Strategic nature of corporate social responsibility, competitive performance, innovation capability and environmental uncertainty

Purpose The goal of this work is to evaluate how corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects competitive performance in Nigeria's banking industry, with innovation capability acting as a mediator and environmental uncertainty as a moderating factor. Design/methodology/approach The banking industry in Nigeria served as the site for the empirical investigation. Employees at deposit money institutions received a questionnaire. Direct and mediating effects and the moderating role were thus examined utilizing a final sample of 267 cases using consistent partial least squares structural equation modeling with ADANCO 2.2.1. Findings The data shows that CSR has both a significant strategic impact on innovation capability and a competitive innovation capability. In contrast, the outcome shows a strong effect of CSR's strategic character on performance in the marketplace. Furthermore, evidence for mediating and moderating effects was provided. Research limitations/implications The study was restricted to Nigerian banking institutions. Additionally, data on competitive performance were acquired from employees' perspectives, while considering the competitive performance of their rivals. Originality/value The primary contribution of this paper is the empirical investigation of the mediating impact of innovation capability and the moderating function of environmental uncertainty in banking organizations that use a CSR strategy to attain competitive performance.