CSR-driven motivation and happiness as dual pathways to brand advocacy: The moderating role of environmental concern in hospitality marketing

This paper examines whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) creates customer brand advocacy (BA) through two cognitive-affective mechanisms (i.e., customer motivation (CM) and customer happiness (CH)) and whether customers' environmental concern (CEC) enhances these relationships in the Chinese hospitality context. A questionnaire survey of hotel guests (N = 361) was analyzed using PLS-SEM. CSR increased significantly both CM (b = 0.328, p < .001) and CH (b = 0.375, p < .001); in turn, CM (b = 0.211, p = .017) and CH (b = 0.298, p < .001) predicted BA, as well as a smaller direct CSR-BA effect (b = 0.157, p = .037). Indirect effects were important through CM (indirect effect = 0.069, p < .001) and through CH (indirect effect = 0.112, p < .001). Moderated-mediational analyses revealed that CEC strengthened effects of CSR on both mediators, leading to stronger conditional indirect effects at higher CEC (CSRxCEC-CH path: b = 0.108, p < .001; CSRxCEC-CM path: b = 0.092, p < .001). Significant variance was explained by the model (R² BA = 0.348; R² CH = 0.477). Overall, CSR works through the complementarity of rational (motivation) and emotional (happiness) conversion mechanisms to turn guests into ambassadors, and this conversion is more pronounced among environmentally concerned customers. Findings inform the CSR initiatives that hospitality managers can design and communicate to attract the head as well as the heart - and the messaging that can be aligned with segments having high levels of environmental concern to maximize advocacy.