Taiwan’s county and city governments have set up ATR centers in accordance with the Disability Rights Protection Act [
4]. Assistive technology resources centers (ATR centers) are units established by the Taiwanese government to provide assistive technology services. In the early stages, the focus of these centers was on the reuse of assistive technology resources and linking service resources. They employed social workers to provide case management services, resource development, and resource referrals for assistive technology services. In recent years, with the rapid increase in demand for assistive technology devices, the government has also emphasized the development of professional assistive technology services and cultivated ATR centers to provide assistive device evaluation, maintenance, recycling, display, and rental [
21]. To meet the short-term assistive device needs of users (such as temporary fractures or sprains) and considering environmental and sustainable concepts, the ATR centers provide rental services for unused devices, which are recycled, disinfected, and provided as second-hand rental devices [
7], reducing resource waste (
Figure 3). Anyone in need can seek assistance from the ATR centers set up by local governments. Therefore, how to balance environmental protection and sustainable development while providing convenient and high-quality services will be a major challenge for an aged society, and relevant practices may affect users’ satisfaction with ATR centers.
This study will review the literature to find the definitions and related research for each construct and infer the relationships between variables to form hypotheses. The relevant contents are as follows:
2.3. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Any action taken by an organization not only affects itself but also has an impact on the external environment [
26]. In recent decades, society has become increasingly concerned about the impact of organizational management on climate change, environmental degradation, and resource scarcity, as well as health and human rights. Therefore, political or other external pressures have prompted organizations to incorporate social, environmental, and moral responsibilities into their overall operational strategies to enhance value for all stakeholders and to use diverse knowledge and resources to promote sustainable development, such as renewable energy development, waste reduction, or circular economy initiatives [
27]. CSR is a proactive contribution made by an organization based on its impact on society, to pursue business objectives while also striving for social benefits. Research has shown that emphasizing CSR in organizational operations can enhance customer loyalty and regulate such associations through value co-creation [
28].
Sustainability often plays an important role in government policies, and the concepts of social responsibility and sustainable development are closely related, especially in integrating economic, social, and environmental issues, which interact and are interrelated. Therefore, the government plays an active role in promoting the practice of social responsibility and should become a “promoter” of CSR” [
29]. According to Navarro Espigares and Hernández Torres [
30], the public sector should not only promote social responsibility initiatives and policy advocacy but also apply CSR to its relevant departments and set an example for private enterprises and the public [
31].
According to Mackey et al., customers are more willing to visit institutions or stores with social responsibility [
32]. Casado-Díaz et al. also pointed out that CSR has been proven to be more influential in service industries [
33]. At the same time, research shows that CSR is one of the important characteristics of corporate image, which can attract consumers. CSR can also be used as a strategic resource to increase attractiveness and competitive advantage by enhancing reputation and brand value [
34]. In a study on the influence of reputation in assistive technology service centers, it was found that service convenience has a direct influence on reputation. On the other hand, ATR center-related factors such as brand, service environment, or service system design have an indirect impact on reputation [
16]. Image and reputation, both representing positive quality in a company’s external public relations, belong to the structures of asymmetric and symmetric models, respectively [
35,
36].
In summary, when people receive services at ATR centers, the higher the perceived level of convenience of the centers’ services, the higher the perceived level of CSR of the center. Therefore, this study hypothesizes that the convenience of services will have a positive and significant impact on CSR. The research hypothesis H1 is proposed as follows:
Hypothesis 1 (H1). The convenience of services will have a positive and significant impact on CSR.
2.4. Service Quality
Parasuraman et al. [
37] proposed a conceptual model of service quality that divides it into five major dimensions: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. In a study of factors affecting the reputation of ATR centers [
16], it was found that the space, equipment, information conveyed, professionalism, friendliness, and reliability of the brand provided by the center for assistive devices, which serves people with disabilities or elderly people who have lost their ability, have a direct or indirect impact on the perceived value or reputation of the center by users.
In the study on whether consumers are willing to pay a premium for luxury goods due to CSR actions and brand value [
38], it was found that consumers value the perceived value of the brand, especially when luxury goods have symbolic brand value, and will be willing to pay a higher price for brands that have enhanced CSR activities. Maon [
39] and others believe that stakeholders within and outside the organization often express diverse social issues that are often conflicting. Therefore, when designing CSR programs, organizations should be viewed as a system to prioritize and integrate organizational goals and use systemic thinking to find the best practices for CSR. Moreno and Kang [
40] expressed in their study on CSR communication that CSR communication can establish a lasting relationship with consumers and build preferences and loyalty towards the company. CSR communication can also identify consumer needs from the content and delivery. The study found that the content of CSR communication has a positive impact on building a responsible organizational image, but it should emphasize the demonstration of CSR activities and their alignment with the organization’s core business values.
Therefore, the higher the perceived service quality when people receive services at the ATR center, the higher their perception of the center’s CSR. Therefore, this study hypothesizes that service quality will have a positive and significant impact on CSR, and proposes the following research hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2 (H2). Service quality will have a positive and significant impact on CSR.
2.5. User Experience
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines user experience in ISO 9241-210 as the subjective perception and feedback generated by users when they interact with a product, system, or service. It encompasses all users’ emotional, belie-related, preference, cognitive, physiological, and psychological responses that are brought about by the behavior of the interactive system. It is also the result of combining users’ prior experiences, attitudes, skills, and personalities [
41]. Therefore, in the increasingly well-known process of “service design”, there are several important factors for optimizing the user service experience, starting with user experience, such as “user-centered”, emphasizing services centered on user experience, and understanding the real needs of users. Secondly, it emphasizes every touchpoint of the service, including a series of specific behaviors in service interaction, from the pre-service stage, the actual service stage, to the post-service stage, ensuring that users have a pleasant experience throughout the service process [
42].
For example, in healthcare services, the introduction of service design methods can create innovative services that understand the needs of relevant departments, collaborating vendors, and patients, and prioritize patient experience to improve care quality. Therefore, patient experience and feedback on service are important sources of information for designing and improving medical services [
43].
Moreover, as user experience is the perceptual experience of the overall service, in the application research of smart technology devices [
44], service providers consider the user’s entire journey, and users can feel the convenience brought by smart technology in the resources, space, and environment during the journey. Such friendly interaction can also be applied to remote health monitoring services for the elderly, providing sustainable and innovative service experiences. In addition, a study [
45] of students’ attitudes toward the use of outdoor space on university campuses found that some students’ educational experiences depend on good campus design. The visual factor and spatial configuration of a campus site can provide the most comfortable campus environment. Good campus design can directly influence behavior and promote student learning.
The interaction between customers and organizations is an important determinant of brand value creation [
46]. Through the interaction between organizations and customers, and through the previous brand experience, brand value can be created, and CSR is an important component of value and value creation. Kyong Sik Sung and Seoki Lee [
47] also stated in their research on customer brand co-creation behavior through CSR interaction that CSR activities on social media and customer experience and interaction may affect customers’ emotional connections between brands.
In addition, taking Chunghwa Telecom, a telecommunications company in Taiwan, as an example, to meet the needs of visually impaired individuals, they have launched a “Voice Portable Assistant” app, which provides voice recognition, book reading, and visual assistance. In addition to enhancing the user experience, and simplifying and user-friendly interfaces, the motivation behind the design is to bring convenience to the lives of visually impaired individuals [
48]; to enhance social care, it is provided free of charge for visually impaired individuals to download and use, and is a practice of CSR through optimizing the user experience. Therefore, when assistive technology users receive a better user experience through ATR center services, their perception of CSR will also be higher. It is hypothesized that user experience will have a significant positive impact on CSR, as stated in hypothesis H3:
Hypothesis 3 (H3). User experience will have a significant positive impact on CSR.
2.6. User Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction can affect the loyalty and reputation of an organization or brand, and customer satisfaction is also a strategic and key factor influencing post-purchase behavior [
49]. Some studies involving customer satisfaction have shown that product and service quality can improve customer satisfaction [
50].
Some researchers believe that service convenience is an important source for maintaining competitive advantages and is also a very important factor in consumer behavior. Throughout the entire user experience, service convenience will affect customers’ perception of fairness [
51]. In addition, research has also indicated that reducing waiting times and labor costs for customers during service can improve satisfaction and obtain higher perceived quality [
52].
Furthermore, a study on customer loyalty in low-cost fitness centers in Spain found positive correlations between perceived quality, service convenience, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty based on the results of surveys from three low-cost fitness centers [
53]. Therefore, the above-mentioned related studies support the idea that service convenience will help improve service satisfaction.
Therefore, if the convenience of using ATR center services increases, user satisfaction will also increase relative to it. It is hypothesized that service convenience will have a positive and significant effect on user satisfaction, as presented in research hypothesis H4.
Hypothesis 4 (H4). Service convenience will have a significant positive impact on user satisfaction.
The brand of a company or organization is an intangible asset and is also known as the driving force for new economic growth. Developing a brand helps to cultivate customers’ or service users’ awareness of its services or products, thereby enhancing market share or loyalty. There is a positive correlation between customer satisfaction and loyalty [
54]. Satisfied consumers usually continue to use the same brand in the future, indicating that brand loyalty is positively influenced by brand satisfaction [
55]. In general, if value co-creation can be effectively developed in the interaction with customers [
56] and brand satisfaction can be established through experiential means, it represents the result of consumers’ experience with the brand [
57].
In a study [
58] on the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction in the Jordanian banking industry, service quality was evaluated in terms of access, financial aspects, and employee competences, and the results showed that service quality positively affects customer satisfaction, indicating the importance of service quality in improving customer satisfaction in banks. When evaluating service quality, “tangibles” such as the physical service facilities, signage, decor, manuals, and the appearance of employees are important indicators [
37]. Therefore, the service environment is an important component of quality, customer’s satisfaction with the service environment can affect the overall evaluation of the service, and the perceived attractiveness of the environment can also affect service satisfaction [
59]. In addition, in a study [
60] on user satisfaction with library space renovation in three universities in Wuhan, it was found that service facility availability was the most critical factor affecting service space satisfaction, while the quality of interior design and physical environment elements also significantly affected students’ satisfaction with service space renovation and configuration optimization.
Therefore, if users have a better perception of the brand image and spatial environment of the ATR center and other related factors, their satisfaction will also increase accordingly. It is inferred that service quality will significantly and positively affect user satisfaction and research hypothesis H5 is proposed as follows:
Hypothesis 5 (H5). Service quality will have a significant positive impact on user satisfaction.
Customer service satisfaction is usually the evaluation of customers’ satisfaction with specific services. Studies on the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots in service provision have shown that incorporating experiences into services and strengthening the interaction process with AI robots will enhance customers’ perceived quality of the overall experience. The results also found a positive relationship between user experience and overall service satisfaction [
61]. User experience focuses on emotional factors as it adopts a human-centric perspective. User satisfaction is achieved through understanding user psychological states (such as preferences, needs, or motivations), design representations (such as complexity or functionality), and the environmental context of interactions (such as social environment or the meaning represented by the activity itself) [
62]. In the well-known satisfaction perception model, the author proposed five variables, including user expectations, user experience, perceived value, satisfaction, and brand image. It is believed that the better the service experience provided to users and the establishment of one’s good reputation, the higher the perceived value of the user’s psychological experience and the higher the overall satisfaction [
63]. Taking blog marketing as an example, research has found that customer experience and perceived value directly affect satisfaction and willingness to continue using the blog. Furthermore, through the mediation of satisfaction and continuing willingness, they also indirectly affect the sustainable social relationship between customers and blogs [
64].
Therefore, it is inferred that the better the service experience provided by the ATR center, the higher the satisfaction of users will be. It is hypothesized that user experience will significantly and positively affect user satisfaction, and research hypothesis H6 is proposed as follows:
Hypothesis 6 (H6). User experience will have a significant positive impact on user satisfaction.
Martínez and Rodríguez del Bosque [
65] found that in their study on Spanish hotel industry consumers’ perceptions of CSR and its impact on customer loyalty, customers’ perception of a company’s CSR indirectly affects loyalty through trust, identification, and satisfaction. Research [
66] on the dining intentions of casual restaurant customers in the U.S. and China shows that customer satisfaction is relatively higher when restaurants take health-related corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions. In addition, a content analysis study of CSR reports from 65 US companies by Rivera, Bigne, and Curras-Perez [
67] indicated that employee education and training initiatives related to CSR policies are positively related to customer satisfaction, as are policies related to environmental issues. They also encourage companies to undertake CSR initiatives in collaboration with customers to optimize the effectiveness of CSR programs and enhance customers’ social satisfaction. Yang and Stohl [
68] also suggest that companies’ CSR practices are related to consumer behavior and financial performance through reputation mechanisms. González-Rodríguez et al. [
69], in their study on the relationship between CSR, reputation, and performance in the Chinese hotel industry, found that CSR practices that enhance reputation have a positive impact on both direct and indirect measures of corporate performance, with non-financial performance indicators such as customer satisfaction and competitive position having a greater impact than financial performance indicators.
Therefore, the higher the perceived level of CSR of an ATR center, the higher the level of service satisfaction among users. This study proposes the hypothesis that CSR has a positive significant impact on user satisfaction, as follows:
Hypothesis 7 (H7). CSR will have a positive significant impact on user satisfaction.
2.7. Mediating Effects
In statistical research, if a mediator variable (also known as an intervening or process variable) is necessary between the independent and dependent variables to produce a result, it is referred to as the mediating effect [
70]. This means that the independent variable influences the mediator variable, which in turn affects the dependent variable [
71].
Based on the literature, service convenience, service quality, and user experience all have a positive impact on CSR, which in turn has a positive impact on satisfaction. Rivera et al. [
67] found that if consumers respond positively to a brand’s CSR advocacy through a specific relationship, it can increase satisfaction and strengthen their brand attitude in the social dimension, and CSR plays an important mediating role in the impact of the brand on satisfaction.
According to the studies conducted by scholars such as Kumar, Mackey, and Casado-Díaz [
25,
32,
33], it has been found that service convenience has a positive impact on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Research has also shown that customers are more willing to patronize service-oriented industries that demonstrate social responsibility, indicating a positive influence of CSR on user satisfaction. Therefore, CSR plays a mediating role between service convenience and user satisfaction. The following research hypothesis is inferred:
Hypothesis 8 (H8). The convenience of ATR center services has a significant positive impact on user satisfaction through CSR.
Additionally, Chang [
16] and Diallo [
38] have demonstrated the positive impact of service quality on CSR. González et al. [
69], in their study on the hotel industry, concluded that CSR has a stronger influence on non-financial performance indicators, such as customer satisfaction. Thus, this study posits that service quality has a positive impact on user satisfaction through CSR.
Hypothesis 9 (H9). The intensity of service quality perception has a significant positive impact on user satisfaction through CSR.
The study by HUA [
48] confirmed that user experience has a positive impact on CSR. Additionally, research on the relationship between health-related CSR initiatives in restaurants and customer satisfaction [
66] demonstrated that CSR measures positively influence customer satisfaction. Therefore, it can be inferred from these findings that user experience affects user satisfaction through the mediating role of CSR.
Hypothesis 10 (H10). The intensity of user experience perception of ATR center services has a significant positive impact on user satisfaction through CSR.
This study aims to explore the perceptions of assistive device users of the services provided by the ATR center and investigate the factors that affect their satisfaction. Based on the literature review, the research framework in
Figure 4 was proposed, with “service convenience”, “service quality”, “user experience”, and “CSR” as independent variables; “CSR” also played the role of a mediating variable. “User satisfaction” was the dependent variable, and the research aimed to understand the impact of satisfaction of assistive device users who received services from the ATR center commissioned by the government.