Management Review ›› 2022, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (7): 189-197.

• Marketing • Previous Articles     Next Articles

A Research into the Impact of CSI on Customers' Loyalty to Platform Companies

Zhu Wenzhong, Fu Qiongfang, Ji Xiaoxia   

  1. School of Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Study, Guangzhou 510006
  • Received:2021-03-05 Online:2022-07-28 Published:2022-08-19

Abstract: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been widely researched, but its opposite-corporate social irresponsibility (CSI)receives much less attention. At present, bilateral markets built on Internet platforms are booming. Online shopping has become a major trend. Customer loyalty is the key for companies to gain a competitive advantage. However, the lack of sellers' social responsibility has become an issue that affects customers' loyalty to platform companies and hinders the companies from further development. This study focuses on the negative spillover effects of sellers' CSI in the bilateral market on platform companies. From the perspective of customer loyalty, it studies the psychological distance between customers and the platform, and also focuses on the moderating effect of the platform's brand image. This study offers a new angle to look at seller's social responsibility and a potential solution to improving customer loyalty based on operationl level. The results show that lack of CSI will have a negative impact on the loyalty to platform companies in a bilateral market, which will be moderated by the platform's psychological distance.This study has a certain practical value as it provides a new perspective for the research of customers' loyalty to platform enterprises.

Key words: bilateral market, platform enterprise, CSI, customers' loyalty