Customer happiness and evangelism through corporate image and engagement

Purpose This study aims to investigate the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on customer happiness (CH) and evangelism through corporate image (CI) and customer engagement (CE). Design/methodology/approach We conducted two between-subjects experiments with banking customers (n = 308, n = 292) using SmartPLS 4.0 to assess the proposed hypotheses. Findings Findings revealed that CSR dimensions (economic, ethical, legal and philanthropic) had mixed effects on CE and CI. Furthermore, CE and CI positively predicted CH, which in turn had a positive impact on customer evangelism. Finally, the experimental manipulation demonstrated increased CH and evangelism when consumers viewed images of banks portraying CSR initiatives. Practical implications Banks should prioritize CSR and CH. Managers should devise strategies that communicate banks’ investment in ethical, legal and philanthropic CSR, boosting CE and CI. In turn, banks with positive CE and robust CI should be able to cultivate CH and evangelism. In addition, banks’ participation in CSR initiatives (i.e. environmental protection and blood donation drives) should yield a heightened impact on CH and evangelism. Originality/value This study made an early attempt to harmonize CSR and CH. Mainly, there is no evidence regarding the background moderating influence of CSR on the relationships between CE-CH, CI-CH and CH-evangelism. Similarly, we made a novel attempt to investigate the effects of CI on happiness and CH’s on customer evangelism in the banking sector. Likewise, the outcomes based on dimensional measures of CSR enlightened our knowledge of the subject matter.