The effects of corporate social responsibility on brand equity and firm performance ¬リニ

a r t i c l e i n f o Over the last decade, educators, administrators, and policy makers increasingly focus on corporate social responsibility. However, no studies examine the relationships among corporate social responsibility, brand equity, and firm performance. This study uses quantile regression and structural equation modeling to explore the causal linkages among these factors in Taiwanese high-tech companies over the period 2010–2013. The results of quantile regression analysis show that the economic dimension of corporate social responsibility and the prestige driver of brand equity are positive and significant for all the quantiles. The brand extension driver provides a significant positive effect at the higher quantiles of firm performance. However, the findings indicate a significant negative effect on firm performance for the brand loyalty driver. The findings of structural equation modeling suggest that corporate social responsibility and brand equity positively affect firm performance. This study provides useful insights on brand equity and corporate social responsibility. In today's global world, corporate social responsibility (CSR) increases public demand of firms' transparency regarding disclosure of information to meet stakeholders' expectations. Firms that engage in business with a large public-interest component commit themselves to promoting business activities that bring economic, social, and environmental benefits to the society. Previous research suggests that CSR brings about employee's ethical behaviors, which in turn enhance organizational efficiency find that firms fulfill their CSR obligations to improve corporate image and strengthen marketing tactics effects, thus positively affecting firm performance. Torres, Bijmolt, Tribó, and Verhoef (2012) find that CSR toward all stakeholders positively affects brand equity. (2010) investigate the effects of CSR on brand performance in business-to-business (B2B) markets. The authors apply the qualitative method of questionnaire survey to a sample of Taiwan manufacturing and service companies. Results show that CSR positively affects industrial brand equity and brand performance. However, the qualitative method that study uses may suffer from selection biases and subjective measures vulnerability. No prior quantitative research explores the relationships among corporate social responsibility, brand equity, and firm performance. Most studies use the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression model to examine the relationships among these factors. This study uses quantile regression, in addition to the OLS model, to examine the heterogeneous effects of CSR and brand equity on firm performance in Taiwan's high-tech industries over the period 2010–2013. Conversely to OLS regression, the quantile regression analysis allows researchers to estimate covariate effects at different points …