Modified Pyramid of CSR for Corporate Image and Customer Loyalty: Focusing on the Moderating Role of the CSR Experience

Abstract

The current study aims to suggest a modified pyramid of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the airline industry and find the moderating effects of consumer’s CSR experience (CSRE). Although previous studies proved the positive effects of CSR, there are surprisingly few research studies that incorporate Carroll’s fundamental CSR and specific issues of environmental responsibility in the airline industry as the integrated model. Thus, we suggest an alternative perspective of CSR, which can apply exclusively in the airline industry. Second, the moderating role of CSRE is demonstrated in a critical manner. To be specific, we hypothesize that sharing the same experience of altruistic motives may increase intimacy between the company and consumers, which affects a positive CSR evaluation. Therefore, consumers sharing the CSRE may perceive the CSR initiative more positively when compared to those who were not involved in the CSR programs before. By using the structural equation model (SEM) and ordinary least square (OLS) regression, we examined the effects of the modified pyramid of CSR on the corporate image (CI) and the moderating role of CSRE on customer loyalty (CL). The findings suggest that airline managers should consider environmental responsibility in CSR activities and design a variety of programs that should be designed to enhance consumers’ CSRE.

1. Introduction

Since the Cape Town Declaration of 2002, more critics have harshly pointed out the necessity for responsible modes in manufacturing and consumption [1,2]. Accordingly, CSR has gained the greatest attention ever, as the company wanted to take advantage of CSR as competitive advantages by distinguishing them from other companies [3]. By applying the stakeholder theory, CSR initiatives were effective in achieving a positive corporate reputation [4], image [5], and loyalty intentions among consumers [6]. In the tourism field, Coles et al. [7] reviewed that CSR is recognized as a particularly serious agenda. Especially in the airline industry, consumers had great concern regarding environmental responsibility due to the airline’s heavy fossil fuel consumption. In response to this concern, global associations announced the policies directly aimed at airline’s ethical standards such as the Tour Operator’s Initiative (TOI) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Despite its positive effects on increasing corporate overall value, related research in the airline industry achieved restricted attention [8]. Often, the attempts cover only specific case studies in airline industries [9], or reporting environmental issues [10], and motivations or barriers of CSR initiatives [11]. Recently, researchers started to investigate direct linkage of the CSR and its effects. CSR positively affects image and loyalty [6], and customer citizenship behavior [12].

However, the previous studies limitedly proved the effects regarding environmentally-targeted CSR initiatives. A few literature studies are observed to incorporate fundamental Carroll’s typical CSR pyramid framework with airline-specific issues. For example, in Ilkhanizadeh and Karatepe [13]’s research, the study model was constructed based on Carroll’s CSR including all four dimensions (economic, legal, ethical, philanthropic), but their research interest was spotlighted only in the organization management. To our best knowledge, Cho et al. [14] explored consumers’ response by suggesting a model encompassing Carroll’s CSR dimensions and safety activity on behavioral intention. However, the most concerned dimension in the airline industry as environmental responsibility was not incorporated. Therefore, in this research, we suggest a modified CSR model appropriately utilized exclusively in the airline industry. Again, in the airline industry, where sustainability aspects are strongly stressed in its CSR initiatives, it is necessary to integrate environmental responsibility in Carroll’s fundamental CSR model.

In addition, from the customer-oriented point of view, the individual’s previous CSRE is proven a critical point to evaluate CSR initiatives positively [15]. Consumers can engage in CSR initiatives in many ways. They can donate their money or become involved in volunteer work in a local charity supported by a company. In this way, sharing the same experience between consumers and the company connects closely, which helps create a unit relationship [16]. Furthermore, if sharing experience is based on altruistic motives, consumers may feel that the relationship is more special. Moreover, this strong bond may positively affect consumers perception of CSR. Although consumers’ CSRE is critical to make the CSR initiatives succeed, previous literature did not cover this issue significantly. Thus, in the current study, we incorporated CSRE in the research model to find how it will affect CSR evaluations.

To summarize, this research study contributes to suggest a new CSR model by integrating Carroll’s pyramid model and an airline-specific issue, called environmental responsibility dimension. In addition, we want to investigate how the new CSR model will affect CI and CL. Moreover, we will investigate the moderating effect of CSRE by incorporating it into the research model. To be specific, we assume that, depending on the degree of CSRE, consumers might differently perceive the company’s CSR initiatives. The anticipated effect of a new CSR model was hypothesized based on the following theories: company and consumer congruency [17] stretched from person-organization fit [18], organizational identification [19], and I-sharing theory [20]. The methodology, how to test the hypotheses, statistical results, discussion, and conclusion section is followed.

2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

2.1. Definition of CSR

CSR, which is a company’s commitment and activities to improve the social quality of life [9,21], has broadly captured its attention in business. The concept of CSR was first proposed in the Howard R. Bowen’s 1953 publication of Social Responsibilities of the Businessman by gaining its momentum with the growth of conglomerate corporations and improving living standards by economic development. Since then, Carroll [22] conceptualized CSR in detail by addressing four obligations that society expects toward the business institutions: economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities. Economic responsibility is the fundamental social responsibility of business organizations in that they are the basic units of producing goods and services in society. Legal responsibility is the expectations of business to operate economic missions within the legal regulations. Ethical responsibility, which has been emphasized recently, indicates that business organizations are expected to behave above mandatory legal requirements. Lastly, philanthropic responsibility called discretionary responsibility is the social expectation of business firms to fulfill social roles for the previous responsibilities. For example, business organizations can conduct educational programs for abusers and make relief funds. CSR consists of these four categorizations.

The effects of CSR activities were evaluated in diverse aspects. It has been demonstrated that CSR activities could increase firm reputation, which leads to positive firm performance [23] and enhance employees’ job satisfaction and organizational trust [24]. Moreover, CSR activities have positive effects on company image and evaluation from customers [25], and, finally, boost purchase intention [17]. The stakeholder theory approach does not separate the steams of business strategy and business ethics research [26]. Not only the certain stakeholders who are related with the very aim of the firm’s profit, but also all groups “who have a stake in the business [27] (p. 10)” such as shareholders, consumers, suppliers, employees, and other communities should be satisfied by the implemented process. The stakeholder theory approach insists that this approach would ensure the success of the firm in the long-term.

Despite its positive effects to increase the overall corporate value, related research in the airline industry achieved limited attention [8]. Often, the attempts cover specific case studies in airline industries [9], or empirical evidence of reporting accounting disclosure focusing on environmental issues only [10] or the educational purpose of reviewing CSR practices in the aviation industry [8], which fail to provide the overall CSR practices in the airline industry. Thus, in this research, we will fill the gap in the literature of CSR activities and its effects on consumer perceptions, specifically in the airline industry.

2.2. CSR in Airline Industry

Amid rising concerns on climate change, consumers have been highly sensitive regarding environmental issues for companies in the travel industry. Furthermore, airline sectors are facing these subjects more critically compared to others because of its heavy fossil fuel usage. To counteract these issues, some associations in the airline industry such as Air Transport Action Group formed guidelines and the need for ethical guidelines involved with stakeholders are discussed directly by aiming at airlines’ CSR activities [28]. TOI, joined with United Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), uses the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines as a standard influencing its supply chain to implement more sustainable practices.

Researchers also agreed on the significance of CSR in the airline industry and generally accepted the definition of CSR from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD’s) as “CSR is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as the local community and society at large” [11] (p. 185). WBCSD categorized CSR as three dimensions of sustainable development: environment, economy, and society. Compared to the previously mentioned Carroll’s CSR model, WBCSD focused more on the sustainability aspects of CSR. Thus, CSR research studies in the airline industry mostly focus on the environmental issues following the expectation of consumers and WBCSD definition by reporting companies’ commitment to environmental management and improvement such as energy consumption reduction [10,29,30]. According to Cowper-Smith and de Grosbois [31], CSR reporting contents skewed toward the environmental issues rather than covering social or economic dimensions of CSR. Especially, emission reduction received most of its attention and other issues were less spotlighted.

In other words, previous studies could not incorporate other dimensions of social responsibility [7] where Carroll mentioned this in his model, such as legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities. It does not mean that Carroll’s CSR model is a rule to follow. Many scholars also discussed the limitation of Carroll’s especially regarding the hierarchical pyramid structure of the model in which the dimension is higher than others. Sustainability aspects are partially included in this model under the dimension of legal responsibility. The responsibility of the environment is not covered as an independent dimension [14]. Furthermore, especially in the airline industry, other CSR dimensions, such as corporate governance, risk and crisis management, brand management, and product responsibility, are found to be the key strategic factors in recent studies [32]. In terms of consumers’ perception, environment-related CSR is comparably easy to implement. Thus, the effects of other dimensions of CSR activities with higher barriers are getting more attention [33]. Thus, to solve these limitations of the CSR model in the airline industry, we integrated the model with Carroll’s and, in accordance with a conventional CSR concept popularly used in the airline industry, is as follows: economic, legal, philanthropically, and environmental responsibility.

2.3. How CSR Affect Corporate Image

In company schema, CI interrelated with company characteristics, which is decomposed with the corporate ability and CSR initiations [21,34]. Although corporate ability is highly related to the company’s expertise to deliver products and services, CSR critically affected company’s image and overall reputation by giving consumers the insights of the company’s value [35]. This powerful impact of CSR is based on company and consumer congruency (C-C congruence). Consumer’s positive reactions to CSR may depend on how much consumers overlap their characteristics and companies with regard to CSR efforts. C-C congruence theory has its foundation in two different research streams [18,19].

First, the concept of the Person-organization fit could be applied to the C-C congruence. Person-organization fit explains the overlap of the core value between individuals and related organizations [18]. Thus, it is plausible to assume this fit between the consumers and the company. When consumers learn more about the organization who makes products or services for them, the reactions of consumers might be similar to members of the organization or company. Furthermore, when consumers know about the company’s CSR initiatives, consumers can more easily distinguish the company from a high fit to a low fit when compared to superficial corporate ability information. Second, the research studies of organizational identification [19] can also elucidate the significance of CSR initiative information on C-C congruence. People identify with organizations they belong to and incorporate the favorable aspects of the specific organizations to them in the purpose of self-enhancement [36]. Thus, CSR information, generally evaluated as prosocial and positive aspects, can increase the motivation of consumers to identify with the company, which will automatically increase C-C congruence. Previous research studies thoroughly tested the positive effects of person-organization congruence. Especially Kristof [18] demonstrated that stronger identification with an organization boosts more frequent organization-relevant citizenship behaviors [19]. Furthermore, the positive effects of CSR-induced C-C congruence were directly proven with Sen and Bhattacharya’s [17] research as C-C congruence perception mediated the positive company evaluation, which will induce a positive company image.

In terms of the airline industry, studies proved that CSR positively affects organization image. Tsai and Hsu [9] demonstrated that CSR initiatives positively affect organization image improvements. This result was based on the effects of China’s airline CSR program and the survey respondents were based on the employees involved in the program. Although this study was meaningful to discover the direct link between CSR and its improvement in its company image, we did not categorize the CSR initiates in detail with sub-dimensions. Thus, whether which CSR dimension is more influential or not could be distinguished. In Lee and Park’s [37] research, although authors categorized CSR dimension as social media, transparency, and social responsibility, the environmental aspects were not highlighted. Additionally, their research interests are limited to the CSR effects on business performance rather than company image. In Ilkhanizadeh and Karatepe’s [13] research, the research model was constructed based on Carroll’s CSR including all four dimensions (economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic), but their research interest only stays in the organization management. In this research study, the employees of the low-cost carrier in Istanbul Turkey responded that the company’s CSR positively affects their work engagement, career satisfaction, and voice behavior. Recently, Cho, Song, Lee, and Lee [14] categorized the CSR by Carroll’s model and included the safety activity. The passengers in three airports in Korea including Incheon, Gimpo, and Gimhae were recruited and they responded that all dimensions in their CSR model positively affect CI and customer trust and influence their behavioral intention. Although this study has a significant vision, the environmental aspect was not included independently. Furthermore, a critical moderator of CSRE in the current research was not incorporated. Therefore, we could assert the critical position of current research and the following hypotheses.

To be specific, Park [4] proved that economic responsibility such as creating new jobs in society and contributing to national economic development affect corporate reputation positively as well as its image. Li et al. [38] also demonstrated that strict controls in production cost, long-term planning of development, and improving economic performance improved the brand image. In addition, Gürlek et al. [39] found the mediating role of CI to link between economic responsibility and CL. In the economic responsibility dimension, they included achieving long-term performance, economic performance, and survival and success in the long run. Based on previous findings, we could hypothesize the following.

Hypothesis 1:

Economic responsibility will have a positive effect on the corporate image when consumers choose the airline.

Second, regarding legal responsibility, Galbreath and McDonald [40] demonstrated that informing relevant environmental laws, satisfying legal standards, complying with all laws regarding hiring and employee benefits, and encouraging diversity of workforce improved CI. In addition, Salmones et al. [41] found that ethic related legal responsibility of behaving honestly to its customers increased CI. Further, CI was enhanced if the laws protecting employees were regulated appropriately [42]. Therefore, we hypothesize the following.

Hypothesis 2:

Legal responsibility will have a positive effect on corporate image when consumers choose the airline.

Third, when it comes to philanthropic responsibility, actively sponsoring or financing social events in sports or music and donation positively affect the overall valuation of the service and CL [41]. Furthermore, in the marketing aspect, cause-related marketing to support specific causes, such as student scholarship or breast cancer, directly increased brand image [43]. Additionally, voluntary activities, which are non-material donations such as time, increased the company’s value including CI and reputation [44]. Lastly, if a company sacrifices a certain profit to abide by ethical regulations, consumers recognize the company’s philanthropic responsibility, which positively affects brand image and perceived quality [38]. Therefore, we could suggest the following hypothesis.

Hypothesis 3:

Philanthropic responsibility will have a positive effect on CI when consumers choose the airline.

Lastly, environmental responsibility is also called environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR). Rashid et al. [45] categorized ECSR including community services and customer welfare and demonstrated that ECSR improved CI and CL. Dögl and Holtbrügge [46] proved that corporate environmental responsibility, including green strategy, green technology, green product, and green recruitment, positively affected CI and employee commitment. Primarily, when it comes to specific issues, less travel time, more seat space, and less CO2 emission of the airline increased consumers’ willingness to pay [47]. Additionally, the safety record and service were proven to be critical factors to improve airline’s CI [48]. Thus, the following hypothesis can be proposed.

Hypothesis 4:

Environmental responsibility will have a positive effect on the corporate image when consumers choose the airline.

2.4. Corporate Image and Customer Loyalty

CI has been proven as a crucial antecedent to the service and corporate evaluation [49]. The CI is considered to have the same characteristics with self-schema, which is a cognitive framework that is generalized from the individual’s past experiences and extracts the common behavioral and trait information from a certain group [50]. Previous studies on self-schema have shown that similar judgments are processed faster than unfamiliar judgments because familiar information is quickly categorized into the existing cognitive framework [51]. Likewise, positive CI that customers already possess has a potential positive effect on customer evaluation, customer satisfaction, and CL (CL) toward the company [52]. Previous studies consistently asserted that CI has a significant impact, especially on CL [52,53,54,55]. CL is the belief that customers have about the company, products, and services.

CL is more than just repetitive purchasing and is the intended behavior of the customer for the company [56]. Therefore, CL expresses the possibility of sponsorship, positive word of mouth, or service renewal in the future [52]. Moreover, CL brings large company revenue [57,58]. In this research study, we integrated consumers’ evaluation of the brand that performs CSR activities on the existing CL concept.

In this research study, we assumed that CI is a very critical factor that influences CL particularly in the airline industry over other industries. There are two main reasons. First, CI has more impact on CL in intangible services than tangible goods [59]. In the case of tangible goods, customers value intrinsic cues such as product characteristics, which are clear to evaluate more than CI. On the other hand, in the case of intangible services, customers appreciate CI, which includes extrinsic cues that are more important than intrinsic cues of services, which are difficult to evaluate [59]. Since airline companies belong to the service industry, it can be presumed that the formation of a positive CI through airline CSR activities would be directly related to CL.

Moreover, even in the same service industry, CI is presumed to have more impact on choosing a company when service traits are difficult to evaluate [52]. Different from high-tech industries, airline suppliers do not offer distinctive services. Therefore, positive CI is expected to be a very crucial factor to attract customers and maintain a loyal relationship with customers. Thus, the following hypothesis can be proposed.

Hypothesis 5:

Corporate image has a positive impact on customer loyalty when consumers choose the airline.

2.5. Moderator: CSR Experience

To define the CSR experience, it reflects the behavioral dimension of consumer participation in CSR programs. To be more specific, consumer participation includes both an emotional and a behavioral dimension. However, the current study emphasizes a more behavioral aspect of consumer participation rather than an attitudinal one. Thereby, the authors adopted the term of the CSR experience [60]. It has been shown in previous research that customers’ experience of CSR activities is a crucial precondition for customers to respond positively to such activities of the enterprise [15,61]. Although a small number of consumers know CSR initiatives, most consumers are not even aware that many companies engage in CSR activities [15]. Since awareness is a prerequisite for attracting positive consumer responses to CSR activities, consumers’ low perception of CSR is the critical factor that hinders benefits that companies can gain from such initiatives. Therefore, previous research suggested that companies should work to raise consumers’ level of awareness of CSR activities [15].

In addition to increasing awareness of CSR activities, we anticipated that consumers’ direct experience of participating in CSR activities would significantly impact CL toward the company conducting CSR activities. Consumers who have engaged in CSR activities may increase their intimacy with companies that are doing CSR activities in that they share the same experiences, which is called I-sharing [20]. Previous research has suggested that a person is more connected to a person who shares the same thing even if it is intangible such as the same birthday, values, attitudes, or experiences [62,63]. Therefore, “a unit relation” is created and accompanies favorable attitudes toward the person who shares something in common [16]. This phenomenon occurs even in very simple matters. For example, even a laugh at the same joke can result in this unit relation and treat the person more favorably [20]. In plain terms, at any level of commonality among people, a unit relation is created, which raises closeness and liking. Likewise, we suggest that consumers who have participated in CSR activities, which would have a connectedness feeling to airline firms doing CSR activities. Thus, this congruity would be expressed as brand loyalty [64]. In addition, the I-sharing phenomenon can be explained by reducing psychological distance. When sharing altruistic motives between corporations, consumers feel close to the corporation and reduce their psychological distance. In addition, consumers can picture more concrete and salient benefits of CSR initiatives by participating in the CSR activities, which reduces the psychological distance between the self and the corporation [65]. In the end, reduced distance by sharing the same motives and more concrete concepts regarding CSR initiatives attained from experiences supports people in terms of evaluating products or services positively from the firm sharing the same values [66].

Since engaging in CSR activities is a strong expression of support for CSR [67], consumers would have a strong bond with CSR firms, which will lead to an increase in CL. In this paper, we combined awareness of CSR activities and participation in CSR activities and call them CSRE. Therefore, taken together, the following hypothesis can be proposed.

Hypothesis 6:

CSR experience moderates the influence of the corporate image on customer loyalty when consumers choose the airline.

Figure 1 displays our research model incorporating all hypotheses.

3. Methodology

3.1. Samples

In this study, we use the sample that is composed of 36 items consisting of demographic and general characteristics, and consumer’s recognition of CSR-related activities by airlines such as CI, CSR experience (CSRE), and CL. A questionnaire was developed to verify the relationship between the airline’s CSR, CSRE, CI and CL, which are essential factors that were extracted based on existing literature and interviews with experts who worked as a cabin crew over 10 years. The questionnaire about airlines’ CSR was conducted at the Incheon International Airport in South Korea for domestic and international airline passengers. Before the survey, surveyors inquired a respondent whether to answer the questionnaire and, then, they asked each question face-to-face and received a reply only when he or she accepted it. Although we emphasized again that the purpose of the questionnaire was started due to pure academic curiosity, respondents often declined to answer the questionnaire. Among questionnaires, demographic characteristics, gender, marital status, educational background, occupation, income, the experience of airline CSR, and the preferred airline were identified. In order to measure airline passengers’ awareness toward airline CSR, we expressly formulated the airline CSR into four categories (e.g., activities for economic, law, philanthropic, and environmental responsibility) and adopted a 5-Likert scale for each question. For example, in order to improve understanding of airline CSR, we exemplified the medical service, disaster relief, and repair work for the rural facility since charitable activities of airline CSR activities while environmental protection activities include fuel-saving projects and global forestry activities.

A quick response (QR) code was used to minimize errors that may occur in the sampling process and to increase the recovery rate. We also helped respondents understand the CSR activities of airlines by using various cases for accurate answers. According to the results of this survey, the total number of returned samples was 201 while one sample was excluded because of one missing question. Therefore, hypotheses of this study were verified through estimations with both a structural equation method and linear regression with a valid 200 samples. This survey was meaningful since we collected the most suitable sample to verify the hypothesis.

3.2. Variables

Our independent variables are corporate CSR-related activities and consumers’ perception toward them. Carroll [68] defined CSR activities as economic responsibility, legal responsibility, ethical responsibility, and philanthropic responsibility. However, in this study, we reconceptualized the original CSR reflecting the uniqueness of the airline industry in the recent phenomenon: economic responsibility (ECON), legal responsibility (LAW), philanthropic responsibility (PHIL), and environmental responsibility (ENV). Due to the nature of the aviation industry, airplanes have to travel to different countries on an hourly basis. This produces a lot of carbon dioxide, and airlines have become increasingly responsible for global environmental organizations and environmental regulations [31].

ECON refers to the production and sale of goods and services that society wants [68]. ECON is a top priority for companies because they need to make profits to survive. Without a firm’s ability to create and expand profits, it cannot contribute to social activities [69]. LAW activities refer to the minimum rules that companies need to operate and apply. These rules include documented ethics encoded in a legal, regulatory, and social perspective [70]. LAW may also appear to coexist with ECON for implementing fairness and justice [68]. PHIL emphasized being a good corporate citizen as the topmost activity in the pyramid of CSR. It also focuses on contributing to the community by providing resources and improving the quality of life for citizens [71]. According to Carroll [70], PHIL is considered to be one of the most important components in the definition of CSR to date. Lastly, ENV is an area of increasing interest in recent CSR theories [72,73,74]. Recently, as airlines become more exposed to environmental regulations, they are planning and implementing social responsibility such as carbon dioxide and waste reduction [31]. In this study, 20 questionnaires were conducted for each of the four CSR areas newly restructured reflecting features of the airline industry. A Likert scale of 5 points measured all questions from 1 as “none” to 5 as “very likely.” CSR activities of airlines are defined as ‘the various roles of the airline to satisfy consumers and social expectations.’ The items of CSR activities of airlines are as follows. We defined the airline’s CSR activities as the multiple roles of an airline to satisfy passengers and to social expectations. Items on the airline’s CSR activities are in

Table 1. Questions for the modified pyramid of CSR in the airline industry.

Factor	Question	Source
ECON	1. Airlines need to create economic value continuously. 2. Airlines need to contribute to national economic development through profit-making. 3. Airlines need to work to improve their economic performance. 4. Airlines need to contribute to increasing employment through active employment activities. 5. Airlines need to improve service quality continually.	[70,71,22]
LAW	6. Airlines need to comply with laws and regulations. 7. Airlines need to practice ethical business management. 8. Airlines need to respond sincerely to responding to complaints about customer satisfaction. 9. Airlines need to be interested in consumer protection activities and consumer rights protection. 10. Airlines need to avoid fair trade violations, such as monopolies and false advertising.	[68,70]
PHIL	11. Airlines need to make donations and charitable activities actively. 12. Airlines need to support scholarship projects such as education, culture, and physical education. 13. Airlines need to do community service well. 14. Airlines need to be interested in community development. 15. Airlines need to invest the appropriate part of their profits in their activities for social contribution.	[70,71]
ENV	16. Airline employees need to take corporate environmental responsibility seriously. 17. Airlines need to work to improve the environmental damage (noise reduction, climate change, and reduction of atmospheric nitrogen) due to the characteristics of the aviation industry. 18. Airlines need to make additional investments in environmental responsibility. 19. Airlines need to comply with environmental laws and regulations and practice environmental management. 20. Airlines need to actively participate in environmental protection activities (environmental management and campaigns).	[31,72,73,74]

.

CI refers to the responses of stakeholders to general social issues and the perceptions formed by the social consensus [75]. Although there have been various attempts to measure CI, the need for contemporary measures has arisen as a result of the rapid changes in the environment surrounding airlines and the emergence of stakeholders and government’s newly enacted regulations [76]. This study measured the influence of four CSR activities on CI formation via a 5-Likert scale (see

Table 2. Questions for CI in the airline industry.

Factor	Question	Source
CI	Do you think that the economic CSR activities of an airline positively affect corporate image? Do you think the airline’s legal responsibility activities positively affected the company image? Do you think the airline’s philanthropical activities have a positive impact on corporate image? Do you think the airline’s environmental responsibility activities positively affect corporate image?	[75,76]

).

CL, which is a dependent variable in this study, means an enthusiastic commitment by customers to reuse the products and services. Richard and Zhang [54] measured the re-purchase intention of the New Zealander who purchased the service through a travel agent on a 7-Likert scale. Items consisted of either talking positively or negatively about the travel agency, whether to recommend it to others, and whether to choose first. Martínez and del Bosque [77] measured the purchase intentions of customers of Spanish hotel companies in four items. The question was whether to choose this hotel for the first time or to cut off the relationship with the company, whether it would be costly, time and effort, whether to use it the next time, or recommend it to others. In this study, three items were measured on a 5-Likert scale. In

Table 3. Questions for CL in the airline industry.

Factor	Question	Source
CL	I will choose an airline that implements CSR activities. I will choose an airline that conducts CSR activities more often than other airlines that do not. I will positively recommend others to airlines operating CSR activities.	[54,77]

, the items were as follows.

The moderating variable is the CSRE of consumers. Consumers are generally familiar with CSR behaviors and their impact on the environment and community [78]. Consumers also respond positively and negatively to their behavior by buying or not rewarding their products [79]. Tian, Wang, and Yang [78] surveyed consumers’ perceptions of CSR on a 7-Likert scale (see

Table 4. Questions for CSRE in the airline industry.

Factor	Question	Source
CSRE	Have you ever experienced airline CSR activities?	[78,79]

).

This study adopts gender, age, marital status, and income as a control variable. The passenger gender was divided into male and female, and the age group was composed of less than 30s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. The marriage status was divided into two responses: married and unmarried. Income was composed of six replies. The monthly income based on Korean Won (KRW) were less than 1 million, less than 2 million, and more than 1 million, less than 3 million and more than 2 million, less than 4 million and more than 4 million, and less than 5 million and more than 4 million.

4. Results

4.1. Descriptive Statistics

Results of the descriptive statistics through the survey are as follows. A total of 201 questionnaires were conducted for consumers who purchased airline services and, among them, 200 were used for the statistical analysis, except for one that has a false answer or missing. According to

Table 5. Descriptive statistics.

Variables	N	%	Variables	N	%
Gender			Income (unit: KRW/month)
Male	63	31.5	Less than 1 million	17	8.5
Female	137	68.5	1 million–1.9 million	22	11.0
Age			2 million–2.9 million	37	18.5
Less than 30	41	20.5	3 million–3.9 million	52	26.0
30–39	84	42.0	4 million–4.9 million	36	18.0
40–49	55	27.5	More than 5 million	36	18.0
50–59	19	9.5	Preferred Airline
More than 60	1	0.5	Korean Air	133	66.5
Job			Asiana	21	10.5
Service	94	47.0	Low-cost carrier	20	10.0
Office worker	60	30.0	Foreign carrier	16	8.0
Student	15	7.5	Others	10	5.0
Housewife	10	5.0	Marriage
Others	7	3.5	Yes	125	62.5
Self-employment	7	3.5	No	75	37.5
Fieldworker	5	2.5	Airline CSR experience
Public servant	2	1.0	No	67	33.5
Education			Direct	35	17.5
Less than high school	8	4.0	Indirect	98	49.0
College	23	11.5	CSR experience
Undergraduate	136	68	No	129	64.5
More than graduate	33	16.5	Yes	71	35.5
Total	200	100	Total	200	100

, the number of female respondents (137, 68.5%) are more than twice as many women as male (63, 31.5%). The most common age group in their 30s was 84 (42%), followed by 40s (27.5%), 30s (20.5%), 50s (9.5%), and over 60 (0.5%). As for the respondents’ job, 94 people (47%) are engaged in service work while 60 people (30%) work at the office. These two occupations accounted for a considerable number of people compared to the rest (77.0%). Respondents’ educational attainment was more than high school, college, university, and more than graduate. Among them, 136 (68%) finished at least an undergraduate degree. The most frequent monthly income by respondents was 3 million–3.9 million won (52, 26%). It is more than 4 million–4.9 million (18%) and 5 million won or more (18%). Among the preferred airlines, 133 respondents show the favor of Korean Air (66.5%) and the frequency is almost twice as others (33.5%). Of the respondents, 125 (62.5%) had already married, compared with 75 (37.5%) who did not. As a result of inquiring about the experiences of airline CSR activities, 98 (49%) experienced indirect experience, 67 (33.5%) with direct experience, and 35 (17.5%) without experience. Additionally, 71 people (35.5%) had airline CSR experience, which was significantly lower than 129 people (64.5%) who had no experience.

4.2. Reliability and Factor Analysis

Table 6. Comparison of fit index between EFA and CFA [80].

Fit Index	Measurement Model			Accept
	EFA	CFA	Difference
Comparative fit index (CFI)	0.858	0.881	0.023	Good
Tucker–Lewis index (TLI)	0.839	0.862	0.023	Good
Standardized root mean squared residual (SRMR)	0.067	0.062	−0.005	Good
Root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA)	0.079	0.076	−0.003	Good

shows the results of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and comparison of fit indexes of factor analysis. EFA is a scaling method that removes variables and leads to vital concepts by grouping several variables when the correlation between variables is high. EFA is a method in which several variables are grouped when the correlation between observed variables is high so that several variables are reduced and extracted as a meaningful latent variable. Among the various indices, the comparative fit index (CFI), the Tucker-Lewis index (TLI), the standardized root mean squared residual (SRMR), and the root means squared error of approximation (RSMEA) were adopted to test whether the model is fitted or not. According to the column of EFA, CFI is 0.858 and TLI is 0.839, which can be judged to be satisfactory since both can be considered satisfactory when they are 0.8 or higher. While SRMR and RMSEA are considered to be effective when both are less than 0.1, our EFA’s SRMR was 0.067 and RMSEA was 0.079, which indicated the good fit for estimation. CFA is a method to confirm the validity of a structure between latent variables by applying designed, hypothesized, or assumed factor structures to data. As a result of CFA comparing EFA with the same fit indexes, CFA column showed CFI is 0.881, TLI is 0.862, SRMR is 0.062, and RMSEA is 0.076. These measurements are suitable to estimate the model and the difference of fit indexes between EFA and CFA leads to the enhanced fit.

Reliability describes how consistently observed phenomena or objects are measured. In other words, it is a measure of how consistent the analysis results are from the original measurements when the investigator repeatedly examines the same content. Reliability is generally measured by test-retest, half-way, and internal consistency. This study used Cronbach’s alpha coefficient to measure internal consistency. In general, it is judged that there is decent reliability when Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of each latent variable is 0.7 or more and its model meets the criteria. Cronbach’s alpha of each latent variable was found to be 0.7 or better for all variables, with ECON 0.706, LAW 0.802, PHIL 0.897, ENV 0.839, CI 0.792, and CL 0.835 while PHIL was the highest.

In

Table 7. Reliability and convergent validity.

Variables	Item	Convergent Validity			Reliability
		FL (>0.5)	CR (>0.7)	AVE (>0.5)	Cronbach’s α (>0.7)
ECON	ECON2	0.763	0.669	0.541	0.706
	ECON3	0.643
	ECON4	0.596
LAW	LAW1	0.580	0.865	0.564	0.802
	LAW2	0.692
	LAW3	0.893
	LAW4	0.691
	LAW5	0.775
PHIL	PHIL1	0.823	0.898	0.638	0.897
	PHIL2	0.823
	PHIL3	0.864
	PHIL4	0.725
	PHIL5	0.752
ENV	ENV2	0.695	0.849	0.586	0.839
	ENV3	0.806
	ENV4	0.834
	ENV5	0.719
CI	IMAGE1	0.544	0.811	0.527	0.792
	IMAGE2	0.769
	IMAGE3	0.823
	IMAGE4	0.808
CL	CSR1	0.624	0.858	0.673	0.835
	CSR2	0.953
	CSR3	0.851

, except for the observed variables ECON1, ECON5, and ENV1 with factor loading (FL) less than 0.5, other factor loadings of all latent variables were 0.5 or more. Six factors for 25 items accounted for 89.8% of the total variance explained. In order to evaluate the convergent validity, both composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) were adopted. Thus, CR was over 0.7 except for ECON. If the purpose of the estimation was exploratory, however, it is acceptable even when CR is not more than 0.7. AVE must be at least 0.5 and all latents are 0.5 or more. By jointly considering both CR and AVE, we can decide that there is convergent validity as a whole.

Lastly, the validity of the discriminant validity was verified in the factor analysis for the regression analysis. The intra-class correlation (ICC), AVE, and AVE square root values were compared for discriminant validity (see

Table 8. Intra-class correlations and discriminant validity.

Variables	1	2	3	4	5	6
1. ECON	0.736
2. LAW	0.585 *	0.751
3. PHIL	0.629 *	0.596 *	0.799
4. ENV	0.461 *	0.498 *	0.422 *	0.766
5. CI	0.489 *	0.596 *	0.441 *	0.347 *	0.726
6. CL	0.222 *	0.207 *	0.275 *	0.311 *	0.218 *	0.820

Note: * p < 0.05.

). All ICCs were significant at the 0.05 level. The coefficient of correlations between latent variables was smaller than the square root of AVE for all constructs. The largest discriminant distance between the correlation and the square root of each latent was 0.545, which included a pair between LAW and CL.

Table 9. Results of structural assessment.

Hypothesized Paths	Coefficients	t-Value	Hypothesis Testing	Goodness-of-Fit Statistics
H1 ECON → CI	0.122	0.66	Rejected	${\mathsf{\chi }}^2$ = 2660.87 df = 276 ${\mathsf{\chi }}^2$/df = 9.641 RMSEA = 0.073 CFI = 0.893 TLI = 0.876 SRMR = 0.065
H2 LAW → CI	0.090	0.64	Rejected
H3 PHIL → CI	0.116	1.09	Rejected
H4 ENV → CI	0.463	4.11 ***	Supported
H5 CI → CL	0.303	4.26 ***	Supported
H6 CI × CSRE → CL	0.143	2.08 *	Supported
Total effect on CL ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{ECON}}$ = 0.056 ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{LAW} }$ = 0.059 ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{PHIL} }$ = 0.033 ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{ENV}}$= 0.214 ** ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{CI}}$= 0.399 *** ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{CI}\times \mathrm{CSRE} }$ = 0.044 *	Total effect on CI ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{ECON} }$ = 0.141 ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{LAW} }$ = 0.148 ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{PHIL} }$ = 0.086 ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{ENV}}$= 0.538 *** R2 of Bentler-Raykov ${\mathrm{R}}_{CI}^2$= 0.474 ${\mathrm{R}}_{CL}^2$= 0.117		Indirect effect on CL ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{ECON} }$ = 0.056 ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{LAW} }$ = 0.059 ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{PHIL} }$ = 0.033 ${\mathsf{\lambda }}_{\mathrm{ENV} }$ = 0.215 **

Notes: (1) Standardized beta coefficients (2) ⁺ p < 0.1, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

summarized the results of the hypothesis testing with the structural model. We present all six hypotheses, which include four that are the modified pyramid of CSR acceptable to airlines, and two are related to CI and CL. Results of structural assessment discovered that our model contained an acceptable level of goodness-of-fit statistics (χ²/df = 9.641, RMSEA = 0.073, CFI = 0.893, TLI = 0.876, SRMR = 0.065).

According to the path analysis, H1, H2, and H3 were not supported at the significance level of 0.05. H4 only supported airline CSR (p < 0.001). Regardless of the significance level, ENV had the strongest effect on CI (β = 0.463) among airline CSR. The positive relationship between CI and CL proposed by H5 was confirmed (β = 0.303, p < 0.001). H6 is the hypothesis that the relationship of H5 is regulated by CSRE, which is significantly supported at the 0.01 level (β = 0.143). In summary, in the structural assessment, H4, H5, and H6 were significantly supported and H1, H2, and H3 were rejected. These results lead us to estimate the ordinary least square (OLS) regression and examine it again.

4.3. OLS Regression

In

Table 10. Results of OLS regression on CI.

Variables	Model 1		Model 2
	Coefficient	t-Value	Coefficient	t-Value
Gender	−0.017	−0.217	0.059	0.915
Age	0.103	1.086	−0.018	−0.236
Marriage	−0.044	−0.496	−0.042	−0.590
Education	0.097	1.323	0.093	1.600
Income	−0.027	−0.317	−0.003	−0.050
CSRE	0.209 **	2.941	0.054	0.923
H1 ECON			0.122 +	1.730
H2 LAW			0.149 *	2.020
H3 PHIL			0.127 +	1.826
H4 ENV			0.391 ***	5.274
Observation	200		200
R2	0.059		0.422
Adjusted R2	0.029		0.391
Log-likelihood	−135.4		−86.70
Overall F	2.002 *		13.78 *
Changes in R2			0.363

Notes: (1) Standardized beta coefficients (2) ⁺ p < 0.1, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

, we examined the effect of each independent variable on the CI and showed results of the regression analysis based on OLS in order to investigate Hypothesis 1 to Hypothesis 4. Model 1 verified the effect of control variables such as gender, age, marriage, education, income, and CSRE on CI (R² = 0.059).

As a result, sex, marriage, and income showed negative values (β = -0.017, β = −0.044, and β = −0.027, respectively) for CI, whereas age and education were positive (β = 0.103 and β = 0.097, respectively) for CI but not significant at the 0.05 level. On the other hand, CSRE had a significant effect on CI at the 0.01 level (β = 0.209). Overall, the F-value of Model 1 was 2.002 and significant at the 0.05 level. Model 2 is H1, H2, H3, and H4, and four independent variables of the modified pyramid of CSR have a significant effect on CI (Adjusted R² = 0.391). In Model 2, we verified that H1, H2, H3, and H4 corresponding to independent variables of the modified pyramid of CSR had a significant effect on CI (Adjusted R² = 0.391). It implies that an additional four variables improved the explanation power by 0.363 comparing it with Model 1. The coefficient of ECON (H1) and PHIL (H3) on CI were 0.122 and 0.127, respectively (p < 0.1), which indicates that our hypothesis on ECON and PHIL is partially supported. Additionally, the coefficient of LAW (H2) on CI was 0.149 (p < 0.05), which indicates that H2 is supported. The effect of ENV (H4) on CI was 0.391 (p < 0.001) and H4 is supported. Furthermore, we confirmed that, among independent variables, the effect of ENV on CI was the most influential. The overall F-value was 13.78 (p < 0.05).

Table 11. Results of OLS regression on CL.

Variables	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4 (CSRE = No)	Model 5 (CSRE = Yes)
Gender	−0.073	−0.070	−0.060	−0.030	−0.125
	(−1.083)	(−1.059)	(−0.920)	(−0.307)	(−0.995)
Age	0.077	0.062	0.072	0.178	−0.073
	(0.948)	(0.777)	(0.908)	(1.478)	(−0.522)
Marriage	0.109	0.115	0.125	0.134	0.235
	(1.419)	(1.515)	(1.660)	(1.249)	(1.586)
Education	−0.038	−0.052	−0.060	−0.147	0.170
	(−0.612)	(−0.833)	(−0.978)	(−1.641)	(1.499)
Income	−0.047	−0.043	−0.055	−0.112	−0.011
	(−0.645)	(−0.600)	(−0.761)	(−1.037)	(−0.082)
CSRE	0.510 ***	0.481 ***	−0.719
	(8.415)	(7.849)	(−1.293)
H5 CI		0.139 *	0.050	0.043	0.488 ***
		(2.287)	(0.686)	(0.486)	(4.642)
H6 CI $\times$ CSRE			1.225 *
			(2.171)
Observation	200	200	200	129	71
R2	0.313	0.331	0.348	0.085	0.343
Adjusted R2	0.292	0.307	0.320	0.040	0.281
Log-likelihood	−196.9	−194.2	−191.8	−141.8	−26.43
Overall F	14.7 *	13.6 *	12.7 *	1.9 *	5.6 *
Changes in R2		0.018	0.035	−0.228	0.030

Notes: (1) Standardized beta coefficients, (2) t statistics in parentheses, and (3) * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

addressed the results of the hypotheses 5 and 6 affecting CL. Model 1 examined the effect of all control variables on CL (R² = 0.313). Coefficients of gender, education, and income on CL were negative, −0.073, −0.038, and −0.047, respectively, and all were not significant at 0.05. In addition, age and marriage showed a positive effect on CL but not significantly (β = 0.077 and β = 0.109, respectively). CSRE is the only variable that affects CL significantly (β = 0.510, p < 0.001). Overall, the F value was 14.7 and significant at the 0.05 level. In Model 2, we tested Hypothesis H5 (R² = 0.331) and the result showed the effect of CI on CL. The coefficient of H5 was 0.139 and significant at the 0.05 level.

Overall F-values of Model 1 and Model 2 were 14.7 and 13.6, respectively (p < 0.05). Model 3 contained an interaction term and verified the moderating effect of CSRE with CI (R² = 0.348) and its overall F-value was 12.7 (p < 0.05), which implies that this model is fitted to estimate. As a result, the interaction term was found to be significant at the 0.05 level and the effect was 1.225. In Model 4 and 5, in order to examine the effect of CI on CL, we verified H6 by dividing the sample into two groups, whether airline consumers who experienced CSR or not. In Model 4, the effect of CI on the CI by airline customers who have no experience with airline CSR was verified. The coefficient was 0.043, but it was not significant at 0.05 (R² = 0.085). In Model 5, the effect of the airline consumer who experienced airline CSR on CL was verified. The coefficient was 0.488, a value of almost 10 times that of Model 4, and it was significant at 0.001 (R² = 0.343). Comparing Model 4 and Model 5, the effect of CI evaluated by consumers who purchase airline services has a stronger positive impact on CL when there is CSRE. F-values for model fit are 1.9 and 5.6 for Model 4 and 5, respectively (p < 0.05).

Figure 2 graphically demonstrates the positive effect of CI on CL as moderated by CSRE. Each variable is standardized to make a better understanding. As shown in Figure 2, the slope changes more steeply when consumers experienced airline CSR. The graphical comparison indicated that the threshold between CSRE and none-CSRE was around 2.6 of CI. It implies that, if consumers experienced airline CSR, their CL could be positively formed even when CI is less than the median.

5. Conclusions and Discussion

5.1. Summary

This research presented the modified pyramid of CSR, which emphasized the environmental responsibility of the airline industry and explored why airlines should pay attention to CI making. Also, CSR experience is addressed as a role of boosting the effect between CI and CL. Therefore, we tested our hypotheses whether economic, legal, philanthropic, and environmental responsibility has positive effects on CI in consumers’ choice of airlines. Moreover, we examined the effects of CI and the moderating role of CSR experience on CL. Our hypotheses were supported by estimating both SEM (H4, H5, and H6) and OSL regression (H1 to H6) with 200 samples. Theoretical and practical implications from the results are discussed below.

5.2. Theoretical Contribution

The findings of this research study have three theoretical contributions. First, while many studies have been conducted in the airline industry, there have been few studies on CSR activities in this industry [32,81]. Considering inherent industrial characteristics –similar intangible services from one company to another—of airlines, this research suggests that increasing CI competitiveness through CSR activities would be a differentiated strategy to strengthen CL. Moreover, in services industries like airlines, relationship marketing is crucial. Therefore, providing relational benefits as well as transitional benefits to customers is a key factor in business success [81]. This research study proposes that, beyond focusing on cost assessment or benefit quantitative assessment of the airline industry, emphasizing the ‘green airline image’ through CSR activities can result in greater CL effects.

Second, this research presents a modified Carroll’s CSR dimensions for the airline industry by adding environmental responsibility to the model. The reason for adding the environmental factor to the model is not only to meet the definition of WBCSD or the expectations of customers who value the environment but also to relate to the current situation of the airline industry in recent decades. While the aviation industry plays an important role aiding people in transportation and the tourism area, there are also problems with the negative environmental impacts such as air pollution, climate change, waste production, and noise [32]. Therefore, it is argued that the airline industry is a primary contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and that it is necessary to report its environmental impact by airlines [82]. Thus, currently, airline companies have increasingly been working to become greener or environmentally-friendly [83]. Therefore, the environmental responsibility factor, which is significant both academically and industrially, is added to the Carroll’s CSR dimensions to validate our research model. This research contributes to the academic research in that it provides consideration for future researchers investigating CSR activities in the aviation industry by suggesting environmental responsibility as a key factor and add it to the existing CSR model.

Lastly, we propose CSR experience as an influential moderator that boosts the effect of the pathway from CI to CL. In this research, we divided the CSR experience into two concepts: One is consumers’ familiarity of firms’ CSR activities and the other is consumers’ participation in CSR activities. The former can be cited as an indirect CSR experience, and the latter can be expressed as a direct CSR experience. By finding CSR experience as a moderator, which is meaningful both theoretically and managerially, this research suggests that consumers’ CSR experience is also an important subject to investigate in the future.

5.3. Managerial Implications

The findings of this research provide three practical implications, especially for airline companies. Most of all, airlines should advertise their CSR activities to consumers so that they are aware of CSR activities of companies. As previous studies have found, consumers’ lack of recognition of CSR activities by corporations is the main reason for hindering the positive effects of the initiatives [15]. The results of this research show that exposure to corporate CSR activities plays a very important role in evoking CL. Thus, company managers should not only complete CSR activities but also company managers should design practical methods that enable consumers to know their good deeds. A famous verse, “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” does not seem to apply in the context of CSR activities. Various methods can be devised to make consumers aware of CSR initiatives, such as TV advertisement, a TV show indirect advertisement, Internet initiatives, or magazines. Environmental responsibility has been emphasized to airline companies recently [83]. Therefore, when appealing CSR activities, airline managers should focus on environmental issues as well as other ethical responsibilities to induce consumers’ favorable attitudes and increase CL.

Second, airline companies should work on diversifying CSR programs that customers can participate in. Results of this research have found that consumers who have engaged in airline CSR activities showed higher CL in positive CI from CSR. Today, most domestic airlines are undergoing passive CSR programs that allow the customer to participate, such as small-scale environmental beautification near the airport or publishing e-tickets instead of paper-tickets to save trees. By taking a step further from the previous passive approach and providing a variety of CSR programs to customers, airline companies can expect to increase consumer satisfaction as well as CL with bonding.

Third, airline managers should position corporates’ CSR image in consumers’ perception. While existing literature emphasizes CSR activities to improve general consumer satisfaction, this research presents a new perspective of the initiatives with eco-friendliness and puts forth CI to consumers through this new perspective. In other words, it is necessary to form corporates’ CSR image from CSR activities to enhance CL. Airline managers should consider the fact that establishing their airline-specific CI for CSR creates competitive advantages.

5.4. Limitations and Future Research

Despite having several theoretical and practical implications, this research study has several limitations to consider for future research. First, we tested hypotheses with Korean consumers who only visited Incheon International Airport in South Korea. The airport, which is one of the largest airport in the world, has provided international routes carrying 62.2 million passengers per year [84]. Therefore, the participants in this survey are consumers using this airport who consist of many diverse passengers coming and going abroad. While we anticipate that the effects we have proven are a generalized phenomenon, previous research studies have consistently proven that positive CI lead them to have higher CL [85,86,87]. Future research could test this model in other contexts to improve the generality of the model, such as with larger random samples in different countries.

Second, this survey was collected from late autumn to early winter. To increase external validity, future research requires a long-term survey that covers all seasons. The airline business can be divided into the high season and the low season. Moreover, previous literature indicated that low season consumer satisfaction levels with airport services could be different from high season consumer satisfaction [88]. Thus, a replication of this research should be conducted during a long-term period to cover both high and low seasons. Differences in the season might have an impact on CL from CSR activities and CI.