Ecocritical narratives as drivers of green perceived external prestige and brand citizenship behaviour in tourism and hospitality
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Abstract
Tourism and hospitality organisations increasingly narrate sustainability through websites, social media, recruitment materials, staff communication and the stories told during service encounters. Yet scholarship has rarely explained how the ecological form of those narratives enters employees’ judgements about reputation and, ultimately, their willingness to act for the brand. This conceptual article develops an interdisciplinary framework connecting ecocriticism, perceived external prestige, social identity and internal branding. It defines ecocritical narratives as stories that represent tourism places as living socio-ecological relations, distribute agency beyond the firm and the tourist, acknowledge ecological limits and contested consequences, and connect claims to accountable practice. The model proposes that such narratives foster perceived environmental authenticity and credible external corroboration, which strengthen green perceived external prestige: employees’ belief that outsiders respect the organisation for its environmental conduct. Prestige then supports green brand identification and moral pride, enabling brand citizenship behaviour in the form of ecological advocacy, helping, service recovery, stewardship and constructive challenge. These effects are contingent rather than automatic. Narrative–practice congruence, employee co-authorship, stakeholder voice and individual green values strengthen the pathway; symbolic storytelling, silenced trade-offs and weak employment conditions can interrupt or reverse it. Eight propositions are advanced, together with a multilevel research agenda and practical principles for narrative governance. The article contributes by bringing the critical attention of ecocriticism to the behavioural mechanisms of tourism branding and by treating employees not as channels for a finished sustainability message but as interpreters, witnesses and co-authors of an ecological brand. The framework advances SDG 8, 12, and 13 and Saudi Vision 2030 RDI priorities in sustainable tourism, responsible consumption, and environmental stewardship.
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