Why More CSR Disclosure Does Not Mean More Favourable CSR Perception? Insights from Fast Fashion Industry of Italy

Corporate reputation (CR) is one of the most important intangible assets for a firm. Even though the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has long been examined in building or destroying CR, findings from these studies are usually inconclusive. When it comes to studies related to the positive impacts of CSR disclosure on CR, more decisive results can be drawn if CSR disclo- sure is actually leading to a good perception of CSR among different stakeholder groups. This study argues that CSR disclosure alone does not guarantee positive sentiments from different stakeholders, so it is required to investigate how CSR is perceived and which levers can be used to stimulate value co-creation behaviours in the stakeholders. Hence, the present work aims at investigating the mediating role of CR on the relationship between CSR perception and customer citizenship behaviour (CCB) in the context of social identity theory. This study uses structural equation modelling to investigate these relationships in a sample of 278 fast fash- ion customers of Italy and found that CSR perception has direct positive effect on CCB and CR acts as mediator in the relationship between CSR and CCB.