Integration of the interests and business activities of societies needs to be aligned for all organizations operating in society to be beneficial for both organizations and society. According to Crane et al. (2008), “corporate social responsibility should be considering as a strategic investment form that viewed in establishing or maintaining the corporate reputation,” and this suggests that direct and indirect execution of CSR are viewed via resource-based view (RBV) of a company when these types of leads executions and exercises impact the advantages of the firms. The manageable upper hand can be collected from these immaterial resources on the off chance that they are uncommon, important, and supreme (Shin and Thai, 2015). To comprehend why firms participate in socially mindful exercises, RBV fills in as a valuable apparatus (Branco and Rodrigues, 2006). Customers separate an item from two points of view, for example, vertical separation and even separation. Vertical separation implies the inclinations of a customer for buying items from socially dependable firms, in contrast with others. Vertical separation fortifies CR, enhances BE, and enables the organization to charge additional prices (Castelo Branco and Lima Rodrigues, 2006). Even separation implies that the inclination of shoppers to buy certain items depends on their taste. This study does not enable the organization to charge a premium cost as it has not increased the value of CR also (Ghaderi et al., 2019).

Newburry et al. (2019) define CR as a collective perception of the past activities and beliefs of the firm regarding its future activities. Moreover, Gotsi and Wilson (2001) demonstrate that CR is the future marketing plan that will affect the internal and external stockholders of the organization. Jeffrey et al. (2019) express that CR is a reputation that brings trust and loyalty between consumers and vendors. Furthermore, a good business reputation brings a novel employee recruitment process, employee development, and employee retention. CR refers to the degree and level of a firm being considered and placed in great regard for the perceptions of its partners (Newburry et al., 2019). It can also be considered to summarize all perceptions of the stakeholders toward a firm regarding how it will fulfill or exceed the anticipations (Rettab and Mellahi, 2019; Hameed et al., 2021). Also, the reputation of a firm is governed by the indicators of the marketplace regarding its behavior, as understood by stakeholders (Jeffrey et al., 2019).

Brand equity is a slogan that is used in the marketing industry. The BE shows the value of a well-known brand label. So, based on this idea, organizations develop well-known brand names that increase the revenue of the organizations. Therefore, consumers believe that a well-known product is better than those products that do not have well-known names in the market. Ahmad I. et al. (2019) demonstrate that BE can be referred to as “the additional benefit or maximum worth that increased a product due to its brand name.” Moreover, Hoang et al. (2019) note that a financial approach has been utilized to examine BE. The financial approach indicators include share value fluctuations and accounting base value, where consumer-centric indicators include perpetual (Chang, 2017; Raji et al., 2019).

Corporate social responsibility is a self-regulatory business model that enables a firm to be socially accountable to the organization, stakeholders, and the general public (Farid et al., 2019). CSR allows a company to be aware of its impact on all elements of society, including economic, social, and environmental issues, and being a socially responsible firm can help the image and brand of a company. As a result, CSR allows employees to use the resources of a company to accomplish well (Kim et al., 2017). CR is considered an impalpable, value resource by any firm. It serves as a crucial factor in determining the competitive benefit, particularly in a product where diversity is negligible in the consumer (Arikan et al., 2016; Baudot et al., 2019).

According to Benitez et al. (2017), consumers assess and appraise new services or products launched based on their existing image in the market. Moreover, an excellent CR provides a shield against adverse customer perspectives because CR results from its business activities. In contrast, CSR initiatives are considered the best profitable method to construct a good reputation and perception in consumers and stakeholders (Lee et al., 2017; Lee, 2019). Thus, engaging in publicly accountable activities and contributing to the well-being of a society enhances the image and reputation of a company (Gulzar et al., 2018). As per Melero-Polo and López-Pérez (2017), the consumer perspective of CSR initiatives impacts affirmatively in building CR. Forcadell and Aracil (2017) endorse that suitable social activity of firms leads to increased CR. Previous studies also indicate that CSR positively correlates with a CR (Brammer and Pavelin, 2016; Gardberg et al., 2019; Khan et al., 2020a). Based on the above discussion, we proposed our first hypothesis:

The concept of BE has been argued in both accounting and marketing literature, and it has underlined the necessity of a long-term perspective in brand management (Khan et al., 2020b). Although businesses have made substantial efforts to manage brands strategically, there is still a lack of consistent terminology and philosophy inside and between disciplines, which can obstruct communication. Accountants and marketers have varied definitions of brand equity, with the idea being described both in terms of the customer-brand connection and as something that accrues to the brand owner. Organizations build BE for their products by making them distinctive, easily recognizable, and high-quality and reliable (Yang and Basile, 2019; Yang et al., 2020).

Prior studies highlighted that BE has a positive relationship with CSR (Abdolvand and Charsetad, 2013; Lin and Chung, 2019; Yang and Basile, 2019). BE was originated from the strong interaction between brands and consumers (Martínez and Nishiyama, 2019). The more consumer expectations are met or exceeded, the more the BE (Liu and Lu, 2019). Similarly, the ethical behavior of a firm will lead to its reputation and a crucial indicator of brand appraisal (Beckmann, 2007). Thus, the study assumes that the customer perspective of CSR initiatives may positively impact brand equity. So, we proposed our second hypothesis:

Business ties are held together by a social glue called trust. Business partners that trust each other spend less time and energy defending themselves from being exploited, and both sides achieve greater financial results in negotiations (Farid et al., 2020). When your employees know that you trust them and that they can express themselves clearly, trust becomes vital in business. They will almost certainly be more driven to be productive and work to their best potential (Park et al., 2014).

Looking into previous literature, we have provided concepts to understand the relationship between CSR and trust (Pivato et al., 2008; Vlachos et al., 2009; Park et al., 2014). So, the results of these studies confirm that CSR has a positive and significant relationship with trust. Moreover, the image of an organization and its norms help establish trust in the company that can be derived from its socially responsible initiatives (Azmat and Ha, 2013). Organizations that are perceived as publicly answerable by consumers are inclined to have high trust levels in the eyes of the consumers (Cheung and Pok, 2019; Kim, 2019). Hence, our third hypothesis is presented below:

According to the study of Iglesias et al. (2018), the benevolence base trust includes customer perception as either a firm honestly serious or concerned about the well-being and welfare of society. Similarly, another famous author, Arikan et al. (2016) indicated by the social trade hypothesis that a client trust in the direction of the firm image improves the social integration of the client association to build client responsibility toward the brand (Nguyen and Pham, 2018; Kim, 2019; Zhao et al., 2019). The consumer does an overall assessment and evaluation of the image of the firm, which is drawn on their perception and information about the firm (Joo et al., 2017), and trust is the forerunner to CR. Many previous studies also confirm in their results that trust is the mediator between CRS and CR and brand equity. Therefore, the literature suggests that trust is positively and significantly mediates between the CRS, CR, and brand equity. Figure 1 is presenting the conceptual model of this study. Thus, this research makes the following hypotheses:

In this study, we used a questionnaire survey analysis approach. We used this approach because it is common and has a broad sample of the given population that can be contacted at a relatively low cost (Roby et al., 2003; Heeringa et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2021). Hennessy and Patterson (2011) suggested that for the survey analysis, first, we should develop the research questionnaire (Rasool et al., 2019a,b). So, in this study, first, we designed the questionnaire to collect data.

This study aims to explore the influence of CSR, directly and indirectly, on CR and brand equity, using trust as a mediating variable. In this questionnaire, 17 items were used with a 5-point Likert-Scale (1 stands for “strongly disagree,” and five stands for “strongly agree”). The questionnaire is consists of five sections. The first section includes the demographic information of the respondents. The second section took insight of the customers about CSR activities. The third part of the questionnaire measured the respondent’s level of trust in the banking sector. The fourth part of the questionnaire explained the CR -related information, and the last and fifth sections encompassed acclaimed variables that measure BE dimensions. Before data collection, the authors also conducted a pilot study to check the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. The pilot study respondents suggested some modifications to the questionnaire. Therefore, the questionnaire was revised as per the recommended feedback from the pilot study respondents. So the revised questionnaire was distributed for data collection.

The items of CSR are adopted from López-González et al. (2019). All items of CSR were measured with 5-points Likert-Scale (1 “strongly disagree” and 5 “strongly agree”). The alpha of CSR was 0.920. The results indicate that the factor loading of each item is more than the standard value (0.70). So in this study, measures were considered adequate. The factor loading of each item is mentioned in Table 1.

The items of CR were adopted by Suki and Suki (2019). All items related to CR were measured with a 5-point Likert-Scale (1 “strongly disagree” and 5 “strongly agree”). The alpha of CR was 0.920. The results indicate that the factor loading of each item is more than the standard value (0.70). So in this study, measures were considered adequate. The factor loading of each item is mentioned in Table 1.

The items of BE are adopted from previous studies Çifci et al. (2016). For the measurement of brand equity, we apply the 5-point Likert-Scale (1“strongly disagree” and 5 “strongly agree”). The alpha of BE was 0.917, which is appropriate. The results indicating that the factor loading of each item is more than the standard value (0.70). So, the alpha values met the threshold criteria. The factor loading of each item is mentioned in Table 1.

We use to trust the items developed by Tzempelikos and Gounaris (2017). All items were measured on a 5-points Likert-Scale (1“strongly disagree” and 5 “strongly agree”). The alpha of trust was 0.939, which is acceptable. The results indicate that the factor loading of each item is more than the standard value (0.70). So, the alpha values met the threshold criteria. The factor loading of each item is mentioned in Table 1.

The data was collected using self-administered questionnaires from the consumers of banking sectors living in Lahore city, the capital of Punjab province of Pakistan. The banking sector consumers for this research refer to those people who are aged above 18 years and have an account in any bank during the survey. Data were collected between 2018 and 2019. This survey was conducted during the working hours of the banks. A non-probabilistic sampling technique with a combination of convenience sampling techniques was used for this research to measure demographic variables like respondent gender, qualification, age, and income. Above all, variables ensure that the sample signifies the sociodemographic features of the present population. At present, for this study, initially, a total of 550 survey instruments were circulated, and from these, 342 questionnaires were received and 23 castoffs due to incomplete information that leaves us with 319 responses. Also, 10 unusable ware responses were identified, leaving 309 responses for the final analysis of this research. The majority of respondents in this research were men, around 57.09%, and women 46.91% aged between 20 and 60 years. Most of the audience holds a bachelor’s degree 950 (16%) and belongs to middle-income families earning $200–690 monthly (43.89%). For more detailed analysis, all variables were inspected for data entry errors, missing values, and the fit between distributions using the software SmartPLS.

This research was conducted in the banking sector of Pakistan. The findings indicate some practical implications for the banking sector of Pakistan that could increase the organizational CR and BE through CSR. First, the managers need to create an environment of CSR activities. Those planning to do while establishing and maintaining strong relationships with firms and consumers through these CSR activities are more likely to create positive outcomes such as BE and CR (Javeed and Lefen, 2019). Second, managers, specifically in banking organizations should pay more attention to CSR activities and spend more of their resources on these activities. In this way, customers perceive the firm as more socially responsible and trustworthy than any other firm while considering it more favorably. This study shows that the results in a well-known or good reputation will increase brand equity. Third, the banking organizations and other investment-related companies also pay more close attention to their reputation in the minds of the consumers because it plays a critical role in evaluating the performance of the firm. Therefore, the banking organizations and investment-related firms should expect to enhance their brand while considering various socially responsible initiatives that positively impact society. The finding provides the most important insights to firm managers about their critical position in developing CSR as a customer brand partnership from their marketing viewpoints. They can take more effort to maintain deep trust between customers because it has been found that most consumers view a firm as more trustworthy when it is associated with some social problem.

This research has some limitations that may affect the generalization of its findings. First, due to time constraints and scared resources, the nature of our study was cross-sectional instead of a longitudinal design. Therefore, we recommend future researchers conduct a longitudinal mode study using CSR predictors on industrial BE and CR for more generalized results. Second, the data is collected from the second biggest city of Pakistan, an expensive city in Pakistan, affecting the buyers buying power. Such research will conduct in four to five different cities of the country, which will have generalized the study results. Third, the data was collected from the banking sector, which might cause common method bias. As the job nature of the target population is different from each other, future studies should focus on individuals who have similar jobs. In the future, such kind of study will explore the relationship between CSR and CR using the well-being of the customer as a mediating variable.