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This study explores central questions related to the connection between social media marketing activities (SMMAs), user engagement and the self-brand connection of restaurant Instagram pages. The study examines the mediating role of user engagement between SMMAs and self–brand connections. Also, this study explores the connection between SMMAs and user engagement through the moderating role of gender and trust.

A convenience sample method was employed to collect data from customers (18–24 years old). A structural equation modeling approach and PROCESS macro were applied based on 298 online questionnaires completed by customers who follow restaurant Instagram pages. The mediating effect for user engagement and the moderating effect for gender and trust were performed.

The findings revealed that SMMAs have a significant positive influence on self–brand connection and user engagement. Further, user engagement acts as a mediator between SMMAs and self–brand connection. The results illustrate the importance of SMMAs in enhancing user engagement in light of gender and trust.

This paper presents significant managerial implications for restaurant businesses about how SMMAs can effectively enhance user engagement behavior and self–brand connection on Instagram pages.

This research developed a theoretical model to understand how SMMAs might enhance user engagement in the restaurant industry by invoking gender and trust as moderating variables in the relationship between SMMAs and user engagement. This paper offers new theoretical and practical contributions that add value to social media marketing (SMM) literature by testing the moderated–mediation model of these constructs in the hospitality sector.

Prior studies have not yet made sufficient effort to examine the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and customer citizenship behavior (CCB) in the hospitality context. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of CSR in fostering CCB in the hospitality context, as well as the mechanisms underlying the relationship.

This study obtained its empirical evidence from 422 hotel customers in North Cyprus and applied a structural equation modeling analysis.

The findings reveal that CSR significantly contributes to customer help, customer feedback and customer tolerance. Surprisingly, the results do not support the existence of a significant relationship between CSR and customer advocacy. Evidence indicates that perceived service quality plays a partial mediating role.

This study has shown that customers are rewarding firms involved in CSR initiatives in the form of CCB – directly and indirectly – through perceived service quality. This finding can advance managers’ understanding, enabling them to better manage their CSR initiatives to achieve the most effective outcomes.

The study advances a convergence between the research streams of CSR and CCB, which has been under-explored in the tourism context. The study also extends the CSR and customer citizenship literature through a novel mediation mechanism of perceived service quality.

The aim of this study is first, to investigate the relative effect of user-generated content (UGC) and firm-generated content (FGC) on online brand advocacy, and second, to examine the mediation effect of customer engagement and the moderation effect of brand familiarity in the relationship between UGC and FGC and online brand advocacy. The differential impact of UGC and FGC on consumer behavior has yet to receive sufficient academic attention among hospitality scholars.

Based on social learning theory, cognitive consistency theory and schema theory, this study established an integrated research framework to explain the relationship between the constructs of the study. This study adopts a scenario-based experimental design in two separate studies within contexts to examine the proposed hypotheses.

The results revealed that UGC is a stronger predictor of online brand advocacy than FGC. A mediation analysis supported that the effect of digital content marketing types on online brand advocacy occurs because of customer engagement. Further, when the brand was familiar, participants showed a higher level of online brand advocacy than when they were exposed to FGC (vs. unfamiliar brand), whereas the effect of familiar and unfamiliar brands on online brand advocacy remains slightly close to each other when the participants were exposed to UGC. Brand familiarity positively enhanced participants’ engagement when they were exposed to UGC. Further, customer engagement is only a significant mediator when the brand is unfamiliar.

This paper presents significant managerial implications for hospitality companies about how they can effectively enhance brand advocacy in the online medium.

This research provides a novel contribution by examining the differential impact of UGC and FGC on online brand advocacy as well as uncovering the underlying mechanism of how and under what conditions user- and firm-generated content promotes online brand advocacy in the hospitality context.

The objective of this study is to investigate the differential impact of gain versus loss message framing on the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communications in eliciting online brand engagement within the hospitality industry. Furthermore, this research aims to examine the extent to which evoked happiness and message credibility mediate the relationship between CSR message framing and online brand engagement, as these mediating factors have not been thoroughly examined in the existing academic literature.

This study utilizes a between-subjects experimental design to test an integrative research framework, which is grounded in message framing theory and the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), in order to examine the interrelationships among the various constructs of the study within a coffee shop context on Facebook.

The findings of this study indicate that gain framing is a more powerful predictor of online brand engagement than loss framing. A mediation analysis supports the assertion that the effects of CSR framing communications on online brand engagement are mediated by evoked happiness and message credibility. Specifically, when the CSR message was framed in a positive (gain) manner, it was perceived as more credible and evoked more happiness, leading to increased online brand engagement. Additionally, the study’s results provide empirical evidence for the notion that the happiness elicited by brand messages enhances their credibility, leading to further online brand engagement.

This research makes a novel contribution to the literature by investigating the distinct effects of message framing on online brand advocacy and examining the complex interrelationships that modulate consumer engagement within the context of the hospitality industry.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on customer relationship quality (RQ) based on three main aspects of RQ, namely, satisfaction, trust and commitment.

A quantitative meta-analysis of 80 unique effect sizes reported in 60 articles (n = 27,805) was conducted to determine effect sizes of the relationship between CSR and the aspects of RQ of the customer. Furthermore, the economic development has been examined as potential moderators between CSR and RQ.

Meta-analysis suggests that a positive relationship between CSR and the three studied aspects of RQ is well established; however, the strength of studied relationships has revealed variations in magnitude. Customer commitment was affected by CSR (r = 56) the most, closely followed by customer trust (r = 0.52), while customer satisfaction (r = 0.44) was affected the least. Moreover, the result of meta-regression shows that the economic development moderates only one relationship, CSR and trust.

Presenting a summary of the direction of primary research on the relationship between CSR and RQ, as no prior meta-analysis on the primary relationship has been conducted till date (to the best of the authors’ knowledge).

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the role of internal branding (IB) in fostering branding citizenship behavior in the hospitality context as well as the mechanisms underlying the relationship.

Design/methodology/approach: This study obtained empirical evidence from 377 hotel employees in North Cyprus.

Findings: Our findings support the positive relationship between IB and brand citizenship behavior (BCB). The evidence was found for a dual and sequential mediating role of brand trust and brand commitment. Moreover, the organizational climate serviced as a moderator to influence the positive relationships between IB and BCB.

Practical implication: This study has shown that employees are rewarding firms involved in IB initiatives in the form of BCB – directly and indirectly –through trust and commitment. This finding can advance managers’ understanding, enabling them to better manage their IB initiatives to achieve the most effective outcomes.

Originality/value: The research advances convergence between IB and BCB research streams, which has been under-explored in the tourism context. Besides, it extends the IB and brand citizenship literature through a novel dual and sequential mediation mechanism and organizational climate as a novel moderator.

While the positive effects of customer citizenship behavior are well established, research on its potential negative consequences is scarce. This study aims to examine the indirect relationship between customer citizenship and dysfunctional customers via customer moral credits and entitlement, as well as the moderating influence of customer citizenship fatigue.

Study 1 employed a cross-sectional design with a self-administered survey. The data were collected from 314 customers using an online research panel. In Study 2, the authors manipulated customer citizenship behavior using 203 participants to establish causality and rule out alternative explanations of the findings of Study 1. In Study 3, the authors replicated Study 2 and enhanced internal validity by using a more controlled experimental design using 128 participants.

This study shows that when customer citizenship fatigue is high, customer citizenship behavior elicits customer moral credit, which leads to customer entitlement and, in turn, promotes dysfunctional customer behavior. Conversely, when customer citizenship fatigue is low, customer citizenship behavior does not generate moral credit or entitlement, preventing dysfunctional customer behavior.

The study shows that promoting customer citizenship behavior does not always lead to positive outcomes. Therefore, when promoting customer citizenship behavior, managers should consider the psychological licensing process and ways to mitigate the influence of moral credits.

This study challenges common wisdom and investigates the dark side of customer citizenship behavior. Specifically, it demonstrates that customer citizenship behavior could backfire (e.g. dysfunctional customer behavior). It also shows that only customers who experience a high level of fatigue from their citizenship behaviors are psychologically licensed to gain moral credit, leading to dysfunctional customer behavior.

Drawing upon social exchange theory, this research investigates the interplay of corporate philanthropy, environmental marketing strategy, relationship quality, greenwashing, and customer citizenship behavior in the family-owned hotels of an emerging market.

A field survey questionnaire was used to gather the data from 394 hotel customers by randomly selecting three premium family-owned hotels in Lahore: Faletti’s, Avari, and Holiday Inn. The data was analyzed using the structural regression modeling (SRM) technique with the assistance of AMOS version 24.

The results show that corporate philanthropy and environmental marketing strategy positively influence relationship quality, and relationship quality positively influences customer citizenship behavior. Relationship quality partially mediates the association between corporate philanthropy and customer citizenship behavior, but we found that greenwashing does not have a moderating role.

This research has theoretical implications for marketing scholars and practical implications of family-owned hotels in emerging markets.

The study has contributed contextually by collecting a unique dataset from family-owned hotels in an emerging market. Theoretically, we have conceptualized a model through the Social Exchange Theory by recommending relationship quality as a mediator and greenwashing as a moderator.

Environmental issues have triggered the need for sustainable behavior around the globe. The tourism industry’s rapid growth also contributes to environmental degradation through natural resource depletion and excess water and energy utilization. Based on social identity theory, this study aims to assess the impact of environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives on green customers’ citizenship behavior. Furthermore, the study assesses the mediating effects of green trust, customer–company identification and green image.

This study is a quantitative approach, and purposive sampling technique was used to collect the data from the hotels’ customers from northern areas of Pakistan. This study used partial least square-structural equation modeling to analyze the data of 426 customers.

The study’s findings show that environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives significantly impact green customers’ citizenship behavior, green trust, customer–company identification and green corporate image. However, the relationship between green corporate image and green customers’ citizenship behavior was insignificant. Furthermore, the study’s results revealed that green trust and customer–company identification partially mediate between environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives and green customers’ citizenship behavior.

The findings suggest that hotels’ environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives improve green customer citizenship behavior, green trust and enhance customer–company identification. Therefore, hotel industry managers should consider reinforcing existing environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives and make further efforts to highlight the importance of such initiatives for environmental sustainability, which ultimately affects customers’ green customer citizenship behavior.

This research developed a novel framework to understand green customers’ citizenship behavior in the tourism industry. It extended the literature on environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives and green customers’ citizenship behavior. In addition, the research adds value by confirming the significant direct and mediating role of customer–company identification in tourism industry context.