RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEGAL CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND CUSTOMERS’ LOYALTY OF RETAIL BANKS IN NORTHEAST NIGERIA: MEDIATING ROLE OF CUSTOMERS’ GRATITUDE AND MODERATING ROLE OF STRATEGIC-DRIVEN MOTIVE

Abstract

Research works examining the mediating role of customer’s gratitude on the relationship
between Legal Corporate Social Responsibility (LCSR) and customer’s loyalty, and the
moderating role of strategic-driven corporate social responsibility motive on the association
between LCSR and customer’s gratitude in the retail banking industry are scarce. Hence, this
study examines the mediating role of customer gratitude on the relationship between LCSR and
customer’s loyalty as well as the moderating role of strategic-driven corporate social
responsibility motive on the relationship between LCSR and customer’s gratitude in retail
banking sector of Nigeria. Cross-sectional survey was adopted. Data were collected from 430
individual customers of the Nigerian retail banks located in some selected towns in Northeastern
Nigeria. Hypotheses were tested using path analysis,a component of structural equation
modeling. The finding showed significant relationship between LCSR and customer’s loyalty
through customer’s gratitude. Furthermore, the finding showed that strategic-driven corporate
social responsibility motive did not moderate the effect of LCSR on customer’s gratitude. The
study concluded that customer’s gratitude mediated the dynamics between LCSR and customer’s
loyalty among the surveyed retail banks. Also, the study concluded that strategic-driven
corporate social responsibility motive do not moderate the relationship between LCSR and
customer gratitude. Thus, the study recommends that managers of Nigerian retail banks should
implement LCSR in order to engender feelings of gratitude in customers with a view to
cultivating long-lasting customer’s loyalty. Finally, the study recommends that managers should
focus on other corporate social responsibility motives, such as values-driven and stakeholderdriven
motives instead of strategic- driven motive.