Abstract
Contribution: Stakeholder involvement in CSR is essential to ensuring pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours across multi-stakeholder groups. Despite increased awareness of the benefits surrounding a collaborative approach to sustainability communications, its success is limited by difficulties engaging with active online conversations with stakeholder groups. Whilst previous research defines the effectiveness of sustainability communications, this paper contributes to knowledge through the development of a theoretical framework which explores the processes to achieving pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours in stakeholder groups. The research will also consider social media as an opportunity to communicate CSR information to all stakeholder groups.
Approach: A systematic review was chosen to investigate the effectiveness of the types of sustainability communications used in the hospitality and tourism industries. The systematic review was completed using Web of Science and Scopus using the search terms “sustainab* communicat*” “effective or effectiveness” and “hospitality or tourism”, limiting the results to peer reviewed research. 133 abstracts were initially read, with articles being excluded for irrelevance, duplicated articles, non-empirical studies, and language. A total of 40 papers were included as part of the systematic review. 5 propositions were created based on the results of the systematic review, helping to develop a theoretical framework of the processes needed for companies to encourage pro-environmental behaviours across multi-stakeholder groups.
Results: The theoretical framework developed in the paper determined the processes necessary for companies to achieve pro-environmental behaviours in stakeholders. The processes to achieve pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours are stakeholder focused, identifying the need for communications to be specific to their targeted audience. Collaborative communications that enable stakeholders to engage with CSR information and provide feedback, lead to a higher awareness of CSR, shared visions and pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. These processes should also aim to improve their relationships with stakeholders through transparency of CSR, with strategies that match stakeholder values and ethics, whilst prioritising sustainability as part of their job role.