Abstract
The purpose of the present research was to analyze the impact of social responsibility on consumer's repurchase intention with regard to the mediating role of brand personality and reputation. The statistical population of the research is made up of Digikala online store customers. The sample size was determined using Cochran's formula of 384 people and the samples were selected by available sampling method. The questionnaires of social responsibility (Salamon Olajide, 2004), intention to repurchase (Ko et al., 2009), personality (Brandaker, 1997), and reputation (Brandback et al., 2010) were used to collect data, and their validity was confirmed by academic experts and their reliability was also confirmed through Cronbach's alpha coefficient test. The structural equation technique was applied to analyze the data, and the Lisrel statistical software and also the statistical software Spss were used. The findings of the research showed that social responsibility has a positive and significant effect on brand reputation, brand personality and customers' repurchase intention. Brand reputation has a positive and significant effect on customers' intention to repurchase. Brand personality has a positive and significant effect on customers' repurchase intention. The results of the research showed that brand personality and personality played a mediating role in the effect of social responsibility on the repurchase intention of Digikala online store customers.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
The dramatic increase in competition in the field of business has led to the growing importance of establishing, maintaining and expanding relationships with customers. On the other hand, the widespread use of information technology in businesses has created new ways and methods for communication with customers (Phan & Vogel, 2003; cited by Ghaffari et al, 2019). Considering that the business world is moving from traditional to digital, online communities are also growing every day (Husain et al, 2020), and the buying and selling of products and services has moved from offline to online. For this reason, the buying behavior and communication behavior of customers have also been affected by social networks (Veza & Hernuning, 2020). Corporate social responsibility is a move beyond the minimum legal requirements that are accepted voluntarily, because economic institutions consider it among their long-term interests (Aguinis et al, 2020). In this way, the internal function of social responsibility can lead to the improvement of the company's position and ultimately increase efficiency and profitability and finally their long-term survival (Sanchez et al, 2010; quoted by Garusi et al, 2020). Among the issues raised in the field of brand reputation is the issue of corporate social responsibility. Many researchers have tried to establish a relationship between corporate reputation and social responsibility (Esmaeil Por et al, 2014). According to researchers, the reputation of a company derived from its ethical activities can be considered as a part of the special value of that company's brand (Rust et al, 2021).
In this research, an attempt is made to answer the question: whether social responsibility has a significant effect on consumers' repurchase intention, considering the mediating role of personality and reputation of the Digikala online store brand?
Theoretical framework
Tarabashkina et al. (2020) investigated the question of whether corporate social responsibility improves the responsible and active personality dimensions of brands. The results of the research showed that brands with a strong active or responsible personality, experienced brand erosion after being exposed to less CSR message or lack of improvement when aligning CSR message with responsible and proactive behavior.
In a research, Asgari & Baghestani (2020) analyzed the mediating role of brand equity in the effect of social responsibility on customers' behavioral tendencies. The results of the research showed that the special value of the brand has a mediating role in the effect of the social responsibility of the financial and credit institution on the behavioral tendencies of customers.
Methodology
The current research is practical in terms of purpose, and descriptive-survey in terms of nature. The statistical population of the research is made up of Digikala online store customers, 378 of whom were selected as the sample size of the research using Cochran's formula and available sampling method. In order to collect data, valid questionnaires of social responsibility by Salamon Olajide (2004), repurchase intention by Ko et al. (2009), brand personality by Aker (1997), and brand reputation by Bek et al. (2010) were used.
Discussion and Results
In order to investigate the hypothesis of the research, the modeling of structural equations, the method of structural equation modeling with the help of spss software was used to test the hypotheses from inferential statistics. Then Lisrel software was used to test the hypotheses or conceptual model of the research; and the results showed that the power of social responsibility on brand reputation was calculated equal to (0.78), which indicates a favorable effect. The t-statistic of the test was also obtained (8.76), which is greater than the critical value of t at the 5% error level, i.e. (1.96); and shows that the observed effect is significant. Therefore, it can be said that social responsibility has a positive and significant effect on the brand reputation of Digikala online store. The influence of brand reputation on repurchase intention has been calculated to be equal to (0.67), which indicates a favorable effect. The t statistic of the test was also obtained (7.65), which was greater than the critical value of t at the 5% error level, i.e. (1.96), and it shows that the observed effect is significant. Therefore, it can be said that brand reputation has a positive and meaningful effect on the intention to repurchase Digikala online store. The strength of the impact of social responsibility on brand personality has been calculated to be equal to (0.74), which indicates a favorable effect. The t-statistic of the test was also found to be (8.72), which is greater than the critical value of t at the 5% error level, i.e. (1.96) and shows that the observed effect is significant. Therefore, it can be said that social responsibility has a positive and significant effect on the brand personality of Digikala online store. The influence of brand personality on customers' repurchase intention has been calculated as equal to (0.63), which indicates a favorable effect. The t-statistic of the test was also obtained (7.61), which is greater than the critical value of t at the 5% error level, i.e. (1.96) and shows that the observed effect is significant. Therefore, it can be said that the brand personality has a positive and significant effect on the repurchase intention of Digikala online store customers. The strength of the effect of social responsibility on customers' repurchase intention has been calculated equal to (0.45), which indicates a favorable effect. The t-statistic of the test was also obtained (5.43), which is greater than the critical value of t at the 5% error level, i.e. (1.96), and shows that the observed effect is significant. Therefore, it can be said that social responsibility has a positive and significant effect on the repurchase intention of Digikala online store customers. In order to investigate the mediating effect of brand reputation in the discussed hypothesis, the direct effect of two constructs should be examined with the indirect effect in the case of mediating variables being involved, so that if the effect increases, the mediating effect can be considered acceptable. In the current hypothesis, the direct effect is equal to (0.45). The indirect effect in the presence of the mediating variable of brand reputation is 0.522, which due to the fact that the effect of the direct path is less than the indirect paths, so the presence of the mediating variable of brand reputation increases the effect; and the mediating role in the present hypothesis is confirmed. In order to investigate the mediating effect of brand personality in the discussed hypothesis, the direct effect of two constructs should be examined with the indirect effect in the case of mediating variables being involved, so that if the effect increases, the mediating effect can be considered acceptable. In the current hypothesis, the direct effect is equal to (0.45). The indirect effect in the presence of the mediating variable of brand personality is 0.466, which due to the fact that the effect of the direct path is less than the indirect paths, so the presence of the mediating variable of brand personality increases the effect; and the mediating role in the present hypothesis is confirmed.
Conclusion
The present research was conducted with the aim of the effect of social responsibility on consumer's repurchase intention with regard to the mediating role of personality and brand reputation (case study: Digikala online store). The test results are in line with the following research findings: (Nazari, 2018; Garanti et al, 2019; Asgari & Baghestani, 2020; Matzelr et al, 2016; Esmaeil Por et al, 2014; Tarabashkina et al, 2020). Social responsibility is known as one of the most important elements of the existential philosophy of organizations, in such a way that putting importance for organizations to comply with it in the framework of social identity theory not only leads to the possibility of organizational commitment, but also maintains the satisfaction of stakeholders outside the organization to legitimize it. Paying attention to the fact that the services provided by the Digikala store have a reputation and the store's customer relationship management systems work very intelligently will make the Digikala store engraved in the minds of customers as a good store. The successful functioning of the Digikala store in providing distinctive services and products is effective in encouraging customers to use the Digikala store. On the other hand, the credibility of the infrastructure for providing services and products of Digikala store from a technical point of view, as well as providing valuable products to customers, leads to customer loyalty and the establishment of a good bilateral relationship. According to the present research, it is suggested that the management of the Digikala online store should pay more attention to their customers and keep in touch with them after the sale, and try to retain and motivate them by maximizing the expected benefit of the customer and creating strong relationships. The services and products provided in the Digikala online store have a high social aspect.