When responsibility fails: understanding customer responses to corporate digital responsibility in the hospitality and tourism industry

This research explores Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) from the customer perspective in tourism and hospitality, focusing on privacy, ethical, and fairness challenges in digital transformation. Using a mixed-methods approach, qualitative interviews reveal customer concerns about CDR practices, such as decision deprivation from recommendation algorithms and perceived unfairness in automated services. Subsequently, a quantitative analysis of 406 experienced customers validates these concerns and assesses their impact on digital service trust and brand perception. The findings emphasise that inappropriate CDR practices undermine customer trust, highlighting the need for tourism and hospitality managers to prioritise privacy, address algorithm biases, and ensure fairness in automated services to strengthen brand reputation and customer relationships. This research addresses a critical gap in CDR understanding, advancing the CDR framework and supporting ethical digital transformation in the industry.