Corporate citizenship: Cultural antecedents and business benefits

The article explores the nature of corporate citizenship and its relevance for marketing practitioners and academic researchers. Specifically, a conceptualization and operationalization of corporate citizenship are first proposed. Then, an empirical investigation conducted in two independent samples examines whether components of an organization’s culture affect the level of commitment to corporate citizenship and whether corporate citizenship is conducive to business benefits. Survey results suggest that market-oriented cultures as well as humanistic cultures lead to proactive corporate citizenship, which in turn is associated with improved levels of employee commitment, customer loyalty, and business performance. The results point to corporate citizenship as a potentially fruitful business practice both in terms of internal and external marketing. Isabelle Maignan is an assistant professor of marketing and international business at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Her research interests focus on business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and international marketing. Her work has appeared in theJournal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research, and theJournal of Business Ethics, as well as other journals and conference proceedings. O. C. Ferrell is a professor of marketing at Colorado State University. He is the coauthor of 16 books and 60 articles. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, and theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, as well as other journals and proceedings. G. Tomas M. Hult is the director of international business and an associate professor of marketing and international business at Florida State University. His research interests focus on marketing strategy, international marketing, and methodological issues in marketing. Dr. Hult’s work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, Decision Sciences, Journal of Business Research, Journal of International Marketing, andInternational Marketing Review, as well as other journals and proceedings.