The Moderating Role of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Relationship between Brand Image and Brand Loyalty: A Post-COVID-19 Perspective among Telecommunication Firms in Ghana

Abstract

During the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw many firms embark on different corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The study examines how CSR activities have interacted with the brand image and brand loyalty of firms in the telecommunications industry in Ghana. Through a quantitative research design, the study analysed survey data from 501 customers using structural equation modelling. The result revealed a positive and statistically significant relationship between brand image and brand loyalty. The study also identified that corporate cause promotion, cause-related marketing, corporate social marketing, corporate philanthropy, and socially responsible business practices were all statistically significant. Corporate volunteering was, however, found to be insignificant. This study expands the literature on CSR in a time of crises and it is one of the few studies that has deployed the multidimensions of CSR as a moderator to protect and enhance brand image and loyalty.

1. Introduction

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty. Scholars have found that during a crisis or economic downturn, firms that adopt CSR practices may benefit from bolstering firm reputation, trust and competitiveness, which may be critical aiding survival and recovery [1, 2, 3]. CSR helped firms protect their brand image and value during the COVID-19 pandemic [4, 5]. Although the CSR strategy was deployed by many firms during a pandemic, Alexa et al. [6] argue that there has been less study interrogating the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives on brands during the COVID-19 pandemic. Velte [7] also call for investigation into CSR as a response strategy for brands to uncertainties and crises.

Before the outbreak of the pandemic, extant literature acknowledged the complexity in understanding and explaining consumer-brand loyalty [8, 9]. This was exacerbated during the pandemic. In fact, Vázquez-Martínez et al. [10] noted that during crises, customers further altered their consumption behaviour on various firm offering tremendously, affecting even the loyalty of customers towards some of their favorite brands. In other to understand and sustain customer loyalty to a brand post COVID-19, scholars have interrogated key issues such as product quality [11], customer relationship management [12], and service recovery [13]. However, research has failed to acknowledge the deployment of CSR initiative to sustain brand image and brand loyalty, even though CSR was a strategy deployed by most firms. This creates a gap for researchers to find out the dynamics of COVID-19, CSR, and brand image and their impact on the loyalty of consumers. This gap was echoed in a study by [14] which indicated the lack of acceptable empirical evidence on how companies are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic disaster and the changes in consumer behaviour patterns. Studies by [6, 15] also suggested the need to for future studies to interrogate post-COVID consumer behaviour patterns.

The global pandemic resulted in social distancing, and subsequent confinement to homes, businesses and economies had to shut leading to an upsurge in usage of telecom services for people to stay connected. After the pandemic, it is expected that the habit of staying and working remotely remains as people and organizations globally have gradually adjusted to this new normal [16, 17]. This creates a sustained increased demand for the internet and telephony services, both in numbers and quality of services, leading to stringent competition in the telecom industry. Whiles trying to satisfy the increased demand of network connectivity, some telecommunication firms engaged in CSR activities during the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, firms in the telecommunication industry were not only engaged in ensuring that their consumers stayed connected but also engaged in social activities to gain favourable consumer responses and enhance their brand image. But how was this gesture relevant to the customers, considering that everyone was still adjusting to the “new normal” brought about by the outbreak of the pandemic? This study attempts to interrogate this interesting phenomenon by examining the moderating role of CSR on the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty.

This study makes notable contribution to brand management literature during crises by elucidating the nuanced impact of brand image on brand loyalty. By examining this relationship in line with the COVID-19 pandemic, the study provides actionable insights for practitioners seeking effective strategies to navigate brand challenges during turbulent times. Secondly, the study interrogates the moderating impact of the dimensions of CSR on the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty. Our study is one of the first to consider CSR as a multidimensional variable and a moderator to identify mechanism which can either enhance or diminish the brand image and brand loyalty. Thirdly, the study will finally contribute to literature on CSR activities among telecommunication from a developing country perspective.

The rest of this paper is presented as follows. In Section 2 we discussed key thematic areas in line with the study. The next section delves into the methodological process. This is followed by the results, discussion of results, implication, contributions and suggestions for future research study.

2. Literature review and hypothesis formulation

2.1 Brand image and brand loyalty

The concept of branding has received considerable academic attention in recent times [18, 19, 20, 21, 22]. Studies have shown a favourable relationship between brand image and brand loyalty [18, 20, 23]. For instance, a study by [22] shows that during the pandemic, brand image and customer satisfaction had a significant impact on loyalty. It is confirmed in the literature that brand image contributes significantly to customer trust [24] and future purchase intention [25], which influences customers brand loyalty [18]. This has led to the first hypothesis of the study:

H1: Brand image significantly relates to brand loyalty.

2.2 Corporate social responsibility

Carroll [26] looked at CSR from both social and environmental perspective. Based on this classification, Maignan [27] defined CSR as “the extent to which businesses meet the economic, legal, ethical and discretionary responsibilities imposed on them by their stakeholders.” These stakeholders, according to [28, 29], include governments, future generations, employees, the environment, shareholders and customers. Connecting stakeholders with CSR activities encourages the “co-construction of win-win advantage” and offers an understanding of the interaction between the economic dimension of CSR activities and social performance [17] This improves firms’ productivity, image and reputation and also draws loyal customers to the firm [23]. CSR are major activities undertaken by businesses to support social causes and fulfil commitment [30, 31]. The researchers identified six special initiatives under which most CSR activities fall: 1. Corporate Cause Promotion; 2. Cause-Related Marketing; 3. Corporate Social Marketing; 4. Corporate Philanthropy; 5. Community Volunteering; 6. Socially Responsible Business Practices. The study interrogates these initiatives as moderators in this study (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Conceptual framework for the study.

2.2.1 Corporate cause promotion

To achieve brand loyalty in this competitive business environment, Almeida et al. [32] recommended CSR as an effective tool that firms can use to achieve this objective. Cause promotions are usually adopted to increase the awareness level of causes and encourage consumers to voluntarily participate in and support them [33]. Sharma and Jain [5] observed that customers are more likely to associate themselves with brands that undertake good social cause. Within the telecommunication industry, CSR initiatives such as cause promotion to have been widely studied and proven to be an important tool for organisational success [34]. Cause promotion activities could enhance service quality and customer value, which are key in determining the loyalty of customers. Moreso [35] indicated that marketing practitioners have adopted cause promotion as a means of dealing with the “new normal” presented to us by COVID-19 with the hope of gaining favourable consumer-brand responses.

This study then hypothesises that:

H_2a: Cause promotion moderates the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty.

2.2.2 Cause-related marketing

Cause related marketing considered by several scholars to be the most practised corporate social responsibility initiative [36, 37]. As a form of charitable donation, Refs. [36, 38] noted that cause-related marketing involves firms partnering with Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) for a profitable venture through the sale of their products. During the pandemic, firms across the globe struggled to adjust and figure out the tools to promote their brands [39]. Cause-related marketing demonstrates firms’ ethical responsibilities to society, is seen as altruistic and generous, leading to a strong brand image [1, 38] and improves brand loyalty [38]. Equally, Johansson et al. [2] posit that cause-related marketing activities turn the attention of customers to purchase and repurchase brand, as repurchase leads to loyalty. This study therefore hypothesises that,

H_2b: Cause-related marketing moderates the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty

2.2.3 Corporate social marketing

Polonsky et al. [4] postulated that firms undertake social marketing activities by linking actions to the use of products or the impact of its functionality, while at the same time concentrating on their benefits to society by promoting positive behavioural change in the areas of waste disposal [40], condom usage [41], HIV/AIDS testing [42], “galamsey” behaviour [43] and observing COVID-19 protocols [35]. In the context COVID-19, firms encouraged people to stop undesired behaviours (e.g. avoid crowded places), embrace new behaviours (face mask) and change current behaviours (frequent hand washing) [44]. Wu and Wang [45] indicated that social marketing persuades customers to constantly connect with brands [46], creates a favourable brand image in the minds of consumers and maintains loyal customers to the brand [47, 48]. Wu and Wang [45] also argued that customers are attracted to brands that are socially responsible, an image that influences consumer purchasing and re-purchase behaviour [49]. Kotler et al. [19] described repurchase behaviour as a sign of loyalty to a brand. Therefore, this study proposed the following;

H_2c: Corporate social marketing moderates the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty

2.2.4 Corporate philanthropy

In recent times, the concept of philanthropy has gained a lot of attention across the world. This has influenced the interest of institutions and individuals to support development agendas, including the coronavirus [50], through the provision of financial and non-financial incentives [51]. According to [52], firms engage in philanthropic activities when they realise that their existence is beyond the pursuit of profit. This is done through donations, sponsorships and charity among others [53]. Liu et al. [54] argue that customers have favourable perception of corporate philanthropic activities and the firms that engage in them. Lev et al. [55] demonstrated that firms’ donations to the development of societies positively relate to customer satisfaction, eventually leads to positive brand image and customer retention. This, according to [48, 56], will influence customers to continue to patronise the brand, which enhances the image and reputation of the brand. Against this background, we suggest that

H_2d: Corporate philanthropy moderates the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty

2.2.5 Community volunteering

Community volunteering has been identified as an agent that can bring change to the community and disrupt social inequalities. Lough and Tiessen [57] reported that there are about 109 million employee volunteers across the world. It is important to note that volunteers do not receive any financial remuneration but are motivated by the rewards yielded by their activities [58]. The widespread nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced firms and members of the community to realise the need to support each other, especially those who were highly hit by the disease [59], by establishing voluntary groups based on the principle of solidarity for the good of all [60]. Most importantly, firms across the globe have used community volunteering to build brand equity [61]. Scholars such as 43 have argued that community volunteering positively affects customers’ choice of brand, buying decision, intention to recommend and brand image. This positive image, according to [32, 62], provides firms with many benefits including brand recall, recognition, employee satisfaction and loyalty, positive reputation and brand loyalty. For that matter, firms should continuously organise volunteer activities to make customers recognise the activities and therefore affect brand image. Thus, the following hypothesis is formulated:

H_2e: Corporate volunteering moderates the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty.

2.2.6 Social responsible business practices

In recent times, there has been an increase in concerns about the environmental and social effects of business practices from stakeholders such as investors, customers, governmental agencies and employees [31]. The response of firms to these concerns is socially responsible business practices [63, 64]. During the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, some firms actively engaged in responsible business practices such as employee protection, compensation, workplace safety, provision of PPEs to customers, a donation to communities, and protection of the natural environment, among others [65]. Sarfraz et al. [17] explained that socially responsible business practices help firms develop employee spirit of belonging by motivating and encouraging them to partake in social activities, which improves brand performance and brand image [48, 66]. Tingchi et al. [67] stated that socially responsible firms enjoy a more favourable brand image and a higher level of customer loyalty. Consumers’ motivation for responsible businesses, coupled with their opinion of the brands and satisfaction, are important and key elements that influence brand loyalty [68]. Based on this discussion, this study hypothesised that

H_2f: Socially responsible business practices moderate the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty.

2.3 Methodology

To achieve the objectives of the study, a quantitative research design was used to investigate the moderating role of the dimensions of CSR (cause-related marketing, corporate cause promotion, corporate social marketing, corporate philanthropy, community volunteering and socially responsible business practices) on the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty.

Partial least squares equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used for the analysis. PLS analysis was suitable for the study because it made it possible to configure and estimate the relationship between the latent variables in the model. The research hypotheses presented in the previous section were captured with 44 items as proposed by [33, 69] for CSR. Brand image was measured using items adopted from the studies of [20, 37]. Brand loyalty was measured by items adopted from [70]. The validity of the questionnaire was tested in a pilot-test survey before sending it to the target respondents. The questionnaire was designed using Google Forms and uploaded to the comment sections of news alerts of CSR activities highlighted on the social media pages of the telecommunication firms in Ghana. Between March 2022 and August 2022, 501 respondents correctly completed the questionnaires. The respondents were made up of customers of and had foreknowledge or have experienced some form of CSR activity of the telecommunication firms in Ghana.

Similar to previous research [71] the questions had several sections. The first section measured the demographics of respondents, and the second position covered the items that measured brand image. The third section covered the moderating variables – the dimensions of CSR and the final section asked the target respondents for information on brand loyalty. Before respondents were allowed to participate in the process, they were asked if they had experienced or had foreknowledge of any CSR activity of the firms. All who indicated ‘no’ were automatically logged off.

Data collection was followed by database preparation prior to data processing in SmartPLS software version 3. Aside the questions that covered the demographics, the remaining questions that tested the variables of the study were operationalised using a Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

2.4 Results

In total, 501 responses were used for the final analysis. The demographic profile indicates (Table 1) that there were more female (52.9%) than male (47.1%) respondents; the majority of the respondents were 18–30 years (81.6%), followed by 31–40 years (14.4%), with 4% of the respondents being 41 years or older; the majority of 37.1 been a customer/subscriber of their main network for 3–4 years, followed by 20.6% who have been subscribers for 1–2 years, followed by 12.6% who have been customers of their main network for more than 10 years.

Category	Frequency	Percent
Gender
Male	236	47.1
Female	265	52.9
Total	501	100
Age
18–30 years	409	81.6
31–40 years	72	14.4
41–50 years	20	4
Total	501	100
How long have you been a customer/subscriber of your main network?
1–2 years	103	20.6
3–4 years	186	37.1
5–6 years	52	10.4
7–8 years	67	13.4
9–10 years	30	6
Above 10 years	63	12.6
Total	501	100

Table 1.

Demographic profile.

2.4.1 Reliability and validity

All constructs were assessed for their reliability and validity. The internal consistency and reliability for all constructs were achieved as the composite reliability for each variable was shown (Table 2) to be higher than 0.7 for all constructs as recommended by [72]. Meanwhile, the average variance extracted was higher than the minimum requirement of 0.5 [72], indicating that the constructs demonstrated convergent validity. All the items were found to be reliable, with loadings exceeding 0.7 except for items BI5, CCPCSR2 and SRBPCSR2. Given these items result in other criteria not meeting their respective threshold, they were deleted.

		Loadings	C.A	rho_A	C.R	(AVE)
Brand image
My network’s brand has clean image	BI1	0.86	0.87	0.87	0.91	0.71
My network has a good image in the society	BI2	0.83
My network’s brand has a differentiated image	BI3	0.83
It is prestigious to be a customer of my network	BI4	0.85
My network is committed to sustainable development	BI5	0.552*
Cause promotion
My network provides funds, in-kind contributions, or other corporate resources to increase awareness and concern about social cause(s). E.g. the need to avoid crowded places	CCPCSR1	0.78	0.71	0.71	0.82	0.53
I value my network provider’s initiatives to increase awareness and concern for social causes.	CCPCSR2	0.602*
My network provider’s corporate cause promotions increase my awareness of its brand.	CCPCSR3	0.77
My network provider’s corporate cause promotions increase the image I associate with them.	CCPCSR4	0.76
My network provider’s corporate cause promotions increase my perceptions of the brand’s quality.	CCPCSR5	0.83
My network provider’s corporate cause promotions increase my loyalty towards the brand.	CCPCSR6	0.86
Corporate philanthropy
My network makes a direct contribution to a charity or cause, most often in the form of cash grants, donations and/or in-kind services. E.g. Paying medical bill for the poor.	CPHCSR1	0.89	0.81	0.85	0.88	0.64
I value my network provider’s direct donations or contributions in cash and/or in kind to charity or cause(s).	CPHCSR2	0.70
My network provider’s corporate philanthropy increases my awareness of its brand.	CPHCSR3	0.87
My network providers corporate philanthropy increases the image I associate with them.	CPHCSR4	0.91
My network providers corporate philanthropy increases my perceptions of the brand’s quality.	CPHCSR5	0.85
My network providers corporate philanthropy increases my loyalty towards the brand.	CPHCSR6	0.82
Cause-related marketing
My network makes commitment to contribute or donate a percentage of revenues to specific cause based on product sales.	CRMCSR1	0.77	0.85	0.87	0.91	0.77
I value my network provider’s commitment to contribute or donate a percentage of revenues to specific cause(s) based on product sales or usage.	CRMCSR2	0.83
My network provider’s cause-related marketing increases my awareness of its brand.	CRMCSR3	0.78
My network provider’s cause-related marketing increases the image I associate with them.	CRMCSR4	0.86
My network provider’s cause-related marketing increases my perceptions of the brand’s quality.	CRMCSR5	0.74
My network provider’s cause-related marketing increases my loyalty towards the brand.	CRMCSR6	0.62
Corporate social marketing
My network supports the development and/or implementation of behaviour change campaign intended to improve public health, safety, the environment, or community well-being	CSMCSR1	0.43	0.88	0.89	0.91	0.55
I value my network provider’s support of behaviour change campaigns to improve public health, safety, the environment, or community well-being.	CSMCSR2	0.65
My network provider’s corporate social marketing increases my awareness of its brand.	CSMCSR3	0.79
My network provider’s corporate social marketing increases the image I associate with them.	CSMCSR4	0.45
My network provider’s corporate social marketing increases my perceptions of the brand’s quality.	CSMCSR5	0.79
My network provider’s corporate social marketing increases my loyalty towards the brand.	CSMCSR6	0.94
Community volunteering
My network supports and encourages employees and distributor partners, to volunteer their time to support local community organizations and causes.	CVCSR1	0.95	0.70	0.69	0.75	0.53
I value my network provider’s support and encouragement of its employees, retailers, or agents to volunteer their time, expertise, talents, ideas, and/or physical labour to support local community organizations and causes.	CVCSR2	0.91
My network providers community volunteering increases my awareness of its brand.	CVCSR3	0.82
My network provider’s community volunteering increases my perceptions of the brand’s quality.	CVCSR4	0.80
My network provider’s community volunteering increases my loyalty towards the brand.	CVCSR5	0.74
My network provider’s community volunteering increases the image I associate with them.	CVCSR6	0.78
Socially responsible business practices
My network ensures its business practices are socially responsible.	SRBPCSR1	0.77	0.89	0.97	0.85	0.82
I value my network provider’s discretionary initiatives such ensuring customers well-being by allowing them to work from home	SRBPCSR2	0.55*
My network provider’s socially responsible business practices increase my awareness of the brand.	SRBPCSR3	0.77
My network provider’s socially responsible business practices increase the image I associate with them.	SRBPCSR4	0.78
My network provider’s socially responsible business practices increase my perceptions of the brand’s quality.	SRBPCSR5	0.79
My network provider’s socially responsible business practices increase my loyalty towards the brand.	SRBPCSR6	0.85
Brand loyalty
I prefer to purchase this brand to other brands	BL1	0.80	0.88	0.88	0.92	0.68
I intend to continue buying this brand	BL2	0.82
Overall, this brand will be my first choice	BL3	0.87

Table 2.

Construct reliability and validity.

Notes: AVE = Average variance extracted, C. R = Composite reliability, C. A = Cronbach’s alpha

All items with ** were deleted to ensure that the validity and reliability criteria was achieved

Discriminant validity was then tested using the Heterotriat-Monotrait (HTMT) measures [73]. Table 3 indicates that the HTMT values were found to be lower than the threshold of 0.85, assuring discriminant validity. It can then be concluded that both the convergent and discriminant validity of the measures were established.

	BI	BL	CCPCSR	CPHCSR	CRMCSR	CSMCSR	CVCSR	SRBPCSR
BI
BL	0.76
CCPCSR	0.39	0.41
CPHCSR	0.42	0.45	0.34
CRMCSR	0.53	0.46	0.42	0.35
CSMCSR	0.43	0.41	0.35	0.25	0.40
CVCSR	0.28	0.30	0.33	0.36	0.27	0.31
SRBPCSR	0.25	0.24	0.32	0.34	0.30	0.26	0.14

Table 3.

Discriminant validity with HTMT ratio.

2.4.2 Structural model evaluation and hypothesis testing

The study followed the recommended procedure by [72] for assessing the structural model. To start with, the study assessed the variance inflation factor (VIF) and found BI to have the highest figure of 1.56 (Table 4), indicating that there was no issue of multicollinearity. Furthermore, the dependent variable of the study recorded an R² of 0.497 indicating that, on average, the independent variable of the study explains about 45% of the total variations in the dependent variable of the study. The study also tested the model’s predictive accuracy using the Q² [74]. The Q² value obtained was 0.33, indicating that the data points of the indicators are well predicted.

Constructs	R^2	F2	Q^2	VIF
BI		0.33		1.53
BL	0.50		0.33
CCPCSR		0.01		1.41
CPHCSR		0.03		1.41
CRMCSR		0.00		1.56
CSMCSR		0.01		1.37
CVCSR		0.00		1.27
SRBPCSR	0.00		1.23

Table 4.

Structural model assessment.

2.4.3 Direct relationship

To test the path coefficient between the model’s latent variables, the study performed a bootstrapping algorithm in SmartPLS using 10,000 subsamples [75] at a 0.1 (10%) two-tailed distribution. The result from the analysis indicates acceptance for the study’s first hypothesis. As indicated in Table 4, the relationship between BI → BL (β = 0.50, p = 0.00) tested significantly.

2.4.4 Testing moderation

Moderator factors have the ability to influence both the direction and the degree of the association between independent and dependent variables. For H2, the moderating variable was tested on the significant baseline relationship (BI → BL). As shown in Table 5 most of the interaction effect of the subconstructs of CSR on the relationship between BI and BL were significant. Thus, CCPCSR*BI → BL (β = 0.12, p = 0.00), CSMCSR*BI → BL (β = 0.14, p = 0.00), CPHCSR*BI → BL (β = 0.48, p = 0.00), SRBPCSR*BI → BL (β = 0.09, p = 0.01) all tested positively significant, confirming the proposed hypothesis H2a, c, d and f. Even though hypothesis H2b (β = −0.10, p = 0.01) was also statistically significant, it was negatively related. H2e (CVCSR*BI → BL), on the other hand, was not statistically significant (β = 0.19, p = 0.53), hence, disconfirming our postulation (Table 6).

Path	Original sample (O)	Sample mean (M)	S.D (STDEV)	T stats	P values
BI → BL	0.51	0.51	0.04	12.30	0.00

Table 5.

Direct relationship.

	Original sample (O)	Sample mean (M)	(STDEV)	T stats	P values
CCPCSR*BI → BL	0.12	0.11	0.04	2.94	0.00
CRMCSR*BI → BL	−0.10	−0.10	0.04	2.55	0.01
CSMCSR*BI → BL	0.14	0.14	0.04	3.31	0.00
CPHCSR*BI → BL	0.48	0.47	0.05	11.27	0.00
CVCSR*BI → BL	0.19	0.18	0.03	0.63	0.53
SRBPCSR*BI → BL	0.09	0.10	0.04	2.73	0.01

Table 6.

Moderation effect.

2.5 Discussion

The study was conducted to determine the moderating effect of the dimensions of CSR on the relationship between BI and BL. Six of the seven hypotheses are supported with statistically significant results. After data processing in SmarPLS software, there is a strong correlation among the dependent and dependent variable supporting H1 (effect coefficient of 0.51). The study also identified that among the moderating variables, there were strong correlations with H1d (Highest effect coefficient of 0.48), H1c (effect coefficient of 0.14) H1a (effect coefficient of 0.12) H1f (effect coefficient of 0.09). H2b however recorded a negative correlation (effect coefficient of −0.10). The findings confirm a series of findings from previous research. They also offer new perspectives of some of intervening approaches that can enhance the image and loyalty of brands.

Of the intervening capabilities of the dimensions of CSR that influenced brand image and loyalty, the study found corporate philanthropy to be the most significant moderator. This strategy has motivated firms to promote the welfare of others through donations. This could be explained by the fact that firms within the telecommunications industry engaged in various forms of donations during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This resonates with other studies that identified that firms that engage in philanthropic activities are looked on favourably by consumers [48, 56].

Moreover, corporate social marketing was found to be a strong moderator of the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty. The study indicates that firms that engage in social marketing by encouraging people to stop undesired behaviours (e.g., avoid crowded places), embrace new behaviours (face mask) and change current behaviours (frequent hand washing) are view favourably by consumers. The result is consistent with the view of [45, 46] who argued that firms that engage in social marketing are able to persuade their customers to constantly connect with brands, create a favourable brand image in the minds of consumers [76] and maintains loyal customers to the brand [48].

Furthermore, corporate cause promotion also emerged as a CSR dimension that moderates brand image and brand loyalty. The company associating itself with a specific cause, such as the fight against COVID–19 by promoting the WHO prevention protocols can influence its brand image. This finding is consistent with the study of [35], who highlighted the need for firms to engage in cause promotion in times of crises such as COVID-19 to remain favourable to customers.

In addition, social responsible business practice was identified to moderate the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty. This result indicates that during the outbreak of the pandemic, customers appreciated responsible practices such as ensuring workplace safety of employees and the provision of PPE to customers during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was consistent with the findings of [65] who indicated that social responsible business practice is not only necessary for financial gains but also for the greater good of the society.

Cause related marketing was identified as a significant moderator of brand image and brand loyalty. Despite the fact that this relationship was identified to be significant as in the case of some previous studies [39], the relationship was also negatively skewed. This indicates that even though cause related marketing is capable of influencing brand image and brand loyalty, its presence may just weaken the relationship.

Finally, community volunteering was found to not moderate the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty. This may be explained by the fact that during a crisis like the COVID-19, customers may prioritize essential services like reliable telecommunication and staying alive, as immediate concerns related to health and connectivity may overshadow the impact of community volunteering. The result was inconsistent with previous findings [65] where community volunteering was a significant factor in influencing consumer behaviour.

2.6 Implications and contributions of the study

This study makes theoretical contributions by expanding the literature on brand image, corporate social responsibility and brand loyalty during crises like COVID-19. First, this research is one of the few studies to deploy multidimensions of CSR as an intervening variable in a period of crises like COVID-19. This approach, first of provides a comprehensive understanding of CSR, detailing the various dimensions such as corporate cause promotion, cause-related marketing, corporate social marketing, corporate philanthropy, socially responsible business practices and corporate volunteering. Secondly, the current study is one of the limited studies that addresses consumer’s crises influenced behaviour in relations to brand image, CSR and brand loyalty through the pandemic. The attempt of interrogating the moderating role of CSR on the relationship between brand image and brand loyalty addresses a gap in literature and contributes to the understanding of the dimensions of CSR and which ones to deploy during a crises like COVID-19 to help firms sustain their image to encourage customer loyalty.

In terms of practice, the study makes it clear that consumers are still interested in the image of brands even in times of crisis. Moreso, while consumers may not be interested in telecommunication firms engaging in volunteering activities such as contact tracing or distributing of food, they are very much concerned about other corporate social responsibility activities such as corporate cause promotion, corporate social marketing, corporate philanthropy, and social business practices. The study also notes that while managers deploy cause related marketing as a strategic tool to enhance brand image and brand loyalty, a lot of caution should be exercised.

2.7 Limitations and future research directions

The study was not devoid of limitations. First, the study was conducted considering customers of telecommunication firms in Ghana. This means the findings of the study may not easily be generalisable to other industries, culture and contexts. Future research should consider replicating the study in different setting to assess the robustness of the research model and findings.

Using a convenience sampling technique may result in a biased sample that does not accurately represent the target population. Future studies should consider the use of a probabilistic sampling technique that enhances the representativeness of the sample.

Finally, the conceptualisation and operationalisation of corporate social responsibility as a moderator may vary across studies, future studies could consider using corporate social responsibility as a multidimensional construct and a mediator.