Ethically meaningful customer experiences: satisfying an evolving desire for purpose through CSR

Abstract

Customers and society increasingly expect purpose from businesses, and the prevalent corporate social responsibility (CSR) approaches do not adequately respond to this demand. To address the situation, we conceptualize Ethically Meaningful Customer Experiences (EMCE) as a new type of customer-oriented responsibility that synthesizes the experience economy and CSR. EMCEs, unlike previous approaches, circumvent implicit or explicit expectation of sacrifice by transforming it into an ethical activity that customers enjoy. We analyze the differences between earlier approaches and our development and provide emerging industry examples that align with the new concept. In synthesizing ethical consumption and the experience economy, EMCEs contribute a new theoretical path to understanding CSR that builds on the role of experience as a fundamental tourism and hospitality industry element and, consequently, develops an approach endogenous to the industry. The concept also contributes to customer experience design by incorporating ethics as a new experience component. We argue that EMCEs allow hotels and resorts to respond to an emerging customer desire for purpose while also addressing concerns related to the societal role of the tourism and hospitality industry.

Keywords:

• Corporate social responsibility
• ethical consumption
• purpose
• customer experience design
• experienscape

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Henri Kuokkanen

Dr. Henri Kuokkanen is Associate Professor and Post-Graduate Program Vice Dean at Institut Paul Bocuse, France, with expertise in the fields of corporate social responsibility (CSR), ethical consumption, and revenue management. He holds a PhD in CSR from Leeds Beckett University. His industry experience includes treasury and business control management in the global telecoms industry; he has also been a partner in a consulting company focused on converting CSR into a strategic tool for stakeholder benefits. His main field of research and publication focuses on the business potential CSR offers from a consumer perspective, and his work, published in Journal of Business Ethics among others, aims at transformation toward business that provides purpose. Henri has won several conference best paper awards and presented his work as a keynote speaker in international events. He is currently the President of the European Council for Hospitality, Restaurant and Institutional Education (EuroCHRIE), and he serves as an associate editor for Journal of Global Responsibility and the incoming co-editor for Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Cases.

Jeffrey Catrett

Jeffrey Catrett is Academic Director for Post-Graduate Programs at Institut Paul Bocuse in Lyon, France having previously served as Dean and Vice President of Academics at Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, Academic Dean at Les Roches International School of Hotel Management in Bluche, Switzerland, and Dean of the Glion School of Hospitality Management at Kendall College in Chicago. He has lectured to undergraduate upperclassmen and graduate students in a variety of subjects including Information Technology and Strategic Management. He turned his attention to academics after a ten year career in hotel operations management with such companies as Omni International and Swissôtel. His professional experience in hospitality and hospitality education spans forty years and four continents. He holds a BA from Middlebury College and an MMH from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and has published in major hospitality journals including the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly and the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research.