From screen to service: how corporate social responsibility messages on social media shape hotel consumer advocacy

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research attempts to investigate corporate social responsibility (CSR) and consumers’ advocacy behavior (CAB) association in the hotel services sector of a developing economy. Furthermore, this study explores how hotel consumers’ emotions and values mediate and moderate their CAB. This is accomplished by introducing two mediating variables, consumer happiness and warm glow, and altruistic values as a moderator. The data were obtained from hotel consumers with the help of an adapted questionnaire. The structural analysis indicated that CSR communication on social media by hotel services organizations positively predicted CAB, while consumer happiness and warm glow served as mediators to explain this relationship. Our results also confirmed the moderating effect of altruistic values. Several theoretical and practical implications can be drawn from this study. For example, our study highlights the important role of social media as an effective medium to communicate CSR-related information with hotel consumers to bolster their advocacy intentions.