Customers' corporate social responsibility awareness as antecedent of repeat behaviour intention

Abstract The aim of the study is mainly to investigate the influence of hotel customers' perception and awareness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) concerning the environmental practices of hotels on the image of the establishments and on repeat behaviour intention (RBI) by said customers. Accordingly, a research model is established which allows an understanding of the underlying mechanism of perceived CSR practices, CSR awareness, hotel image and RBI. The growing interest shown by practitioners to understand the mechanism to achieve sustainable competitive advantage for hotels through their environmental policies and the scarce number of studies analysing customer CSR awareness and its influence on customer green hotels' engagement justify this study. Hence, the study strives to overcome this gap in the CSR literature. Data were collected from hotel guests who have stayed at green hotels in Spain over the last 12 months. The research model was estimated using a variance‐based structural equation modelling approach. The findings achieved and future research avenues derived from the study are of great value for both theorists and managers to achieve a sustainable development. The research model proposed can be applied to other tourist agents other than hotels and provide valuable knowledge for practitioners to understand to what extent their managerial CSR practices and their effort to communicate them are perceived by their stakeholders, which in turn influence the stakeholder engagments with those agents with a greater commitment to the environment.