Engaging customers through user-and company-generated content on CSR

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to analyze the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) customer perceptions, customer–company identification and customer trust on customer engagement (CE), paying special attention to the moderating effects of two types of social media communication, firm-generated content and user-generated content. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a mixed-methods’ approach. First, a single-factor experiment using Twitter posts as stimuli with 227 hotel guests. The structural model was analyzed using SmartPLS 3.2.7. Second, structured in-depth interviews were undertaken with three hotel industry experts to complement the conclusions of the quantitative study. Findings The results show that when a customer trusts a hotel and identifies with its corporate values, CSR tweets generate CE toward the hotel. CSR communications made by customers reinforce the impact of CSR tweets on customer trust more than CSR tweets posted by hotels. Hotel industry experts give insights to explain these results in different types of hotels. Practical implications CSR communications made through Twitter affect customers’ perceptions of a hotel’s CSR activities and customer trust in hotels, especially if they originate from a source external to the company. This result can be of use for hotel managers who have not previously given importance to active CSR communications or the interactivity of social media. Originality/value The authors show the moderating effect of user-generated content in the relationship between CSR customer perceptions and customer trust, thus contributing to the research into the effectiveness of social media. They use a mixed-methods’ approach to increase the validity of the results.

The Relationship between CSR Communication on Social Media, Purchase Intention, and E-WOM in the Banking Sector of an Emerging Economy

“…So, the findings of the present study confirmed that customer CSR engagement on social media positively relates to E-WOM and purchase intentions. This study is not the first one to present these arguments because the arguments also receive support from contemporary researchers including Badenes-Rocha, Ruiz-Mafé, and Bigné [47]; Bialkova and Te Paske [58]; and Chu and Chen [64].…”

“…The rise of social media is a game changer in this perspective because it provides a platform to the organizations through which they not only communicate their CSR strategies with different stakeholders like customers but also highlight the importance of their CSR initiative for community and environment [47]. Further, customer-related CSR initiatives of an organization on social media are also important due to their interactive feature because customers and company interactively communicate with each other.…”

Campaign participation, spreading electronic word of mouth, purchase: how to optimise corporate social responsibility, CSR, effectiveness via social media?

“…This investigation is especially relevant, taken that increased message credibility could lift customers trust and thus engagement (Badenes-Rocha et al, 2019). Consumers trust was further associated with brand authenticity (Hernandez-Fernandez and Lewis, 2019), which enhanced brand credibility and value perception (Del Barrio-Garcia and Prados-Peña, 2019).…”

Exploring the Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Communication through Social Media on Banking Customer E-WOM and Loyalty in Times of Crisis

“…Unfortunately, the idea of CSR has been around for the last two decades in Pakistan, but it is still in the early stages, and the majority of the customers do not have a good level of understanding about the importance of CSR knowledge. The rise of social media is a game-changer from this perspective because it provides an interactive platform for the organizations, which they not only communicate their CSR strategies through with different stakeholders, such as customers, but it also highlights the importance of their CSR initiatives for the community and the environment [ 42 ]. Furthermore, CSR initiatives of an organization on social media are also important because of the interactive feature of social media.…”