Does Corporate Social Responsibility Engagement Predict Variation in Customer Brand Loyalty in the Irish Clothing Retail Industry?

The purpose of this research is to determine whether Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Engagement Predicts Variation in Brand Loyalty in the Irish Clothing Retail Industry. The four widely recognised elements of CSR explored in this research and included as the independent variables of this study are economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. Irish clothing brands can incorporate various CSR activities in relation to each of these elements in an attempt to create a positive brand association from the perspective of customers and ultimately achieve brand loyalty. A survey was used to collect data from Irish clothing retail customers using snowball sampling. 20 items were included in the survey, 3 items pertained to demographic questions which included gender, age and years of education, the remaining 17 items pertained to each of the CSR independent variables. The data obtained responses from 115 people, 110 were sufficiently answered and exported to an excel sheet. Proceeding this, all variables were coded and prepared to be entered into SPSS. SPSS statistical software was utilised in this study in order to complete the multiple regression procedure A mixture of results was obtained regarding the significance of each CSR dimension. The findings revealed that ethical and philanthropic CSR were statistically significant, both predict variation in customer brand loyalty. Economic CSR and Legal CSR were not statistically significant and do not predict variation in customer brand loyalty. The findings present valuable insight to Irish apparel brands. Management can focus their CSR strategy and financial resources on activities related to ethical and CSR as Irish customers are most receptive towards engagement with each of these variables