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Exploring the Relationship between Suppliers’ CSR and Customer Satisfaction in B2B Context: The
Moderating Effect of Vertical Inter-Organizational Commitment and the Moderated Mediation Effect of
Competitor Identification

Exploring the Relationship between Suppliers’ CSR and
Customer Satisfaction in B2B Context: The Moderating Effect of
Vertical Inter-Organizational Commitment and the Moderated

Mediation Effect of Competitor Identification

Yu-Ching Chiao, Department of Business Administration, National Chung Hsing University
Yu-Chen Chang, Department of Business Administration, National Chung Hsing University
Ching-Wei Chou, Micron Memory Taiwan Co., Ltd.

1. Purpose/Objective

Retailers evaluate the price, quality, delivery time, and service, also carefully

select appropriate and reliable suppliers to cooperate (Kannan and Tan, 2006). Due to
cooperate with Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI) suppliers will affect the reputation,
profitability, and value of retailers, so many firms are gradually integrating CSR into the
daily operation of the supply chain (Pérez and del Bosque, 2015).

CSR can address a wide range of social interests and meet the needs of multiple
stakeholders, thus improving the performance of firms (Ramchander, Schwebach, and
Staking, 2012). Previous studies have examined the impact of CSR on firm performance
and yet the results are quite inconsistent. We believe these studies may have overlooked

customer satisfaction, the key mediating variable (Pivato, Misani, and Tencati, 2008).
In recent years, end consumers pay more attention to CSR issues, and the unethical
behavior of suppliers and employees also may have a consequential impact on consumer
perceptions of retailers. Thus, retailers take a comprehensive view to evaluate and select

suppliers, and pay more attention to suppliers’ CSR activities (Thornton, Autry, Gligor,
and Brik, 2013). The main goal of CSR is to establish a long-term mutually beneficial
relationship with stakeholders, and suppliers can demonstrate true value to stakeholders by
doing well in CSR engagement. Through meeting the needs of stakeholders can improve

customer satisfaction, establish long-term and stable cooperative relations with customers,
and further improve performance. Therefore, in order to fill the gap that previous research
lacked the discussion of customer satisfaction as a mediate variable in the relationship
between CSR and firm performance. This study aims to explore how retailers’ customer

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