- Title
- The mediating effects of service charge transparency on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and customer behaviour in Hong Kong’s retail banking sector
- Creator
- Leung, Steven Shu Sum
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2014
- Description
- Professional Doctorate - Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
- Description
- The collapse of large multinational banking corporations in recent years has prompted regulatory authorities to raise both disclosure and transparency requirements on banks. The literature reveals that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a tool that can be used to build corporate image. As a dimension of CSR, service charge transparency (SCT) directly affects bank customers and is thereby a crucial element in building trust and evoking positive customer intentions, such as repurchase (CRI) and positive word of mouth (WoM). The banking industry in Hong Kong has the largest external transaction with the best regulated systems in Asia, it is therefore essential to identify and implement best practices to maintain this status. This study aimed at understanding the influences of CSR on customer intentions and the role played by transparency; an ethical factor unique to the banking industry in the above mentioned relationship. A cross-sectional quantitative research approach was taken, collecting 285 responses to a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire employed a 5-point Likert scale based on items adapted from prior research to measure four constructs posited by the research. The data was analysed using descriptive and inference analyses. After the reliability and validity tests, the study’s hypotheses were addressed using simple and multiple linear regressions. The strength of mediating relationships was tested using guidelines from Baron and Kenny (1986), and Sobel (1982). The study found that retail bank customers relate closely to SCT. Although CSR is regarded as an important means of building customer’s positive intentions, SCT’s partial mediating role in the relationship indicates that retail banks need to take account of what closely and directly affects customers. Though WoM and CRI are directly related to CSR activities embarked on by retail banks, their relatively weak influence indicates that banks need to go beyond CSR to prompt more positive communication between customers and their family and friends; it would seem that CSR is insufficient to trigger WoM and repurchases amongst them. However, SCT’s partial mediating role has more impact on WoM than on CRI as it has a direct effect upon customers. In terms of repurchases, a retail bank’s customers tend to purchase new bank products when the need arises, especially since banking products are competitively homogenous. The items used for this study provided a methodological contribution as the borrowed items were valid and reliable based on the current responses. Theoretically, the study was able to add a new knowledge to the understanding of SCT’s contribution as a partial mediator. Furthermore, managers of service industries, in particular retail bankers, might want to place a greater emphasis on the importance of disclosing information that can directly affect their customers. In order to address some of the limitations of this study, further related research might want to consider other independent variables, such as location, that could affect how customers feel about the influence of CSR on their intentions. Future research could also consider dependent variables that closely reflect the industry under investigation in order to study the impact of CSR and SCT.
- Subject
- corporate social responsibility; service charge transparency; customer behaviour; retail banking
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1043938
- Identifier
- uon:14259
- Rights
- Copyright 2014 Steven Shu Sum Leung
- Language
- eng
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