer Satisfaction
There is a significant positive association between Customer Trust and Satisfaction based on correlation analysis, since the associated P-value is less than 0.05 and the correlation coefficient is 0.601.
Trust has a significant positive influence on Satisfaction using simple regression analysis, with a regression coefficient of 1.163 and a P-value less than 0.05. Furthermore, the R square is 0.454, indicating that Trust can explain 45.4% of the variation in Satisfaction.
There is a significant positive influence of Trust on Satisfaction using SEM analysis, with an estimate value of 1.521 and a P-value less than 0.05. Moreover, the R square is 0.595, indicating that Trust can explain 59.5% of the variation in Satisfaction.
The model fit indices; CMIN/DF = 1.706, GFI = 0.998, CFI = 0.999, AGFI = 0.976, and RMSEA = 0.045 are all within their acceptable levels.
4.4.5. Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty
A significant positive linkage between Satisfaction and Loyalty was revealed using correlation analysis, as the calculated P-value is less than 0.05 and the correlation coefficient is 0.603.
Whilst satisfaction has a positive significant influence on Loyalty, with a regression coefficient of 0.891 and a P-value under 0.05. Moreover, the R square is 0.520, indicating that Satisfaction can explain 52% of the variation in Loyalty.
Table 4.20 conveys that there is a positive significant influence of Satisfaction on Loyalty under SEM analysis, with an estimate value of 0.884 and a P-value less than 0.05. Moreover, the R square is 0.562, implying that Satisfaction can explain 56.2% of the variation in Loyalty.
The model fit indices; CMIN/DF = 0.643, GFI = 0.999, CFI = 0.999, AGFI = 0.991, and RMSEA = 0.000 are all within their acceptable ranges.
5. Conclusions
This research put forward a particular approach to CSR that is connected to relational factors of trust and image. CSR has regularly been researched as a factor influencing profitability (Nwaneri, 2015 [123] ; Lee & Jung, 2016 [124] ; Swandari & Sadikin, 2016 [125] ; Bajic & Yurtoglu, 2018 [126] ). But there have been few academic studies tackling the effect of CSR on relational variables from the customer’s perspective, which are seen as key variables in company distinctiveness and value generation in the marketing context (Servera-Frances & Arteaga-Moreno, 2015) [75] , indicating a clear opportunity for research.
After applying correlation, and regression tests, it was found that CSR serves as a preliminary variable to image and trust. Narrowing it down, it can be concluded from the research findings that ethical and economic responsibilities have the greatest influence on company image followed by legal and philanthropic responsibilities respectively. While ethical and legal dimensions significantly affect customer trust, philanthropic and economic responsibilities proved to have an insignificant effect on trust. This shows that despite the fact that CSR seems like a new concept in Egypt the results show that Egyptian consumers are moving towards valuing CSR elements that are at the top of the pyramid developed by Visser (2009) [28] for developing countries more than basic charity work done by hypermarkets. Furthermore, it was found that building up trust and improving the perceived hypermarket image enhances overall customer satisfaction. This improvement has a direct influence on increasing consumer loyalty. That is, CSR has been shown to improve, indirectly, consumer satisfaction and loyalty to hypermarkets.
In terms of SEM findings using AMOS, the researcher was able to show complex relationships more precisely than standard multivariate statistical approaches mentioned above (Noudoostbeni, Kaurand & Jenatabadi, 2018) [127] . SEM confirmed the above findings that ethical, economic, and philanthropic responsibilities have a positive and direct effect on improving company image, nevertheless, it concluded that the legal dimension has an insignificant effect on company image. With respect to H2a, b, c, and d, ethical and legal responsibilities have a direct, positive and significant effect on customer trust respectively. Finally, H3, H4, H5 were supported indicating that image and trust have a significant positive influence on customer satisfaction which in turn leads to loyalty to a specific hypermarket over another.