The effects of hotels' environmental sustainability communication strategies on social Media engagement and brand advocacy: The roles of communication characteristics and customers' personality traits.

This article examines the impact of two hotel social media communication strategies—Informative Communication Strategy (ICS) and Engaging Communication Strategy (ECS)—on social media engagement (SME) with environmental sustainability (ES) content and subsequent online brand advocacy. Using data from Japanese hotel customers, the study finds that both ICS and ECS significantly drive SME, which in turn positively influences online brand advocacy. The effects of these strategies on SME are moderated by communication characteristics, notably perceived transparency (strengthening ICS's effect) and perceived intensity (contrary to expectations, higher intensity increased SME), as well as by customer personality traits, with extraversion amplifying and conscientiousness unexpectedly also increasing SME. The findings suggest that hotels should combine informative and engaging ES communication on social media, tailor messages to customer personality profiles, maintain frequent and transparent communication, and leverage SME to foster long-term brand advocacy.