Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) has become a standard tool for analyzing complex inter-relationships between observed and latent variables in tourism and numerous other fields of scientific inquiry. Along with the recent surge in the method’s use, research has contributed several complementary methods for assessing the robustness of PLS-SEM results. Although these improvements are documented in extant literature, research on tourism has been slow to adopt the relevant complementary methods. This article illustrates the use of recent advances in PLS-SEM, designed to ensure structural model results’ robustness in terms of nonlinear effects, endogeneity, and unobserved heterogeneity in a PLS-SEM framework. Our overarching aim is to encourage the routine use of these complementary methods to increase methodological rigor in the field.

Purpose: This study aims to reexamine the discriminant validity of the customer-based corporate reputation (CBR) scale in both its original and short forms. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used data from end-use customers in two countries and two service industries. Results obtained in partial least squares structural equation modeling for the heterotrait–monotrait (HTMT)-based inference test and the Fornell and Larcker criterion were compared to make judgements about the empirical distinctiveness of the CBR scale’s five dimensions. Findings: This study’s findings demonstrate that the CBR scale in both its original and short forms lacks discriminant validity when using the HTMT-based inference test. Conversely, the discriminant validity of the five corporate reputation dimensions is generally supported when using the more liberal Fornell and Larcker criterion. Research limitations/implications: Future studies using the CBR scale in either the original or its short form should rely on the more stringent HTMT criterion to ensure the discriminant validity of the scale’s five dimensions. Originality/value: By addressing recent findings regarding the HTMT criterion’s superiority in uncovering discriminant validity issues compared to that of the Fornell and Larcker criterion, this study is the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to reexamine the discriminant validity of the well-known CBR scale.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of customer-based perceptual corporate sustainability on customer loyalty in a comparative manner, in four important industries (mobile telecommunications services, retail banking services, dairy products and personal care products) in a developing country. A consumer survey was implemented among a sample of 1464 consumers from the urban area of a developing European country. Our research reveals that customer-based perceptual corporate sustainability significantly and positively impacts customer loyalty in all investigated industries, with a stronger impact in retail banking services and a lower one in the case of personal care products. The research identifies those perceptual corporate sustainability dimensions which significantly impact customer loyalty and on which companies should focus within their marketing communication in order to increase customer loyalty. The paper brings relevant multi-sectorial insights, filling a regional knowledge gap, in the particular socio-cultural and economic context of a developing country, and thinking forward the general theoretical knowledge regarding the relationship between customer loyalty and perceptual corporate sustainability as complex constructs. Moreover, by using a quasi-exhaustive manner to conceptualise corporate sustainability, this paper complements previous research on the topic, in which corporate sustainability was constructed narrowly, within limited conceptual frameworks.

The purpose of the current study was to comparatively estimate, for generation X and generation Y, the impact of corporate environmental and social responsibility on customer loyalty, via customer–company identification and customer satisfaction as mediators. For this, a survey was conducted among a sample of telecom customers, comprising 445 members of generation X, and 601 of generation Y. Data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis. Results revealed that the impact of corporate environmental responsibility on customer loyalty is significantly higher within generation Y, while the social facet of corporate responsibility is more relevant for customers from generation X. The current study contributes to the literature by developing and testing, within multiple generational groups, a theoretical model which outlines the links between environmental and social responsibility and customer outcomes. As these relationships have been scarcely analyzed in the context of age cohort membership as a moderator, our study fills an important literature gap, emphasizing significant differences between generations X and Y. The findings have relevant implications for the effective communication of corporate environmental and social responsibility activities, providing important insights on how messages and communication channels should be adapted to generations X and Y as target audiences.