Measuring the impact of CSR practices on customer satisfaction during pandemic: a quantitative study in the Philippines

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to analyze how consumers perceive the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices carried out by a local water district in Angeles City, Philippines. The main objective of the study is to investigate how CSR practices influence customer satisfaction. To achieve this, several pieces of literature were mentioned to prove that CSR has an important role to its stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach The study used a descriptive and quantitative approach to test the hypotheses. The participants of the study were the residents of the top three barangays in Angeles City, Philippines, in terms of the most consumed water supply, namely: Cut-cut, Pampang and Anunas. Using the Raosoft sample size calculator, the computed sample size was 382 respondents and distributed using stratified sampling. Methodologically, the study used statistical treatment to test all the variables and validated the instrument. Findings The result of the study shows that CSR practices significantly impact customer satisfaction. In the test of the degree of relationship between the dimensions of CSR and customer satisfaction, it was found that there is a significant relationship between the two variables. Research limitations/implications The future study may explore the relationship between CSR and the resource-based view theory of the firm. The resource-based perspectives are useful to understand why firms engage in CSR activities and disclosure. From a resource-based perspective, CSR is seen as providing internal or external benefits, or both. Practical implications The water district must promote social welfare and behave as good corporate citizens; they must spend the resources allocated to CSR initiatives in ways that yield optimum benefits to society as well as to the stakeholders of the company. Social implications The paper points out that the water supply industry is one of the most regulated sectors, as the operation requirements are tighter than any other activity. The authors emphasize that water companies must assume special responsibility because their activities are directly related to the use of natural resources, environmental pollution, and public health. Originality/value This study used a descriptive-explanatory strategy to determine the significant variables using PLS-SEM. This paper addressed how consumers perceive the CSR practices carried out by the local water district in Angeles City, Philippines.