Date of Award

12-2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management

Committee Member

Dr. William Norman, Committee Chair

Committee Member

Dr. Kenneth Backman

Committee Member

Dr. Sheila Backman

Committee Member

Dr. William Kilbourne

Committee Member

Dr. William Bridges

Abstract

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has received pronounced interest at both the academic and industry levels, associated with the recognition that businesses have responsibilities towards society beyond profit making (Othman & Othman, 2014). The tourism industry relies heavily on environmental and cultural resources within tourist destinations (Sheldon & Park, 2011), requiring businesses to actively engage with social and environmental issues (Henderson, 2007). While there is an increased interest in CSR in the tourism sector at both the academia and business levels, CSR tourism research is underdeveloped (Coles, Fenclova, & Dinan, 2013; Sheldon & Park, 2011; Wells, Smith, Taheri, Manika, & McCowlen, 2016). Moreover, little academic attention has been paid to CSR among major tourism attractions, with the exception of casinos (Coles et al., 2013). Consumers generally act as drivers for CSR activities (Kotler, 2011), making it important for businesses to understand how tourists respond to different types of CSR. However, assessing consumer responses to CSR is still in its infancy as a research area (Marchoo, Butcher, & Watkins, 2014). To address the gaps found in the literature, this study focused on examining festival-goers' behavioral intentions and desires related to different CSR initiatives (environmental, social, and economic) at music festivals. This study employed experimental design to investigate festival-goers' behavioral intentions and desires towards CSR activities undertaken by music festivals. Specifically, this study placed three CSR initiatives (environmental, social, and economic) within the Model of Goal-Directed Behavior (MGB), thereby forming an Extended Model of Goal-Directed Behavior (EMBG). The data was collected via an online survey-embedded experiment through Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk). The results revealed that environmental CSR initiative was effective in predicting behavioral intention and desire; however, when environmental CSR initiative variable was combined with the MGB, the effect of environmental CSR on desire lost its significance. The results indicated that both the MGB and the EMGB were effective in explaining festival-goers' behavioral intentions and desires for the EMGB. Accordingly, the process of extending the MGB was successful and environmental CSR initiative was the only significant predictor of desire and behavioral intention among the three CSR initiatives.

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