Customer Engagement with Digital Social Responsibility in Social Media: A Case Study of COVID-19 Situation in Thailand

COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of people and has forced businesses to develop different ways of doing businesses. Several businesses have implemented social responsibility activities. With social distancing keeping many people at home, online and digital platforms have become one of the most important mechanisms for businesses undertakings and implementing those social responsibility initiatives and activities – digital social responsibility (DSR). The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships of electronic word- of-mouth (eWOM) intentions and customer engagement with DSR in social media with attitude toward DSR as the antecedent during COVID-19 social distancing situation in Thailand. The study employs a quantitative research method where sampling method is followed by convenience sampling technique, and study data is collected through survey questionnaire with social media users who have experiences with firms’ online social responsibility initiatives. Based the samples of 123 respondents, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) has been used for analysis. The results show that attitudes toward DSR in social media significantly influence electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) intentions and have a significant effect on customer engagement with DSR in social media. The mediation analysis also revealed that eWOM intention partially mediated the relation between attitudes toward DSR in social media and customer engagement.