Corporate social responsibility, reputation and visitors’ commitment as resources for public policies’ design for protected areas for tourism sustainable exploitation

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the influences of perceived corporate social responsibility (pCSR) over the brand reputation (BR) and the visitor commitment of protected areas (PAs) of Quintana Roo visitors, to create useful resources for the design of public policies in accordance to the expectations of the stakeholders from a sustainable development (SD) approach. Design/methodology/approach - A cross-sectional causal multistage research was conducted. First, a literature review was performed to develop the hypotheses and the theoretical model on the basis of the paradigm of “sustaincentrism.” Afterwards, the model was empirically contrasted with data gathered from a representative sample of 440 real visitors of three Mexican PAs. The data covariance structures were examined through confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings - The results of the study undercover the direct and indirect effects that pCSR has over the BR and the commitment of PA’s visitors, evidencing their relevance as valuable resources for the design of public policies. Originality/value - This research manifests the capacity to benefit from the studied variables as resources for the design and implementation of public policies that incorporate the development and execution of SD-attuned CSR programs able to create competitive advantages required by PA to their sustainable tourism exploitation.