Corporate social responsibility image and emotions for the competitiveness of tourism destinations

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the perception of tourists in relation to corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in the city of Porto as a tourism destination in three main domains as follows: community, environment and customer’s perception on the effect of the creation of corporate social responsibility image (CSRI) and if this produces a direct effect in brand love (BL). At the same time, it evaluates the effect of tourist engagement in the BL destination.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 958 complete answers that were collected through a questionnaire, which was administered to tourists in the city of Porto is used. The exploratory factor analysis, the confirmatory factor analysis and the structural equation modelling are appliedto analyze the data.FindingsEmpirical results indicate that the city of Porto should invest to increase the CSR activities to develop a positive CSRI in the tourist’s perceptions, thus reinforcing their emotions and engagement. The feelings of BL and brand engagement (BE) are sensations characterized by a strong character that can increase the competitiveness of a tourism destination with favourable and unique associations.Practical implicationsThis is the first time that this evaluation has been carried out for the city of Porto, providing useful information to design the destination’s brand identity so as to differentiate it from other competing destinations.Originality/valueThis research aims to fulfil the aforesaid gaps related to the effect of the three dimensions of CSR in the consumer perceptions of CSRI applied to tourism destinations and use the BE and the consumer perception of CSRI to establish a positive relationship, as a BL, with a city destination.