Signaling resilience to tourists and investors through corporate philanthropic disaster giving

Abstract

The tourism industry is highly susceptible to public crises. Drawing on signaling theory, this study proposes that corporate charitable disaster giving can function as a sustainability signal, aiding tourism firms in recovering from the negative impacts of such crises. Across eight scenario-based experiments, our findings indicate that disaster giving significantly enhances tourists’ and investors’ behavioral intentions through the serial mediation of affinity (animosity) and perceived organizational resilience. These effects are further moderated by firm performance status and response strategy. The findings of this study advance signaling theory by considering multiple signal receivers with potentially conflicting interests and the role of aggregated signals, enrich the literature on disaster giving in tourism, and provide practical implications for sustainable development in the tourism sector.