Designing CSR narratives for social media engagement: a multilayered framework

Purpose Storytelling is central to hospitality marketing, yet its role in corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication remains insufficiently theorized. Drawing on narrative paradigm theory and structural narratology, the purpose of this study is to propose a multilayered framework to identify how specific narrative structures drive social media engagement. Design/methodology/approach Analyzing a decade of Facebook data from the top 50 global hotel brands, this study combines computational analyses and negative binomial regression to: compare the efficacy of narrative versus expositive CSR messages; examine the moderating effects of message themes and modalities; and uncover the high-performing structural configurations associated with narrative elements. Findings Narrative-dominant CSR messages significantly outperform expositive ones in driving social media engagement. This advantage varies by message theme and modality. Among specific narrative elements, spatial and temporal embedding are the most impactful predictors of engagement. Engagement patterns also differ across likes, comments and shares. Research limitations/implications Instead of treating storytelling as a single tactic, this study shows that CSR narrative effectiveness depends on contextual contingencies and structural configurations. This study also contributes methodologically by examining naturally occurring digital communication at scale, thereby complementing the field’s dominant reliance on surveys and experiments. Practical implications This study offers a practical framework for designing CSR narratives on social media. Rather than recommending storytelling in general, this study shows that narrative design should be aligned with specific engagement goals, including affective (likes), distributive (shares) or cognitive (comments) outcomes. Originality/value This study advances the literature by moving beyond broad storytelling generalizations and offering a fine-grained, computationally grounded framework for analyzing how narrative structures synergistically drive digital stakeholder engagement.