Social desirability and cynicism biases in CSR surveys: an empirical study of hotels
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights
ISSN: 2514-9792
Article publication date: 21 August 2020
Issue publication date: 29 September 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Previous studies support the notion that corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives can have a positive effect on customers in the hospitality and tourism industry. However, most of these studies have ignored response biases and none have incorporated them into their analyses numerically. This study aims at closing this research gap.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors utilized a hybrid choice model to test for the hypothesized effects of social desirability (SD) and cynicism biases on reported purchase intention. The authors further compared the results with those of analyses that ignore these biases to demonstrate their distorting influence.
Findings
The results indicate that SD and cynicism biases have a moderating effect on reported purchase intention. Older generations and frequent travelers seem particularly prone to bias, and the biases have a distorting effect on the overall survey results.
Research limitations/implications
Traditional analyses that exclude biases, incorrectly, suggest several aspects of CSR that are significant (or insignificant) to purchase intention, provide unreliable results. The authors did not generalize bias-prone respondent segments but urge future research to investigate this.
Practical implications
Hotel managers aspiring to gain competitive advantage through CSR investment must consider biases in their market research. Otherwise, they risk developing CSR initiatives that do not instigate positive customer behaviors, leading to the failure of the investment.
Originality/value
The authors quantified SD and cynicism as significant causes of response bias, which distorts survey results. Previous studies have conceptualized SD without quantifying its impact, while cynicism has been identified as a novel source of bias in the industry. This study further introduces hybrid choice modeling as a novel approach to address response bias that could extend itself beyond the industry studied here.
Keywords
Citation
Kuokkanen, H. and Sun, W. (2020), "Social desirability and cynicism biases in CSR surveys: an empirical study of hotels", Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, Vol. 3 No. 5, pp. 567-588. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTI-01-2020-0006
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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