Evaluating Relationship of Associative Csr Actions, Brand Attitudes,

Consumer Satisfaction & Local Welfare: Mixed Method Approach

for the Case Study of Sinar Mas Indonesia

Yulita F. Susanti and Albert Hasudungan

Department of Management, Sekolah Tinggi Manajemen IPMI, Duren Kalibata, Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Brand Attitudes, Customer Satisfaction

Abstract: Because of massive land conversion of some forests to monoculture palm oil, consumers put more pressure

to a palm oil company to endorse more environmental and social sustainable responsibilities in their

operation. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one of the sustainability activities that are tailored to

meet their consumer expectation. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of CSR implementations

on consumer satisfaction and local welfare (local employment opportunities, cash-income diversification,

adequate access to health and education services). With such quantitative and qualitative research

objectives, this study utilizes mixed methods. Firstly, 90 responds of the Jakarta’s Millennial respondents,

consuming Sinarmas product, and ranging from 15 to 29 years (between 2018 and 2019) were statistically

examined. Furthermore, with complex dimensions to quantify local economic welfare, local expertise

interviews are held for the qualitative assessment to asses the impact of CSR on local welfare. This paper

finds the weak quantitative relationship of CSR associative program to consumer satisfaction. From

qualitative assessment, the experts suggest that company welfare program shall be improved to deliver

positive local welfare effect. In their practical application, their CSR program can gain more public

recognition if more collaboration and communications to wider stakeholders are held beyond their

plantation sites.

1 INTRODUCTION

Corporate social responsibility(CSR) has

increasingly been seen as a vital component for

building up the company's reputation in the eyes of

their customers. Corporate social responsibility is

the business interventions that encompass economic,

legal, ethical, environment, and social

emphaties.community.

In the context of palm oil product, global

consumers have the significant market power to

pressure palm oil firms to comply with their

commitment to comply with their corporate social

responsibility program. Palm oil is categorized as a

buyer-driven commodity due to the fact that

downstream buyer groups determine the production

arrangements of upstream producers (as described

by Gereffi 1994).

With such stronger buyer-driven influences, the

first objective of this study is to examine the

quantitative effect of CSR on customer brand

attitudes and customer satisfaction from products

made by SinarMas Indonesia (more of their food and

cooking oil product brands: KunciMas, Filma,

Menara, etc). Those relationships are constructed

based on previous relevant studies. In the contextual

study of the developed country of Spain, Rivera,

Bigne, & Curras-Perez (2016) state a highly firm

commitment to comply CSR, hence the corporate

CSR associative actions received positive feedback

from their customers. In Indonesia, Darsono (2009)

finds that firms tend to have a low commitment to

ensure compliance of their environmental and social

responsibilities. Hence, their CSR associative action

has a weak influence to drive more positive brand

attitudes and customer satisfaction (Darsono, 2009).

By specifying on Sinarmas corporation, that is

actually subsidiaries of GAR (Golden Agri

Resources), the second objective of this research is

to asses the qualitative effect of their associative

CSR action to local economic welfare. This paper

will corroborate expert interview to asses the

174

Susanti, Y. and Hasudungan, A.

Evaluating Relationship of Associative CSR Actions, Brand Attitudes, Consumer Satisfaction Local Welfare: Mixed Method Approach for the Case Study of Sinar Mas Indonesia.

DOI: 10.5220/0008428901740182

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Inclusive Business in the Changing World (ICIB 2019), pages 174-182

ISBN: 978-989-758-408-4

effectiveness of Sinarmas CSR program to

contribute to the community welfare.

Welfare is key observation as with minimum

economic impact on local society, there will be

social gaps and can exacerbate local conflict

(Colchester et al. 2006). Referenced from the

sustainable livelihood studies (Scoones, 1999, West,

2013), economic welfare dimensions will consist of

local employment opportunities, cash-income

diversification, adequate access to health and

education services.

Hence, the research will answer two research

questions: The research questions are: (a) what are

the relationships between CSR associative actions,

brand attitudes and, customer satisfaction? (b) to

what extent will the CSR program be effective to

increase local welfare?

2 LITERATURE REVIEW &

HYPOTHESIS

Corporate social responsibility guides business to

abide on societal codification that is ethically

acceptable (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2003). The

corporate social responsibility aims to generate

business practices that minimize harm to

stakeholders (employees, consumers, the

environment, and others) (Ibid). They translate it

into several activities such as protecting the local

environment, transparently manage their financial

resources, to human capacity building in their

surrounding operation to improve their quality of

life.

In Indonesian contexts, CSR program has been

evolved as the corporate commitment to accountable

not only to their investors, but to society at large

(Bhinekawati, 2017a). CSR program expresses

endeavor to comply with the universal rule of

thumbs that suit with economic, legal, ethical and

philanthropic responsibilities (Arslan & Zaman,

2014). Economic responsibilities set fair economic

practices that providing benefit to society at large,

for example, to set fair product price (Carroll &

Buchholtz, 2003, p.35). Legal responsibilities reflect

corporate compliance with informal and formal rules

(Ibid.). Ethical responsibilities embrace social

aspiration to abide by human rights, environmental

and consumer protections (Ibid.). Philanthropical

responsibilities show corporate empathy to

contribute voluntarily to any social activities for the

benefit of communities, such as fundraising to poor

people (Arslan & Zaman, 2014; Carroll &

Buchholtz, 2003).

This study elaborates a CSR program or actions

to be deliverable statements that adopt from Rivera,

Bigne, & Curras-Perez (2016) and (Arli, 2014).

Basically, this study evaluates CSR programs into

different, such as:

a) Corporation tries to manage economic resource

well

b) Corporation tries to improve working conditions

of collaborators, in palm oil contexts are local

farmers and labors

c) Corporation tries to make contributions to social

causes (to give the social contribution to

community)

d) Corporation enhances environmental protection

and sustainability

e) Corporation behaves in an ethically responsible

manner

Those statements are evaluated to their customer

segments by those abovementioned studies. In the

company stakeholder management, they have to be

accountable for their CSR program to different

stakeholders. In the market, consumer aspirations

are significant stakeholders to business managers

(Rivera et al., 2016). Rivera et al., (2016) indicates

that CSR actions or program are relevant if them

being evaluated based on customer variables, such

as on their customer satisfaction and attitudes to

brand image.

The firms' compliance with the CSR program

varies according to their spatial contexts. In the

context of the European market, the corporation has

stringent pressure from government and consumers

to comply with rules related to ethical,

environmental and social practices. Hence, it is

found that there have been strong relationships

between CSR associative action to consumer

satisfaction in Spain (Rivera et al., 2016).

Subsequently, in 2017, Bediako (2017) finds the

relationships of CSR action to customer loyalty and

satisfaction and found a similar pattern to have a

stronger relationship between CSR program and

customer satisfaction.

Nonetheless, in the Indonesian CSR studies, the

effect of CSR to consumer satisfaction is mixed

upon companies' performance on conducting CSR.

There is some research that shows an insignificant

effect of CSR on customer satisfaction. For instance,

Halim & Hermawan (2017) asses the relationship of

CSR program to customer trusts, corporate-customer

identities, and customer satisfaction in one aircraft

company that they observed in Indonesia. They

Evaluating Relationship of Associative CSR Actions, Brand Attitudes, Consumer Satisfaction Local Welfare: Mixed Method Approach for

the Case Study of Sinar Mas Indonesia

175

found that CSR program does not impact their

consumer satisfaction. They suggest more concerns

on the firm commitment to strengthen on social

issues than merely on their economic performance

(Halim & Hermawan, 2017, p.223). Similarly,

Darsono, (2009) scrutinizes the relationships

between CSR program made by Indonesian

companies to customer satisfaction and trusts.

Majority of their respondent reveals low satisfaction

and trust in relations to the CSR program made by

the Indonesian companies. The study recommends

the company’s improvement to communicate their

social and environmental responsibilities and to have

consistencies to comply with their environmental

and safety procedures (Darsono, 2009, p.293).

Furthermore, Astrini (2014) state while CSR

program can enhance brand identification, but her

research shows the insignificant relationship to

customer satisfaction in the Indonesian aircraft

corporation that she observed.

On another hand, some other studies reveal

positive relationships between CSR program and

customer satisfaction in Indonesia. Semuel &

Budiwati (2015) find that CSR program has a

positive impact on branding image and customer

satisfaction in their observation. Arli (2014) also

observes that customers in Indonesia have better

awareness on social and environment through their

preference to purchase products that they percept

sustainable in Indonesia. The company can have

positive feedback given the requirement that the

company devotes significant resources to

communicate and to act responsibly to societies

through their CSR program (Arli, 2014).

Furthermore, Mardiyanti (2017) suggests in her

observed company that has active CSR program, it is

shown that their CSR program has positive

significant to boost customer brand loyalty and

customer satisfaction in Purworejo, Central Java.

Those abovementioned studies are summarised in

table 1 as follow:

Table 1: Effect of CSR program to customer satisfaction.

Researchers Location

Observed

variables

Results

Bediako

(2017)

Finland

Firm’s CSR

program,

brand

loyalty,

customer

satisfaction

Strong

influence of

CSR program

to brand

loyalty and

customer

satisfaction

Rivera,

Bigne, &

Curras-Perez

(2016)

Spain

CSR

associative

action,

brand

attitudes,

Customer

Satisfaction

Significant

influence of

CSR action to

customer

satisfaction

Halim &

Hermawan

(2017)

Indonesia

CSR

program,

customer

satisfaction,

customer

trust

No influence

of CSR

program to

customer

satisfaction &

trust

Astrini (2014) Indonesia

CSR

program,

brand

identificatio

n, customer

satisfaction

No influence

of CSR

program to

customer

satisfaction

Darsono

(2009)

Indonesia

CSR

program,

customer

trust,

customer

satisfaction

No influence

of CSR

program to

customer trust

and

satisfaction

Mardiyanti

(2017)

Indonesia

CSR

program,

brand

loyalty,

customer

satisfaction

Positive

influence of

CSR program

to brand

loyalty &

satisfaction

Semuel &

Budiwati

(2015)

Indonesia

CSR

program,

brand

image,

Customer

satisfaction

Positive

influence of

CSR program

to brand

image and

customer

satisfaction

Arli (2014) Indonesia

CSR

program,

customer

trust,

customer

satisfaction

Strong

influence of

CSR program

to enhance

customer trust

and

satisfaction

In relation to the effect of CSR to local welfare,

the development of local social capital is the crucial

variable to enhance local trust to the company.

Bhinekawati (2017a) suggest that palm oil company

can provide a positive impact on society through

their CSR. The requirement of having a better CSR

program is by building social capital that can solve

environmental and social issues faced by the

community surrounding the company's concessional

areas (Bhinekawati, 2017b). The stronger corporate

ICIB 2019 - The 2nd International Conference on Inclusive Business in the Changing World

176

commitment to build social capital and communicate

with societies, the more competent of their CSR

program (Bhinekawati, 2017a, p.6)

The contribution of this paper is to integrate a

qualitative and quantitative assessment of SinarMas

CSR performance to their customers and the local

economic welfare. Economic welfare becomes

qualitative assessment as in the past study, the

distance between community and corporation was

attributed to the low commitment of the corporation

to enhance local economic welfare in their upstream

production (Colchester, Jiwan, & Kleden, 2014).

The qualitative assessments are sourced from

evaluating secondary data and panel expert

interview.

The quantitative relationships of the CSR

program, brand attitudes and customer satisfaction

are constructed through structural equation model as

shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: SEM model of CSR – customer satisfaction

model.

The hypothesis of those respective variables are as

follows

H1: CSR program has a positive effect on consumer

satisfaction.

H2a: Customer has a positive effect on customer

satisfaction, mediated by brand attitudes

H2b: brand attitudes that are affected by CSR

associative actions have a positive effect on

customer satisfaction.

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The data collection for this paper combines customer

perception questionnaire and expert interview. To

investigate the quantitative relationship between

CSR program, brand attitudes and customer

satisfaction, 90 customers are asked to reveal their

perceptions. The customers are randomly selected

with selection criteria as follow:

a) The respondent age must in between 15 to 29

years old, since the researcher wants to see the

perspective from the millennial generation.

b) Live in Jakarta

c) Using derived palm oil products from SinarMas.

In this study, the measurement variables were

constructed based on the previous study by Rivera et

al. (2016). The variables and statements are shown

in table 2 as follow.

Table 2: Measurement of variables.

Variables/

dimensions

Item Statements

CSR

associations

csr1

Corporation tries to

manage economic

resources well

csr2

Corporation tries to

improve working

conditions of

collaborators, in palm

oil contexts are local

farmers and labors

csr3

Corporation tries to

make contributions to

social causes (to give

the social contribution

to community)

csr4

Corporation enhances

environmental

protection and

sustainability in its

eration

csr5

Corporation behaves in

an ethically responsible

manne

Customer

satisfaction

sat1

The brand meets my

expectation

sat2

The brand has the

expected quality

sat3

I am satisfied to buy

this bran

sat4

I have done the right

things by buying this

ran

att1

I think it is a brand that

offers products with

good performance

att2

It is the brand I can rely

att3

I find it is a brand that

offers good value of

mone

att4

I think it is a brand with

a good image

att5

I think it is a suitable

alm oil brand.

Evaluating Relationship of Associative CSR Actions, Brand Attitudes, Consumer Satisfaction Local Welfare: Mixed Method Approach for

the Case Study of Sinar Mas Indonesia

177

In that questionnaire, 14 statements were given

to the respondents. The customers revealed their

perception through the Likert scale from strongly

disagree (1) to strongly agree (5) for each statement

in that questionnaire.

After questionnaire responses were gathered, the

following statistical examinations were concerted to

examine the quality of questionnaires and to

investigate the relationships between the observed

variables. Through Structural Equation Model -

Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS), the statistical

analysis were comprised of:

a) Evaluating reliability to see the consistency of

revealing questionnaire information (Garson,

2016). This is investigated by assessing

Cronbach alpha and composite reliability.

b) Evaluating convergent and discriminant validity

to examine the accuracy of the variables for

further data examination

c) Path coefficient and coefficient of the

determinant test

d) Bootstrapping method to find t-statistical value

and to test the hypothesis

 P- Value: Accept if the P-value is less than

0.05, Reject if the P-value is more than 0.05.

 T- Value: Accept if the T-Value is more than

t-table (1.96), Reject if the T Value is less

than 1.96

Furthermore, to explore more qualitative assessment

for evaluating corporate CSR performance and its

impact on local economic welfare, this research

made some panel expert interview. Panel expert was

selected based on their competence experience and

information related to CSR performance that has

been held by that palm oil company. CSR academic

expert and well-knowledge customers that consumer

sinarMas products are the targeted respondents for

this research. The data analysis for this expert

interview consists of transcribing, paraphrasing,

headlining, constructing thematic comparisons,

drafting scientific conceptualization, and

synthesizing some theoretical patterns (Bogner &

Menz, 2009).

4 DATA ANALYSIS

The following quantitative data analysis will discuss

the respondents' characteristics, the statistical

examinations of reliability, convergent and

discriminant validity, path coefficient and the result

from testing the hypothesis. The qualitative data

analysis will discuss the result from consumer and

academic experts related to the impact of the CSR

program on economic welfare.

4.1 Respondents’ Characteristics

The characteristics of respondents here are related to

their demographic characteristics which cover

gender, age, occupation and monthly expense which

uses SinarMas product, as shown in table 3.

Table 3: Questionaire Respondents’ profile.

Profile N Percenta

Gender:

Male 32 36%

Female 58 64%

15-17

ears ol

9 10%

18-20 years ol

23 26%

21-23

ears ol

27 30%

24-26 years ol

19 21%

27-29

ears ol

12 13%

Occupation:

Housewife 1 1%

Students 60 67%

ee 17 19%

Entrepreneu

11 12%

Anonymous 1 1%

Monthly Expense (IDR):

Less than 500.000 14 16%

500.000 - 1.500.000 23 26%

1.500.001 - 2.500.000 21 23%

2.500.001 - 3.500.000 14 16%

More than 3.500.000 18 20%

Based on table 3, it can be identified that a

higher proportion of the respondents is female;

comprising 64%, while the rest proportion is male.

The majority of respondents age is on the range

between 21 and 23 years old. In terms of occupation,

67 percent of respondents are students, 19 percent is

an employee, while the rest percentages are

entrepreneur, housewife and anonymous. The largest

percentage of respondents have ranging monthly

expense between 500 thousands to 2.5 million a

month.

4.2 Data Validity and Reliability

This research uses the questionnaire as data

collection. The validity of the questionnaire is

examined through the construct validity of the

average variance extracted (AVE). The construct

validity of the data is met if the AVE value is above

0.5. The result of this study shows all variables to

ICIB 2019 - The 2nd International Conference on Inclusive Business in the Changing World

178

have AVE above 0.5 which meet the construct

validity requirement.

Table 4: Average Variance Extracted (AVE).

Variables AVE

rand attitudes 0,699

CSR-associative 0,690

customer satisfaction 0,748

Source: statistical examination with SEM-PLS

Besides, good discriminant validity is fulfilled

when a certain construct correlation with its own

indicator is higher than other constructs. In this

study, as seen in table 4, their correlation with their

own variable has higher discriminant value in

relation to their variables in the different row as seen

in table 5.

Table 5: Good discriminant validity result.

brand

attitude

Csr-

associative

customer

satisfaction

att1 0,803 0,478 0,686

att2 0,857 0,464 0,699

att3 0,870 0,526 0,707

att4 0,825 0,551 0,582

att5 0,825 0,531 0,630

csr1 0,457 0,763 0,459

csr2 0,535 0,879 0,339

csr3 0,530 0,882 0,401

csr4 0,459 0,849 0,279

csr5 0,539 0,774 0,298

sat1 0,657 0,358 0,868

sat2 0,624 0,305 0,879

sat3 0,714 0,409 0,884

sat4 0,730 0,411 0,827

Source: statistical examination with SEM-PLS

After that, the appraisal to examine the

consistency of the data from the questionnaire is

made through the reliability test. Firstly, good

reliability is shown by the composite reliability

value that is minimum or exceeds 0.7. Afterward,

the internal consistency of the measure of the Likert

scales (as used for perception response) is said

reliable if the Cronbach alpha is above 0.7 (Garson,

2016). The range between 0.5 and 0.6 is still

considered as sufficiently reliable. The result of

those reliability tests is shown in table 6 as follow.

The result indicates the good reliability result which

confirms the consistency of the Likert scales

(Cronbach alpha) and observed variable (composite

reliability).

Table 6: Good data reliability result.

Cronbach's

Alpha

Composite

Reliabilit

brand attitudes 0,892 0,921

csr-associative 0,887 0,917

customer satisfaction 0,888 0,922

Source: statistical examination with SEM-PLS

4.3 The Result of Hypothesis Testing

The hypothesis was quantitatively tested by

examining the coefficient determination and path

coefficient estimation. After figuring out the

significant correlation among variables, the next

statistical examination is to conclude the hypothesis.

Bootstrapping was undertaken to perform hypothesis

testing. The visualizing of the outer model

(containing coefficient determination) and path

coefficient result diagram (bootstrapping t-statistics

& P-value) is shown in figure 2 and 3.

Figure 2: Outer model (coefficient determination).

(Source: PLS-SEM estimation).

In that figure 2 above, it can be seen the

coefficient determination of different variables (R-

square). To have more empirically precise

correlation, the adjusted R-squared was calculated as

in the following table 7.

Figure 3: Path coefficient result diagram. (Source: PLS-

SEM estimation).

Evaluating Relationship of Associative CSR Actions, Brand Attitudes, Consumer Satisfaction Local Welfare: Mixed Method Approach for

the Case Study of Sinar Mas Indonesia

179

Table 7: R-square and Adjusted R Square.

Variables R Square

R Square

Adjuste

brand attitudes 37.1% 36.4%

customer satisfaction 63.1% 62.2%

Source: PLS-SEM estimation

Elaborating from figure 2 and table 2, 62.2

percent variation of the dependent variable,

customer satisfaction, can be explained by the

model, while the remaining 37.8 percent is explained

by other variables outside the model.

In that figure 2 and 3, CSR associative action can

be transmitted into brand attitudes. The indirect

association is a little bit lower, or say, 66.6 percent

of brand attitudes can be explained by other

variables.

The further significance of respective CSR-

associative, brand attitudes to affect customer

satisfaction is evaluated based on T-statistics and P-

value, as seen in the following table 8.

Table 8: Path coefficients.

Original

Sam

(

)

Statistics

P Values

brand attitudes ->

customer satisfaction

0,840 12,137 0,000

csr-associative ->

rand attitudes

0,609 7,621 0,000

csr-associative ->

customer satisfaction

-0,080 0,987 0,324

Source: PLS-SEM estimation

The first hypothesis states the positive effect of

the CSR program on customer satisfaction. This

study shows the insignificant influence and even

negative relationship of CSR program to consumer

satisfaction, as shown with very low t-statistics (less

than t table of 1.96) and insignificant P-values.

The second hypothesis is the positive effect of

the CSR program to brand attitudes. This research

reveals the significant influence of the CSR program

to brand attitudes, as shown with a significant value

of P-value and T statistics (above 1.96).

The last hypothesis is that brand attitude has a

positive effect on customer satisfaction. This study

finds significant brand attitudes on customer

satisfaction and a similar relationship.

While these millennial generation samplings can

have enormous access to information, this study

indicates that customer satisfaction is not influenced

by the CSR associative program. Halim &

Hermawan (2017) a similar pattern like this study.

Customer satisfaction is more significantly

determined by brand attitudes. CSR program is

adequately competence if communication and social

capital of the local community is supported by the

corporation. From the previous study, that weak

relationship might be the sign to improve the

company's CSR communication and executions that

serve more on social benefits to the local community

(Halim & Hermawan, 2017).

4.4 Results of Qualitative Assessment

In this qualitative assessment, consumer and

academic experts were asked to reveal their

perception answer to CSR statement as in table 2.

The panel expert was academic and customer expert

with the following information as written in table 9.

Table 9: Panel expert informants.

Panel experts Qualifications

Academic Expert

The academic expert is the

academics that has more than

10 years of research and

practical experience in the area

of corporate social

responsibilities and palm oil

industry.

Consumer Expert

Consumer expert has been

fully informed with several

palm oil products and

sustainability activities that the

corporation held. The expert

has their own startup business

in the technological

information sector.

Those CSR statements were providing a

preliminary assessment of how they evaluate the

company CSR program, as shown in figure 4.

Both experts agree that a corporation has been

successful to efficiently manage their resource.

Nevertheless, when asked about the economic

assurance of their company collaborators (e.g.

farmers, workers), he was confused about

unmatched and conflicted information from the

company report and in other external information

sources.

“I heard quite bad or good things I am not

sure” (Consumer expert, 2019)

In the academic expert point of view, the

company shall also focus on the welfare of their

employees.

“CSR is not for only the community, but how

they treated their employees well”.

ICIB 2019 - The 2nd International Conference on Inclusive Business in the Changing World

180

In the third statement, the consumer expert

strongly agreed for the company contribution to

social causes, but the academic expert reveals the

neutral option.

When asked about the corporation conducts to

enhance environmental sustainability, they also

confused about debatable information between

company's report and other external stakeholders'

review from their field experience, as revealed by

consumer expert "that part I am not sure since the

report and in the field might be different”

The consumer expert strongly agreed about the

company efforts to comply with ethical standards

and rules, but the academic expert revealed a neutral

option. Academic expert reasoned that what they did

was just compliance not beyond that.

Figure 4: Consumer and Academic perception to CSR.

(Source: the interview with experts).

When they were interviewed related to the effect

of CSR to the local economic welfare of their

surrounding society, they responded to some

positive benefits to local economic welfare.

However, their concerns were that the orientation of

the CSR program to local welfare was ideally

serving wider stakeholder interests rather than to

enhance corporate brand reputation. The customer

expert reveals that the program to enhance local

school infrastructure shall be extended to the area

beyond of their operation not only in their plantation

sites.

“Building school surrounding their plantation is

already good. But if it is possible [recommended]

also building school not in their plantation, as in

Papua (for example). I think if they only built a

school near their plantation site is not actually

the best CSR practice. To build school [is]

needed to other places where the education is

very needed.”

“In terms of local employment, ideally palm oil

companies potentially provide local employment

opportunities by recruiting suppliers, creating

small businesses, recruiting local people, making

the local farmers becoming more capable."

( Consumer expert, 2019).

Consumer and academic expert recommendation to

the company's CSR program are more accountably

conducting that program to the wider social

community beside to elevate company reputation in

their eyes of their consumers. Ideally, it focuses

more on giving back to the community in their

different CSR activities.

5 CONCLUSION

This conclusion synthesis theoretical implications

from testing the hypothesis of relationships of CSR-

associative actions, brand attitudes, and customer

satisfaction. The theoretical implications bring the

practical implications for business, as well as

research limitations and recommendation

5.1 Theoretical Implications

From the series of quantative analysis, it is found

that the CSR program of SinarMas does not have a

significant effect of influencing more customer

satisfaction. Indeed, the statistical analysis shows

that brand attitudes have a more significant effect on

customer satisfaction. CSR program can have an

indirect influence on customer satisfaction through

brand attitudes, but again with low adjusted R

square. These quantitative findings suggest that

Jakarta's millenial might consider other factors or

may not aware of the impact of their CSR program.

In the qualitative analysis, it has been found that

experts agreed of the effect of CSR program can

deliver more employment opportunities, cash

income diversification and basic infrastructure

improvement surrounding their plantation sites. Yet,

the experts suggest that CSR has not only returned

back the benefit to the company after delivering

their program. More than that, the experts concern

more meaningful CSR program shall be expanded

beyond their plantation sites to amplify social

benefits to wider communities.

CSR1

CSR2

CSR3CSR4

CSR5

Academicexpert

Consumerexpert

Evaluating Relationship of Associative CSR Actions, Brand Attitudes, Consumer Satisfaction Local Welfare: Mixed Method Approach for

the Case Study of Sinar Mas Indonesia

181

5.2 Practical Implications

From these quantitative findings, the firm can have

different communicative strategies to raise their

customer awareness regarding their CSR program.

The sound CSR program can be designed not only

on the basis of the company’s interests, but also

considering wider consumers aspirations.

From the qualitative findings, the concerns of

experts have to give positive impacts to society

beyond their plantation. Delivering a CSR program

that has a more positive influence on the community

is a big task. More collaborations and

communications with wider stakeholders could be

an alternative for the firm to deliver more effective

CSR program that gives wider social welfare

benefits to wider societies.

5.3 Limitations & Recommendation

With limited resources, this study did not scrutinise

the effect of CSR program on customer trust. This

research also does not have a comprehensive

discussion to connect the effect of their different

environmental program to their customer

satisfaction.

Hence, in the future, this study recommends a

kind similar studies that asses the impact of the CSR

program of this company to the customer trust.

Besides, the future research suggestions could

examine the effect of various environmental

program to customer satisfaction.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to say thank you to our Research

Assistant, Winny Kartika Wijaya to assist in the data

collection. We express thankful to the of IPMI

International Business School to give financial

assistance for participating in this conference.

REFERENCES

Arli, D. 2014. A. Social Responsibility Journal, 10(3),

537–549.

Arslan, M., & Zaman, R. 2014. Impact of corporate social

responsibility on brand image: A study on Telecom

brands. Developing Country Studies, 4(21), 84–89.

Astrini, M. (2014). Analisis Pengaruh Corporate Social

Responsibility terhadap Service Brand Loyalty dengan

Brand Identification sebagai Faktor Mediasi dan

Service Quality sebagai Faktor Moderasi. Studi

Kasus: Jasa Penerbangan Garuda Indonesia. Master

Thesis University of Indonesia. Retrieved from

http://lib.ui.ac.id/naskahringkas/2017-01/S57726-

Melia Retno Astrini

Bediako, B. 2017. The Impact of Corporate Social

Responsibility on Customer Loyalty: A Case Study of

StanBed Tours ky. Master Thesis University of

Applied Science, Finland.

Bhinekawati, R. 2017a. Corporate responsibility and

sustainable development. Routledge, London.

Bhinekawati, R. 2017b. Corporate social responsibility,

social capital and sustainable development: lessons

from an Indonesian palm oil companies. Jurnal

Masyarakat Indonesia, 43(1), 15–32.

Bogner, A., & Menz, W. (2009). The Theory-Generating

Expert Interview: Epistemological Interest, Forms of

Knowledge, Interaction. In A. Bogner, B. Littig, & W.

Menz (Eds.), Interviewing experts (pp. 1–16). Palgrave

Macmillan, New York.

Carroll, A., & Buchholtz, A. (2003). Business and Society:

Ethics and Stakeholder Management. Thomson,

Australia.

Colchester, M., Jiwan, N., & Kleden, E. (2014).

Independent Review of the Social Impacts of Golden

Agric Resources’ Forest Conservation Policy in

Kapuas Hulu District, West Kalimantan. Forest

Peoples Programme and TUK Indonesia Cover,

(January).

Darsono, L. (2009). Corporate Social Responsibility and

Marketing: What works and what doesn’t. Gadjah

Mada International Journal of Business, 11(2), 275–

293.

Garson, D. (2016). Partial least square: Regression &

structural equation models. United States: David

Garson and Statistical Associates Publishing.

Gereffi, G. (1994). The organization of buyer-driven

global commodity chains: how U.S. retailers shape

overseas production networks. In G. Gereffi & M.

Korzeniewicz (Eds.), Commodity Chains and Global

Capitalism (pp. 95–122). Praeger, Connecticut.

Halim, R., & Hermawan, M. (2017). The Effect of

Corporate Social Responsibility Towards Customer

Loyalty: The Role Of Trust, C-C Identification, And

Customer Satisfaction. Jurnal Manajemen, 21(214–

226).

Mardiyanti, F. (2017).

Pengaruh Brand Trust, Customer

Satisfaction, Dan Program Corporate Social

Responsibility (Csr) Terhadap Brand Loyalty (Studi

Pada Pengguna Sepeda Motor Honda Di Purworejo).

Undergraduate Thesis of Universitas Muhammadiyah

Purworejo.

Rivera, J., Bigne, E., & Curras-Perez, R. (2016). effects of

corporate social responsibility perception on consumer

satisfaction with brand. Spanish Journal of Marketing,

20, 104–114.

Semuel, H., & Budiwati, M. (2015). Pengaruh Penerapan

Csr Terhadap Brand Loyalty Melalui Brand Image

Dan Customer Satisfaction Pada Produk Kosmetika.

Petra Business and Management Review, 1(2), 1–22.

ICIB 2019 - The 2nd International Conference on Inclusive Business in the Changing World

182