DRIVERS OF DESTINATION STEWARDSHIP: THE ROLE OF CORPORATE POLITICAL RESPONSIBILITY, VALUE CO-CREATION, AND PERCEIVED BRAND INTEGRITY

Abstract

Multinational hospitality enterprises operating in dense urban centers routinely deploy extractive commercial models that maximize corporate capital while forcing host communities to absorb localized socio-economic costs. Grounded in a synthesis of Signaling Theory, the Moral Licensing Effect, and Interactional Value Co-Destruction, this study investigates how macro-level and micro-level corporate interventions dictate consumer behavioral loyalty. Specifically, the research model evaluates Perceived Brand Integrity as a volatile mediator operating between two distinct corporate strategies Perceived Corporate Political Responsibility (CPR) and the Co-Creation of Local Value (CCLV) and their ultimate market outcome, Destination Stewardship Intentions (DSI). Utilizing a purposive sampling strategy, field researchers collected 230 valid survey responses from premium urban tourists in Pakistan.The empirical results from conditional process analysis (Hayes PROCESS, Model 4) confirm that both CPR (b = 0.682, p < .001) and CCLV (b = 0.758, p < .001) successfully manufacture Perceived Brand Integrity. However, the structural evaluation exposes a critical behavioral paradox. In the political advocacy pathway, engineered brand trust triggers a significant negative indirect effect on stewardship (95% CI [-0.243, -0.022]), proving that flawless corporate ethical signaling activates a Moral Licensing Effect that causes tourists to outsource their socio-environmental obligations back to the firm. Conversely, in the operational integration pathway, the mediator acts as a mandatory rescue mechanism; while mandated co-creation initially alienates the consumer (b = -0.665, p < .001), routing the encounter through a trusted brand structure reverses this friction to generate a powerful positive indirect effect (95% CI [0.665, 0.792]). This research provides a precise empirical blueprint to execute regenerative tourism without absolving consumers of their operational mandate to protect urban ecosystems.