Timing and congruence effects of corporate social responsibility practices on social media crises in the tourism industry

Abstract

Purpose Corporate reputation is one of the key intangible assets of a company and is commonly influenced by negative posts on social media, such as customer complaints. Up to date, no known research investigates the pre- and post-social media crisis corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on corporate reputation in the tourism context. This study addresses this research gap. The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of CSR practices on corporate reputation in social media crises. The congruence of CSR practices was examined in this study in relation to social media crises using the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) theory. Design/methodology/approach An experimental vignette method was used. Respondents were randomly divided into four experimental groups and a control group. Data was collected from 435 respondents in Hong Kong through quota sampling, in which age and gender are control variables. Findings The findings indicated that social media crisis recovery needs CSR practices to restore the corporate image. CSR practices are more impactful immediately after, rather than before, a social media crisis. Furthermore, the business scope of the company should be taken in the planning and enforcement of CSR practices. Originality/value This study extends the situational crisis communication theory in social media crises by using CSR practices. The CSR practice provides a unique role in crisis management. It could belong to a bolstering category that can be used together with other corporate crisis responses. Corporations in the tourism industry increase their exposure to sustainability both within and beyond social media. This research shows that this can be effectively accomplished through CSR practices that are congruent with the tourism industry.