Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), Traveler Behaviors, and International Tourism Businesses: Impact of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Knowledge, Psychological Distress, Attitude, and Ascribed Responsibility

Heesup Han, Soyeun Lee, Jinkyung Jenny Kim and Hyungseo Bobby Ryu
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Heesup Han: College of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Gwanjin-Gu, Seoul 05006, Korea
Soyeun Lee: College of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Gwanjin-Gu, Seoul 05006, Korea
Jinkyung Jenny Kim: School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Youngsan University, 142 Bansong Beltway, Haeundae-gu, Busan 48015, Korea
Hyungseo Bobby Ryu: College of Health Sciences, Food Franchise Department, Kyungnam University, 7 Kyungnamdaehak-ro, Masanhappo-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do 51767, Korea

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 20, 1-18

Abstract: The international tourism industry is among the hardest-hit by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Due to this tourism crisis, this research attempted to uncover the possible influence of the corporate social responsibility efforts of the international tourism businesses and of the knowledge of COVID-19 on the US travelers’ decision formation for international tourism products. A quantitative approach and survey methodology were used. The findings revealed that corporate social responsibility improves travelers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions. In addition, the travelers’ knowledge perception of COVID-19 was significantly associated with their psychological distress. Decreasing this psychological distress related to overseas tourism was of importance to boost a positive attitude toward international traveling, which directly leads to increased behavioral intentions. Testing for the metric invariance revealed that an association between the corporate social responsibility and intentions was only significant when the travelers strongly felt an ascription of responsibility for the COVID-19 outbreak and the pandemic. The theoretical uses and the practical values of this research are discussed.

Keywords: coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic; corporate social responsibility of international tourism businesses; traveler behavior; psychological distress; attitude; knowledge; ascription of responsibility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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