Study of customers attitudinal and behavioral intentions toward lodging companies corporate social responsibility initiatives

Scope and Method of Study: Despite the increasing interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) marketing practices, the role of CSR has been explored very little in the area of hospitality marketing. The main purpose of the study was to propose and assess a theoretical model on the effects of hotels' CSR associations and corporate ability (CA) associations on customer-company identification, customers' corporate evaluation, and customers' purchase intention. In addition, moderating roles of CSR support and CSR attribution of individual customers were tested. E-mail invitations were sent to a sample population of university students and an on-line survey was conducted. A total of 683 responses were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and hierarchical regression analysis methods.Findings and Conclusions: The proposed model was supported and results indicated that (1) although both CA and CSR revealed statistically significant, CA still had a stronger effect on customers' corporate evaluation and purchase intention than CSR associations, (2) CSR showed a stronger impact on customer-company identification than CA, (3) both CSR and CA showed strong positive effects on the relationships toward corporate evaluation and purchase intention mediated by customer-company identification, and (4) moderating roles of CSR support and CSR attribution showed strong effects on the relationship between CSR and customer-company identification, CSR and customers' corporate evaluation, and CSR and purchase intention. The results indicate that if a hotel wants to build a strong positive organizational identification, positive image, and purchase intention with its customers, it should use CSR as well as CA marketing strategies