CSR and employee attachment in tourism firms: Perceived ethical leadership, responsible management, and the mediating role of community engagement

Abstract

This study examines (i) how tourism employees perceive their firm’s community engagement, (ii) the factors that affect employee attachment, and (iii) how employees’ perception of their firm’s community engagement affects employee attachment. Using the survey data collected from 119 tourism firms in the Ha Long Bay area, Vietnam, a developing country, the study finds that CSR practices (ethical leadership, labor relations, environmental protection and consumer rights protection) affect employees’ perception of their firm’s community engagement. Furthermore, employee-perceived community engagement appears to enhance the employees’ bond with their firm. The firm’s community engagement mediates the relationships between CSR and employees’ commitment toward the firm. The theoretical and managerial implications for the study are discussed.

Keywords:

• Community engagement
• corporate social responsibility
• employee commitment
• ethical leadership
• labor relations
• responsible management
• tourism firms

Acknowledgment

The data collection was partially sponsored by Quang Ninh Provincial Applied Research Project: “Development of a CSR tool kit for hospitality and tourism firms in Quang Ninh province” and ASEAN CSR Network, Singapore.

Conflict of interest

Hien Thi Tran, Ph.D. declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Myunghee Mindy Jeon, Ph.D. declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Van Thi Hong Pham, Ph.D. declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hien Thi Tran

Dr. Tran (Ph.D. in Management, Southampton University Business School, UK) is a lecturer and researcher in corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, international business and management, human resources, and business culture at VNU University of Economics and Business, Vietnam National University Hanoi. Dr. Tran has published in international peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Business Research, Multinational Business Review, Corporate Governance: The international journal of business in society, and International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics. She has led an editorial team for a Palgrave MacMillan book on human resources in Vietnam. She has been the principal investigator for applied research projects funded by international and local entities.

Myunghee Mindy Jeon

Dr. Jeon is a Professor of Management at Salem State University, Salem, MA, USA. Her research interests are focused on hospitality and tourism, specifically lodging management, hospitality information technology, social media, customer behavior, corporate social responsibility, and resident quality of life of tourism destinations. Dr. Jeon has published articles in various academic peer-reviewed journals, including International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism and Technology, Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality and Tourism, Applied Research in Quality of Life, Journal of Marketing Analytics, and more. She is also an author of book chapters of Routledge Handbook of Hospitality Marketing, and Routledge Advances in Event Research Series.

Van Thi Hong Pham

Dr. Pham is a professor of economics at Salem State University. Van Pham received her doctorate and master’s degrees from University of Oklahoma, USA. She was a Fulbright scholar teaching at Fulbright Economics Teaching Program in Vietnam in 2015. Her research areas include development economics, international trade, urban economics, labor economics, economic education, financial literary at K-12 and university levels. She has been an author at Pioneer Institute Public Policy Research and of book chapters of the Palgrave MacMillan book on Human Resource Development in Vietnam.