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Good Times, Bad Times: Small Business Social Responsibility And Community Crisis Response In Small To Midsized Communities, Amber Monique Chatelain

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

It is common practice for small businesses to support their local communities through social responsibility and citizenship behaviors. Small business response to local crisis events and participation in relief efforts can serve as an indicator of the company’s awareness of community events and signal to customers their embeddedness in and commitment to the local community. Using primary data and an experimental methodology, this dissertation examines customer perceptions of small business’ response to community crisis. Specifically, this study examines customer perceptions of trust and loyalty, and customers’ purchase intent for small businesses that participate in socially responsive behaviors in the face …