Corporate sustainability and customer loyalty: The role of firm’s green image

Abstract

We aimed to investigate the influence of corporate sustainability on customer loyalty. Participants were 790 customers from mobile telecommunication, retail banking, and the manufacturing sector of the Ghanian economy (female = 42%, age range = 18 to 65 years). The customers completed existing measures of corporate sustainability, green image, and customer loyalty. Data were analysed by performing structural equation modeling using SmartPLS. The path coefficient of the direct model indicated higher levels of environmental sustainability and economic sustainability were associated with higher levels of customer loyalty. The outcome of the indirect effect test indicated that green image of business organisations does not influence the relationship between economic and environmental sustainability and customer loyalty. Organisations should endeavor to implement robust and deliberate sustainability strategies to enrich the green orientation and reputation of firms to attract the attention and inputs of relevant stakeholders.

Keywords:

• corporate sustainability
• customer loyalty
• Ghana
• green image

Funding and acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Ministry of Education of Humanities and Social Science Grant of China (Grant Number: 17YJC790127), the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and the Centre for West African Studies, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. The authors also thank the journal editor and anonymous reviewers for their guidance and constructive suggestions. We are also grateful to Prof. Mrs. Margaret T. Frempong and Mr. Anthony Fosu for their support and advice.