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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Do IMC and ecological knowledge drive value co-creation? The new way to loyalty in hospitality

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description

Despite co-creation being considered a valuable strategy for incremental changes towards more sustainable activities and consumers’ declared interest, hospitality businesses still did not experience the expected level of client engagement in their service interactions. Therefore, the primary purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of value co-creation and its antecedents and consequences within the hotel industry context through the lens of sustainability. Integrated marketing communication (IMC) and ecological knowledge are examined as factors that enhance value co-creation. Satisfaction is observed as a mediator of the relationship between value co-creation and customer loyalty. A closed-response, in-person structured survey was used to collect data from 303 guests of hotels located in Ukraine. The hypotheses were tested using the partial least squares method. The findings reveal that company IMC causes a higher impact on value co-creation. However, ecological knowledge does not seem to affect value co-creation. Furthermore, value co-creation shows a significant influence on customer satisfaction, and directly and indirectly affects loyalty through satisfaction. This study’s theoretical and practical implications are included to assist both scholars and practitioners in the hospitality industry in enriching their understanding of effective value co-creation and communication strategies related to sustainability to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.