Birds of a feather donate together: Understanding the relationship between the social servicescape and CSR participation

The concept of the social servicescape has recently gained traction in the hospitality literature as a significant driver of consumption behavior. The purpose of the present research is to extend the framework of the social servicescape to the domain of corporate social responsibility participation. It is proposed that perceptions of similarity in the social servicescape (i.e., the extent to which a customer identifies with others in the consumption environment) can affect restaurant customers' decisions to participate in donation-based CSR programs. Importantly, this relationship is proposed to occur via the mediating effect of place attachment. Based on attachment theory, a framework is developed to test these hypotheses. The findings indicate that perceived similarity in the social servicescape positively influences willingness to donate and that this relationship is mediated by place attachment. Accordingly, this research extends both the social servicescape and CSR literature in the domain of hospitality consumption behavior.