The impacts of corporate social responsibility, service quality, and transparency on relationship quality and customer loyalty in the hotel industry

Sung-Bum Kim,Dae-Young Kim

doi:10.1186/s41180-016-0004-1

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test how potential customers’ perceptions of a hotel’s corporate social responsibility activities, service quality, and transparency affect relationship quality constructs such as trust, satisfaction, and customer loyalty. Our research design consisted of utilizing a convenience survey of 487American potential hotel customers. We then followed a two-step approach, projecting a measurement model and then analyzing a structural model to test the theoretical relationships between the constructs. The following findings within the context of U.S. hotels show: Corporate social responsibility and reputation had positive relationships with trust and satisfaction, while service quality had a direct effect on customer loyalty. In addition, transparency had a significant influence on customer trust. Customer trust had a significantly positive influence on customer loyalty. The influence of satisfaction on customer loyalty is mediated by trust. This research will contribute to scholarly and managerial debates.

Highlights

Competition in the hospitality industry is becoming quite fierce; maintaining existing customers is a crucial way for hotels to obtain a continuous competitive advantage over other businesses
We investigated whether or not customer trust and satisfaction could act as bridges between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), service quality, corporate reputation, transparency and customer loyalty in a hospitality service context
The objective of this research was to determine whether CSR, service quality, corporate reputation, and transparency have an impact on trust and satisfaction on customer loyalty within the hotel industry

Summary

Introduction

Competition in the hospitality industry is becoming quite fierce; maintaining existing customers is a crucial way for hotels to obtain a continuous competitive advantage over other businesses. Hospitality company leaders have introduced Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a strategy for achieving these goals. It is not clear whether these positive impacts explain customer loyalty. Corporate social responsibility initiatives have yielded positive responses to the company, this may not translate into superior customer allegiance because consumers are hesitant to trade CSR for certain central qualities (Ailawadi et al 2014). According to Brown and Dacin (1997), there are two distinct dimensions of corporations: service quality and corporate social responsibility. They claim that consumers use trade-off values between CSR involvement and service quality.

Objectives

Methods

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Conclusion