B2B Customer Satisfaction: Customer Journey Management Capability, CSR and Value Co-Creation

Abstract

This study aims to validate the measurement model of a sequential conceptual mechanism designed to explain the formation of customer satisfaction in B2B (business-to-business) markets. The model proposes a theoretical causal flow explaining how Customer Journey Management Capability (CJMC) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices translate into customer satisfaction (CS) through Value Co-Creation (VcC). Within this framework, the distinction between Philanthropic CSR (PCSR) and Business practice CSR (BCSR) constitutes one of the fundamental building blocks of the mechanism. Furthermore, the study incorporates the role of the changing balance between digital and physical touchpoints (DvsPTP) into the model. The present study does not aim to test the structural model; rather, it focuses on validating the measurement properties of the proposed framework prior to the main study. Accordingly, in a pilot study conducted with a sample of n = 48, the PLS-SEM approach was utilized. The measurement model was analyzed using SmartPLS 4 software, the validity and reliability of the measurement model were established, and the reflective nature of the constructs was confirmed through Confirmatory Tetrad Analysis (CTA). The findings provide strong preliminary empirical evidence regarding the theoretical consistency of the proposed conceptual mechanism and establish a methodological foundation for large-sample structural model testing in future research. This study contributes to the B2B literature by offering a measurement-oriented preliminary validation of a novel sequential conceptual mechanism.