Communicating CSR in the online environment: evidence from the Romanian tourism distribution sector

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which the largest Romanian travel agencies communicate their CSR practices and policies in the online environment, as reflected by the contents of their websites and social media pages, outlining the manner of this online disclosure within specific CSR domains. Design & methodology – The websites and social media pages of the largest Romanian travel agencies, in terms of net turnover, were analyzed considering several variables related to CSR communication/disclosure: having a CSR dedicated section, including CSR reports, emphasizing legal and economic responsibilities, and disclosing workforce, society, market, and environment oriented CSR actions or policies. Findings – The research reveals significant deficiencies and superficiality in communicating CSR in the online environment by the investigated organizations. Only 10% dedicate a section on their website to CSR, none of them include any form of CSR reports, while the most frequent CSR aspects comprised in their online domains can be categorized as market-oriented, service quality being the most emphasized facet, fair pricing and honest/transparent communication being also consistently outlined. Originality of the research – Research on how the members of the tourism distribution sector communicate CSR in the online environment with focus on Central and Eastern Europe has been extremely scarce. This paper’s contribution consists in reducing this literature gap, bringing insights into CSR communication practices from the Central and Eastern European tourism distribution sector. Moreover, the proposed methodology for analyzing travel agencies’ websites and social media pages can be further used in order to research the issue of online CSR communication in other regions or tourism sectors.