What is holding customers back? Assessing the moderating roles of personal and social norms on CSR’S routes to Airbnb repurchase intention in the COVID-19 era

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Abstract

Despite Airbnb's disruption of the hotel industry, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation markets to a standstill. During the pandemic, Airbnb elevated their engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the quest to regain trust and develop an attractive brand identity. However, the effectiveness of CSR in engendering favorable behavioral outcomes in times of crisis remains inconclusive. Drawing upon the theoretical lens of the stakeholder theory, the norm activation model, and the theory of planned behavior, this study proposes a conceptual model to test the influence of Airbnb's CSR on repurchase/rebook intention through the mediation of customer trust and customer identification with the company (C-C identification). This study also examines the moderating effects of personal and social norms on the CSR–repurchase intention routes. Findings yielded by a survey of 528 Airbnb users in the US show that the strategic philanthropy component carries the most weight in determining customers' assessments of CSR. This is followed by the environmental, economic, and ethical components. Perceived CSR does not affect repurchase intention directly but does so indirectly through the mediation of C-C identification. Personal norms weaken the effects of perceived CSR and customer trust on repurchase intention. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic, akin to a black swan event, has not only heaped misery on people around the world but has also ravaged the global travel and hospitality industry, especially the peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation sector (Roggeveen & Sethuraman, 2020; Zhang, Geng, et al., 2021, Zhang, Xie, et al., 2021). Local experience and interpersonal connection, which used to be sources of competitive advantage for Airbnb, lost their appeal during the pandemic. According to AirDNA, an online rental analytics firm, Airbnb bookings in Beijing declined by 96% from January to March 2020 as the virus spread throughout China, while bookings in New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle saw a drop of more than 50% (Hamilton, 2020). In areas like the Jersey Shore and Newport Beach, California, and in states like Pennsylvania and Vermont, officials prohibited short-term rentals as part of COVID-19 countermeasures (Lasky, 2020). Due to the sheer number of cancellations and sluggish demand, Airbnb suffered a staggering revenue drop of $1.2 billion for the first nine months of 2020 (Griffith, 2020), leading Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky to profess that “travel as we knew it is over” (Ekstein & Bloomberg, 2020). In addition, new demands for social distancing and personal hygiene placed Airbnb at a disadvantage compared to traditional hotels with better contactless solutions (e.g., self-check-in kiosks) as well as stricter safety and cleaning protocols (e.g., sanitization of rooms with UV light robots) (Gerwe, 2021).

Consequently, Airbnb, which has historically been the pioneer of change management in the hospitality industry, decided to undertake concrete actions to evolve and grow (Mauguin, 2020). In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Airbnb has not only made rapid changes to its customer offerings, website, and booking policy, but has also proactively engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities such as establishing the “Superhost Relief Fund” and offering free or subsidized housing for healthcare professionals, relief workers, and first responders. CSR is a voluntary corporate commitment to maximize long-term economic, societal, and environmental well-being through business practices, policies, and resources (Du et al., 2011). While some consumers may be skeptical about corporate social involvement (Skarmeas & Leonidou, 2013), a firm's altruistic motivations and genuine commitment to CSR can be verified through global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic (Shin et al., 2021). This is because businesses may be tempted to reduce long-term CSR investments and pursue short-term gains (even through fraud and misconduct) in the face of financial strains inflicted by the crisis (He & Harris, 2020).

The COVID-19 pandemic will likely propel post-pandemic CSR development in the long-term, as the public expect hospitality firms to be socially responsible for crisis recovery; in fact, an increasing number of hospitality firms have started to realize the importance of balancing profit and social welfare for their long-term survival (He & Harris, 2020). CSR engagement by hospitality firms amid the crisis is thus regarded as strategic philanthropy (Shin et al., 2021). Strategic philanthropy reflects the strategic advantages of community-directed CSR, including charitable donations based on distinctive resources of the industry (e.g., unoccupied rooms and leftover food), well-being engagement, and skills volunteering (Rhou & Singal, 2020). Although companies in innovative yet controversial industries like home-sharing are more likely to engage in CSR activities during a crisis to improve their reputation, little is known about how customers perceive and respond to these CSR activities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only challenged existing CSR assumptions, concepts, and practices, but has also reshaped stakeholders' expectations of CSR (Crane & Matten, 2021; Pérez & Del Bosque, 2014). However, most CSR research in the sharing economy was conducted before the outbreak, and focused on the economic, environmental, and ethical aspects of CSR (e.g., Fatma et al., 2020; Jeon et al., 2020). While a growing body of research has examined the impact of CSR in general, and strategic philanthropy in particular, on hotel financial performance and customer decision making, empirical evidence has been mixed (e.g., Chen & Hang, 2021; Shin et al., 2021; Tong et al., 2021). In fact, from the perspective of non-trivial costs, the economic uncertainty induced by the pandemic might lead investors to perceive CSR as a threat to firm survival (Chen et al., 2021). However, opposing views note that CSR during a crisis offers firms the opportunity to reposition their business for a better competitive stance (Souto, 2009; Yelkikalan & Köse, 2012). Qiu et al. (2021) further argued that a positive corporate image created through CSR activities contributes to favorable evaluations in capital markets. These conflicting views do not inform P2P accommodation managers whether investing in CSR during difficult times is a worthwhile pursuit. Therefore, empirical investigations into the effectiveness of CSR in driving customers' intention to repurchase/rebook P2P accommodation are warranted in the COVID-19 era. Furthermore, Martínez and Del Bosque (2013) pointed out that the goal of CSR is not only to enhance customer trust, but also to solidify customer identification with the company (C-C identification). However, empirical studies presenting a comparison of these two distinct mechanisms underlying CSR's effect on repurchase intention in the sharing economy context are rare, though these mediation relationships have been explored in the mainstream management literature (e.g., Glaveli, 2020; Martínez & Del Bosque, 2013).

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted public health authorities to promote new behavioral norms, such as maintaining social distancing and other preventive behaviors to curb the spread of infection (Lees et al., 2020). Yet, people's decision to engage in health-protective behavior by not staying in shared-space or P2P accommodation may depend on their personal responsibilities and moral obligations (i.e., personal norms) (Bouman et al., 2021) or the perceived social pressure to adhere to such behaviors (i.e., social norms) (Lees et al., 2020). Even so, no empirical study has yet examined the impact of norms surrounding COVID-19 health-protective behavior on customer decision-making in the context of P2P accommodation. As advocated by Roos and Hahn (2019), investigating personal and social norms is necessary when it comes to behaviors that involve social change. To fill this research gap, this study introduces personal and social norms as moderators between the two routes from CSR to Airbnb repurchase intention. We also argue that the inconsistent findings on the impact of CSR on behavioral outcomes can be partly attributed to these two norms that prevent people from acting based on their initial preferences.

Against this backdrop, the objectives of this study were threefold: (1) to understand how customers assess the CSR activities implemented by Airbnb during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) to evaluate the effectiveness of CSR in driving customers' intention to repurchase/rebook P2P accommodation through customer trust and C-C identification; and (3) to examine the moderating effects of personal and social norms on the relationship between repurchase intention and its determinants. To achieve these goals, we employed partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyze data obtained from 528 Airbnb users in the US. By doing so, this study contributes to the existing literature in three ways. First, to the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to understand how consumers perceive and respond to Airbnb's CSR initiatives in the COVID-19 era. Specifically, this study contributes to a more holistic understanding of customer assessment of CSR in the sharing economy by highlighting the important but largely neglected role of strategic philanthropy CSR. Unlike prior research that conceptualized CSR in a reflective, second-order manner (Fatma et al., 2020; Jeon et al., 2020), this study modelled CSR as a formative second-order construct that enables P2P accommodation companies to effectively allocate their limited resources to CSR activities. Second, this study is among the first to elucidate the multiple routes CSR takes to achieve repurchase intention in the sharing economy context. The findings of this study show that perceived CSR does not affect Airbnb repurchase intention directly but rather indirectly through the mediation of C-C identification. Therefore, this study advances our understanding for the process underlying the effect of perceived CSR on repurchase intention from a social identification perspective. Third, this study represents a pioneering attempt to consider norms concerning COVID-19 health-protective behavior in the sharing economy context. Our moderation analysis reveals that personal norms weaken the effects of perceived CSR and customer trust on repurchase intention. Therefore, this study reconciles the inconsistent findings on the effectiveness of CSR in generating favorable behavioral outcomes, while also contributing to the crisis management literature by empirically testing heretofore untested moderation mechanisms that are salient to consumers' decision-making in the context of P2P accommodation.

Section snippets

Peer-to-peer accommodation services in the sharing economy

The sharing economy has emerged as a new socioeconomic system that is characterized by non-possession, temporary access, and the redistribution of tangible and intangible assets (e.g., money, space, or time) (Kathan et al., 2016). By reversing the consumption paradigm, the sharing economy has challenged sole ownership as the only fundamental way to enjoy product benefits (Lamberton & Rose, 2012). Facilitated by community-based digital platforms, people can now easily share their idle resources,

Research design

Data was collected in January 2021 through Amazon M-Turk, an online consumer panel that connects researchers to a more ethically and socioeconomically diverse sample compared to alternative data collection methods (e.g., face-to-face and social media) (Buhrmester et al., 2011; Casler et al., 2013). Since M-Turk offers an inexpensive and efficient way of collecting data with reliable results (Goodman et al., 2013), many tourism and hospitality researchers have relied on this platform to gain

Data analysis

We employed PLS-SEM via SmartPLS 3.3.3 to test the proposed model for two main reasons. First, PLS-SEM can analyze formatively measured constructs (e.g., perceived CSR and customer trust) without requiring additional modifications, making it superior to covariance-based SEM techniques. Second, PLS-SEM is capable of handling complex structural models involving a multitude of constructs, indicators, and relationships (e.g., mediation and moderation) (Hair et al., 2017). Following the two-stage

Concluding discussion

Is investing in CSR during the COVID-19 pandemic worth its while? This critical question related to firms' survival and crisis management strategies has recently attracted considerable interest from both academicians and practitioners. The current study set out to examine customers' assessment of Airbnb's CSR activities during the crisis as well as its direct and indirect effects on repurchase intention through the mediation of customer trust and C-C identification. This study also investigated

Declaration of competing interest

No potential conflict of interest to declare.

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, Taylor's University and Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (Grant number: MOST 108-2218-E-468-003).

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