Impacts of social responsibility on customers’ switching behavior in using products and services: The case of small and medium enterprises in Vietnam

This study aimed at testing the impacts of social responsibility on customers’ switching behavior in using products and services. The research method was quantitative based on the structural equation modeling SEM with the sample size of 551 individual customers in small and medium enterprises in Vietnam. Research findings demonstrated that social responsibility put both direct and indirect impacts on customers’ switching behavior in using products and services. This relationship was proved with two intermediary factors, namely enterprises’ brand value and customer loyalty. These conclusions not only revealed the research’s contributions but also laid the foundation for further studies. Based on the research findings, the author proposed recommendations to avoid customers’ switching and minimize business loss due to customers’ switching behavior in using products and services.


Introduction
According to Beckett et al. (2000), when different enterprises supplied similar products based on nearly the same requirements, customers' behavior of using services would easily change.So, to compete well, suppliers should understand their customers to give predictions about customers' switching behavior and demonstrate influencing factors on that behavior in using both products and services.Chakravarty et al. (2004) supposed that enterprises' weaker competitiveness together with similarity within products and services would easily affect customers' switching behavior.Jenkins (2006), Zairi and Peters (2002) stated that research into social responsibility of enterprises normally related to long-term benefits rather than shortterm ones.Backhaus et al. (2002) proved that an enterprise' social responsibility helped in increasing its attractiveness to customers, who would pay more attention to the enterprise and trust it more at the same time.In carrying out social responsibility, the enterprise should overcome technical and trade barriers created by business partners.Also, it would satisfy customers' requirements of products' quality, safety, and functions.Consequently, more products would be consumed.This resulted in enterprises' survival and development in today's highly competitive world.Although researchers have been working on the role of behaviors of relevant parties, which could be regarded as a mediator between social responsibility and operating efficiency, they mainly focused on customers (Rowley & Berman, 2000;Barnett, 2007).Studies by Luo and Bhattacharya (2006); Schuler and Cording (2006); Sen and Bhattacharya (2001) presented models systematically explaining how customers' attitudes and behaviors would affect the relationship between social responsibility and enterprises' operating efficiency.Peterson (2004) stated that a specific connection between enterprises' social responsibility and customers' switching behavior in using products and services resulted in the measurement of the correlation between enterprises' social responsibility and their operating efficiency.Another more effective approach related to the above relationship might be considering the impacts of enterprises' social responsibility on individual relevant parties and their benefits.Studying the relation between enterprises' social responsibility and switching behavior in using products, Carroll (1991) argued that benefits from enterprises' social responsibility might be extremely profound, which implied different organizational relationships that could neither be partially separated nor isolated due to their value in showing enterprises' operating efficiency and customers' decision in purchasing.In addition, according to Cengiz et al. (2007), brand value might enhance loyalty and maintain the number of customers.However, when customers could buy similar products and services supplied by different enterprises, they would tend to change their purchasing behavior (Beckett et, al., 2000).
Small and medium enterprises would make up a major motivation for economic development (Spence & Rutherfoord, 2001).In fact, these enterprises account for a large proportion, which plays an important role in the total number of enterprises in Vietnam.Regarding their size, in 2021, the total number of small and medium enterprises in Vietnam accounted for more than 97% of total enterprises nationwide.The establishment and development of these enterprises has largely contributed to job creation, income increase and national economy stabilization.Small and medium enterprises have been becoming a crucial component in Vietnam's economy.Due to their huge numbers, these enterprises have considerably contributed to gross national income, effectively mobilized domestic and foreign capital sources for operational activities and successfully resolved social problems.However, due to its limited size, the operation of small and medium enterprises in Vietnam is still fragmented and inconsistent, which is a lack of flexibility and long-term strategy.Also, many enterprises have paid inadequate attention to their long-term and sustainable relationship with customers.Specifically, many commitments of these enterprises have not achieved expected results; their social responsibility for customers have been devalued; especially, their activities have shown off the image of products and services rather than noticed the establishment of customers' trust in their quality and sustainability.These problems would bring about difficulties and potential risks for enterprises in keeping customers.
This study aimed at testing the impacts of social responsibility on customers' switching behavior in using products and services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.The findings demonstrated that this study made both theoretical and academic contributions in terms of proving the role of social responsibility in the relationship directly affecting customers' switching behavior.This study showed the mediatory role of brand value and customer loyalty in the above relationship.Consequently, it proposed some recommendations to avoid customers' leaving and minimize business loss due to customers' switching behavior in using products and services.

Literature review and hypotheses
2.1.Literature review Matten and Moon (2005) supposed that social responsibility of enterprises was an umbrella term covering different concepts like business ethics, charity enterprises, corporate citizenship, sustainability and environmental responsibility.Social responsibility implied a dynamic content, which would be challenged in different contexts with typical characters of economy, politics and society.An enterprise having social responsibility would make decisions and operate towards the purpose of creating and balancing different benefits for different individuals and relevant organizations (Maignan & Ferrell, 2004).In their study, McWilliams and Siegel (2001) referred to social responsibility of enterprises as a collection of various actions enhancing the highest benefits to the society (besides those benefits to the enterprises), which should be required by the legislation.The measurement of social responsibility should be based on relevant parties Freeman (1999), including customers, staff, environment, suppliers and local community.Customers' switching behavior referred to the behavior of leaving the current service supplier and receiving another one.Switching behavior was stated to be a key issue for researching the service sector (Garland, 2002).The study by Zhang (2009) indicated that price, reputation, service quality, effective advertising, involuntary switching, distance and switching cost would impact switching decisions.According to Lees (2007), when customers switched due to enterprises' incapability of satisfying their expectations, these customers would no longer care about previous enterprises.
Brand should be the pride and a huge asset of all enterprises, which brought about mental drive to the staff.Deephouse (2000) defined brand value as the result of assessment by relevant parties, which should be based on the enterprise's influence as well as those parties' respect and knowledge about that enterprise.Brand should be a kind of resource leading to competitive advantage, signaling relevant parties about the attractiveness of the enterprise so that they could feel willing to sign contracts with that enterprise.Brand value should cover all added values an enterprise owns thanks to customers' satisfaction, which resulted in their active behaviors towards the enterprise by sharing its positive values within the society.Those added values also covered customers' engagement with the enterprise (Aurand et al., 2005;Punjaisri et al., 2009).Bennett and Aii-Choudhury (2008) identified band value as a typical feature of an organization which would help in distinguishing it from another organization, reflecting its capability of meeting customers' requirements, creating customers' trust in that organization's better supply at higher level and making customers give more effective decisions in using products and services.
According to Duncan and Elliot (2002), customers' loyalty should be an important element contributing to the revenue of an enterprise.Normally, loyal customers would establish a more stable relationship than non-loyal ones.The loyalty reflected customers' actions, which would be related to their purchase limit for a specific brand, or a group of future potential brands based on previous purchasing experience (Evanschitzky et al., 2006).Caruana (2002) stated that loyal customers should be those who regularly use a particular supplier of products and services, who really liked and appreciated that supplier rather than thinking about another one.Oh (1995) mentioned 3 main approaches to research customers' loyalty, which should be behavior, attitude and integrated ones.Meanwhile, Rujrutana and Yaowalak (2011) indicated that the integrated approach, which included both behavior and attitude, should be the most suitable for research because it covered the two biggest influences on customers' decisions.Dick and Basu (1994) described switching risks as a combination of those related to time, money and psychology.Switching risks also referred to awareness about the risks, which would be identified as customers' awareness about uncertainty and bad results of buying a service or product (Dowling & Staelin, 1994).Sharing the same viewpoint, Murray (1991) mentioned sixe aspects of risks, including finance; competence; psychology; safety; time waste and convenience.

Enterprises' social responsibility and for customers and switching behavior in using products and services
In addition with significant traditional characteristics like quality, price and product effectiveness; customers have been more concerned about social responsibility of an enterprise (Knowles & Hill, 2001;Dawkins & Lewis, 2003;Schiebel & Pochtrager, 2003;Hopkins, 2003).Piero et al., (2005) identified that customers would be aware of an enterprise with social responsibility and trust more in that enterprise as well as its products.Carroll (1991) argued that benefits from social responsibility might be extremely profound, which implied different organizational relationships, some of which could neither be separated not isolated to reveal operating efficiency of the enterprise.To test the relationship between the impact of social responsibility on customers and switching behavior in using products and services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam, this study constructed the following hypotheses: H1: Social responsibility for customers had a negative impact on their switching behavior in using products and services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.

Social responsibility for customers and brand value of enterprises
Brand is considered an asset that a business wishes to create and maintain throughout its business cycle (Nguyet et al, 2021).The results from activities of social responsibility would be trust within relevant parties, benefits from those activities and benefits from the implementation of social responsibility, which should include better image, more reputation; increasing revenue and customer loyalty; better attraction, higher encouragement and more staff maintenance; better capital and investor access as well as decreasing operational cost.According to Curran (2005), social responsibility should be an important component for an enterprise's reputation.An enterprise regarded as having social responsibility might get benefits from its fame among the public and corporate community.Then, there would be more chances of attracting capital and trade partners (Schiebel & Pochtrager, 2003).Pfau et al. (2008) stated that campaigns improving social responsibility for customers had raised their awareness about the enterprises' image and reputation.So, in the context of small and medium enterprises in Vietnam, in order to show the impact of social responsibility for customers on enterprises' brand, the author proposed the following hypothesis: H2: Social responsibility for customers had a positive impact on the brand value of small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.

Brand value of enterprises and customers' switching behavior in using products and services
Good reputation might bring high competitiveness to an enterprise, which would strongly affect assessment on its services so that the enterprise could gain more revenue in the future and hold a closer linkage with customers' demand for its goods and services (Barney, 1991).The study by Gerrard and Cunningham (2004) concluded that brand value of an enterprise was one of important elements causing customers' switching decision to use services by another enterprise and the brand should be considered as an enterprise's completion and financial stability.Tran et al. (2019) also supposed that brand value has a strong impact on customers' selection.So, enterprises creating a good brand and reputation would have more advantages in keeping customers, which would contribute to the limitation of switching behavior in using services by other enterprises.Referring to this content, the following hypothesis was given: H3: Brand value of enterprises had a negative impact on switching behavior in using products and services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.

Social responsibility for customers and loyalty
Customers should be a key relevant party for any enterprise.So, attraction and loyalty of this party would be the fundamental factor for doing business.According to Piero et al. (2005), consumers were well aware that an enterprise having social responsibility would have more responsibility in manufacturing.So, in the context of greater concern about social behavior of enterprises, that responsibility might lead to higher sales revenue and stronger customer loyalty (Knowles & Hill, 2001;Dawkins & Lewis, 2003;Schiebel & Pochtrager, 2003;Hopkins, 2003).In order to test the relationship between social responsibility and customer loyalty in the case of small and medium enterprises in Vietnam, the author proposed the following hypothesis: H4: Social responsibility had a positive impact on customer loyalty in the case of small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.

Loyalty and switching behavior in using products and services
The study by Mittal and Lasser (1998) pointed out that there was a correlation between customer loyalty and switching behavior in using products.When the former increased, the less chance the latter would have.So, in the context of small and medium enterprises in Vietnam, regarding the relationship between customer loyalty and switching behavior in using products and service, this research proposed the following hypothesis: H5: Customer loyalty had a negative impact on switching behavior in using products and services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.

Social responsibility for customers and switching risks in using products and services
Customers might punish enterprises irresponsible by boycotting their products or requiring lower prices (Creyer & Ross, 1997).Ruf et al. (1998) found out a positive relationship between changes in social responsibility and sales.Becker-Olsen et al. (2006) identified that crucial criterion having influence on consumption behavior should cover the following points: consumers should believe that enterprises were enhancing their social responsibility for mutual social benefits rather than for business revenue only, in other words, social responsibility should not be regarded as a tool to polish the brand; social responsibility should be considered as the active and final tool, which meant that there must be a reasonable connection between enterprises and charity organizations being supported by those enterprises.To test impacts of social responsibility on switching risks for using products and services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam, the following hypothesis was proposed: H6: Social responsibility had a positive impact on risks in customers' switching behavior of products and services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.

Risks and switching behavior in using products and services
Stewart (1998) supposed that there were impacts on risks on switching behavior in using products and services by enterprises.Switching behavior happened not only because of customers' decisions by themselves but also by other involuntary factors not related to customers' purpose (Roos, 1999).So, the hypothesis for this aspect should be: H7: Risks had a negative impact on switching behavior in using products and services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.

Brand value and customer loyalty
Reputation might help in improving customer loyalty for the enterprises, especially in the sector of retail industry, where quality could not be accurately evaluated at pre-purchasing stage (Nguyen & LeBlanc, 2001).Detailed knowledge about customers' switching behavior would have a positive impact on the enterprises and improve effectiveness in building up longterm relationships with customers (Lees et al., 2007).Regarding this content, in the case of small and medium enterprises in Vietnam, the author proposed that: H8: Brand value had a positive impact on customer loyalty with small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.

Risks in switching products and services and customer loyalty
Certain studies figured out the positive impact of switching risks on customer loyalty (Burnham et al., 2003).At the time of increasing switching risks, customers would identify decreasing benefits when they changed their purchasing orientation.Also, it would be essential to maintain relationships with enterprises.Then, customer loyalty could be improved.Therefore, in the case of small and medium enterprises in Vietnam, the relationship between switching risks in using products and services and customer loyalty can be tested based on the following hypothesis: H9: Risks in switching products and services had a positive impact on customer loyalty with small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.

Research scale
Based on literature review with relevant studies, this work proposed a research model with independent variables namely social responsibility for customers.Mediator variables included brand value; loyalty and switching risks.Dependent variable was switching behavior in using products and services.The scale was Likert with 5 scores: 1 -Extremely disagree; 2 -Disagree; 3 -Normal; 4 -Agree; 5 -Extremely agree.Applied indicators to measure variables were adjusted to be suitable for sample characters in previous studies.

Research sample
The research sample selected based on non-profitability sampling was convenient sampling.The database was collected thanks to stratified sampling in small and medium enterprises in the North, Central and South of Vietnam.In the North, most selected enterprises were located in Ha Noi; those in the Central were located in North Central Coast like Thanh Hoa; Nghe An; Ha Tinh; Quang Binh; Quang Tri; Thua Thien Hue; those from the South were located in Ho Chi Minh and Can Tho cities.The research participants were individual customers in small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.Sample size included 551 customers aging from 18 to 59, of which 48.52% was male and 51.48% was female.Data collection was carried out by two approaches, namely direct and online survey.Total number of questionnaires released was 800, the number of collected ones was 598 and the total number of valid ones was 551.Based on the study by Hair et al. (1998) about sample size, the minimum sample size must be 5 times as much as the total number of variables for observation.So, due to 28 of variable observations, the size of 551 guaranteed reliability for analysis.Data collection was done from 06/2022 to 09/2022.

Data processing method
The research method was quantitative.After the data had been collected, it was purified and processed through SPSS and AMOS.Firstly, the author evaluated the reliability of the scale with Cronbach's Alpha > 0.7; corrected item-total correlation > 0.3; also, if the value of Cronbach's Alpha If Item Deleted was bigger than Cronbach's Alpha of a variable, that variable observation should be reconsidered.Then, the author analyzed exploratory factor EFA to evaluate convergent validity and discriminant validity of the scale and indicators.The requirement for EFA was Factor loading > 0.5; KMO >= 0.5 và <=1; Sig. < 0.05, also, the percentage of average variance extracted > 50%.The principal component analysis focused on Varimax.
After that, the author applied AMOS to evaluate the compatibility of the model with the database through confirmatory factor analysis CFA and, finally tested research hypotheses based on analysis into structural equation modeling SEM with requirements of chi-square/df < 3 (Hair et al, 1998); P < 0.05; GFI, TLI, CFI > 0.9 (Segars & Grover, 1993); RMSEA < 0.05 (Taylor et al, 1993).

Reliability of research scale
Results of analysis into Cronbach's Alpha revealed reliability of the scale and indicated that data for analysis into Cronbach's Alpha of all variables was > 0.7.However, because SRC2 with Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted is 0.927 bigger than Cronbach's Alpha of SRC (0.911), in order to increase the compatibility of the scale, the author removed TNXH2.

Exploratory factor analysis EFA
After testing the compatibility of the scale, the author carried out EFA for all variables, including independent, dependent and mediator ones.All results showed that the data met the requirement for analysis based on loading factor > 0.5; KMO >= 0.5 and <=1; P-value < 0.05; average variance extracted > 50% and the data satisfied the condition that "convergent validity" (observations close to a factor) and "discriminant validity" (observations of one factor distinguished from those of another factor).

Fig. 3. SEM analysis
Estimates of relationships in the model revealed the compatibility of the model.Except for H7, others were accepted with significance P < 0.05.In particular, H1 was accepted with P < 0.05 and regression weight of -0.276 (< 0).This supported the conclusion that social responsibility for customers had a negative impact on their switching behavior in using products and services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.This finding was the same as studies by Knowles and Hill (2001); Dawkins and Lewis (2003); Schiebel and Pochtrager (2003); Hopkins (2003).Hypotheses H2 and H3 were accepted with significance < 0.05.Also, with a regression weight of 0.620 (> 0), it was clear that social responsibility had a positive impact on brand value of small and medium enterprises.At the same time, with a regression weight of -0.280, it could be concluded that brand value had a negative impact on switching behavior in using products and services in small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.These findings were like those in studies by Schiebel and Pochtrager (2003); Curran (2005); Pfau et al. (2008); Gerrard and Cunningham (2004), Tran et al. (2019).
Likewise, with P < 0.05 and regression weights of 0.135 (> 0) and -0.315(< 0) respectively, hypotheses H4 and H5 were accepted.This meant social responsibility had a positive impact on customer loyalty with small and medium enterprises, whereas this loyalty had a negative impact on switching behavior in using products and services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.These findings were similar to those in studies by Mittal and Lasser (1998); Knowles and Hill (2001); Dawkins and Lewis (2003); Schiebel and Pochtrager (2003); Hopkins (2003);Pivato et al. (2008).
Hypotheses H6 and H7 tested impacts of social responsibility on risks and impacts of risks on switching behavior in using products and services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.The findings showed that with significance < 0.05 and positive regression weight (0.549), hypothesis H6 was accepted.So, it could be concluded that social responsibility had a positive impact on switching risk in customers' using services.These findings were similar to those in studies by Creyer and Ross (1997); Ruf et al. (1998);Becker-Olsen et al. (2006).Also, with significance 0.495 (> 0.05), the study rejected hypothesis H7.There was no impact of risks on switching behavior in using services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.This revealed that for most customers, the decision of switching in using services would hardly be distracted by risks.Many customers held the wrong perspective about the risky level of switching decision and its impact on different accompanying aspects like finance, product quality and service.So, the rejection of hypothesis H7 and acceptance of others showed that social responsibility of enterprises had a negative impact on customers' switching behavior in using products and services.Also, research findings indicated that this study made great contributions to the proof for the mediatory role of brand value and loyalty in the relationship between social responsibility and customers' switching behavior in using services by enterprises.In addition, regarding hypotheses H8, H9 which tested impacts of brand value and switching risks on customer loyalty with small and medium enterprises in Vietnam, it was apparent that these hypotheses were accepted with significance P < 0.05 and positive regression weights (0.161 and 0.346).This meant both brand value and switching risks had a positive impact on customer loyalty with enterprises.These findings were similar to those in studies by Nguyen and LeBlanc (2001); Burnham et al. (2003); Lees et al. (2007).

Analysis into descriptive statistics of the database
To evaluate the real value of factors in the model and make comparisons among results, the author carried out descriptive statistics into values of variables.It was obvious that with the highest average value of evaluation for variables in the model (3.7892), customer loyalty with small and medium enterprises was regarded as a relatively high factor.This reflected recognition of customers about enterprises' commitment in terms of quality, price and service of their products and services.Furthermore, many customers assumed that it would be risky if they believed their trust in familiar products would satisfy them more than switching to new ones.
Also, with an average value of 2.1107, customers' switching behavior in using services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam was evaluated as the lowest factor.This meant customers hardly had a habit of changing their product usage if that would bring them any benefits.Customers would tend to continuously use products they had been familiar with in terms of brand and label.However, regarding services, it was different.In the era of service development, probably, although customers' demand might not quickly change, their switching behavior would still happen, which could be slower and more limited than a period of service recession.behavior in using products and services by small and medium enterprises in Vietnam.The research findings revealed its theoretical and practical contributions in providing proof for the importance of social responsibility in relation with switching behavior.Especially, it indicated evidence for mediatory role of brand value and customer loyalty.In addition, the study illustrated positive impacts of brand value and switching risk on customer loyalty with enterprises.However, due to limitation of convenient sampling methods in terms of reducing representativeness of research samples together with narrowed research scale with small and medium enterprises only, the study should expand its participants to different types of enterprises as well as those domestic and worldwide.Based on the research findings, the author proposed some recommendations to avoid customers' leave and minimize business loss due to their switching behavior in using products and services: Firstly, regarding social responsibility, it is essential for enterprises to acknowledge that customers deserve to share positive emotions thanks to enterprises' responsible activities for the society.Customers tend to buy products orienting sustainable development, rather than normally alternative ones.So, the enterprises' widespread publication of their products' benefits and maintenance of commitment in line with practical activities would assure mutual trading purpose and target for sustainable development.
Secondly, regarding brand value of enterprises, it is suggested to improve the brand image through strong campaigns of communications, which can attract customers.At the same time, enterprises should create their own distinguishing feature and positive value compared with others.They need to enhance the working spirit of the staff, which can show their ethics and social responsibility.This would motivate similar actions for mutual behavior.Then, there will be a considerable increase in commitment spirit and business efficiency.
Thirdly, regarding customer loyalty, it is advised to establish, maintain and continuously develop relationships with customers.
Enterprises should show clear signals for their commitment with their strategies, which is reflected through specific activities to bring about benefits for customers.When customers identify proof of enterprises' social responsibility, they tend to give more positive reactions to enterprises' slogans and messages.At the same time, loyalty can be improved and sales would be generated.
In addition, enterprises need to enhance activities promoting trade like advertising, promotion, public relation, etc. in order to maintain and develop relationships with customers and commit with them about the quality, long-term benefits and minimization of risks in buying enterprises' products and services.

Table 1
Sources for variable scale

Table 2
Distribution of research sample

Table 3
Reliability of the scale based on Cronbach's Alpha

Table 4
Results of EFA

Table 5
Rotated component matrix of EFA for independent and mediator variables

Table 6
Results of SEM for relationships in the model

Table 7
Descriptive statistics of database