When and how does customer engagement in CSR initiatives lead to greater CSR participation? The role of CSR credibility and customer–company identification

Abstract This study aims to investigate the effects of customers' perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on their CSR participation intention via customer–company identification (C–C identification). The authors also examine how CSR credibility strengthens the customers' CSR perception–C–C identification relationship and the indirect relationship between CSR perception and CSR participation intention through C–C identification. We conducted a survey of 567 South Korean bank customers and performed structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. C–C identification partially mediated the relationship between customers' CSR perception and CSR participation intention. The positive association between customers' CSR perception and C–C identification was more pronounced when CSR credibility was higher than when it was lower. CSR credibility further moderated the indirect effect of customers' CSR perception and CSR participation intention through C‐C identification. This study deepens CSR research by showing how a cognitive CSR perception leads to a behavioral CSR participation based on a research model.