Social justice or social stigma? Hotel customers’ perception on branded hotel used as quarantine facility

Abstract

This study provides evidence that hotels could reap benefits by including social justice notions of equity and fairness in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The study develops a novel conceptual model for understanding perceived social justice in the context of COVID-19 quarantine hotels based on social exchange theory. Data was collected using an online survey of 465 hotel customers, with results analyzed using structural equation modeling and bootstrap analysis. The results show that perceived CSR is a significant antecedent of brand loyalty and identification while perceived social justice mediates this relationship. Further, most human values, except the openness to change, were found to moderate the mediated relationship between perceived CSR and brand loyalty and identification through their interaction with perceived social justice. In general, the mediating effect of perceived social justice was stronger when the hotel customers scored higher on human value dimensions. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.