Corporate Social Responsibility and the Operationalization Challenge for Global Tourism Organizations

Abstract

Tourism businesses have increasingly sought to contribute to society through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Larger tourism organizations normally seek to institutionalize CSR under their corporate CSR policy and strategy that is common for their whole organization. This presents challenges for organizations with global operations. This article examines the operationalization of CSR policy by hotel properties in coastal destinations in Thailand. The research found that stakeholders other than the hotels played pivotal roles in the implementation of CSR programs and that there was a preference for involvement by hotels in local projects, over those situated elsewhere in the country or internationally. These hotels tended to partner with other non-hotel stakeholders to execute their external CSR programs and for these to be directed at social issues rather than environmental issues. Overall it was concluded that there are limits to the extent that corporate headquarters may direct the implementation of CSR.

Key words:

• corporate social responsibility
• policy implementation
• operationalization
• stakeholder
• Thailand

Acknowledgements

This research draws in part on data from a series of supervised student research projects completed at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; especially that completed by Huang Shu Qi Evonne, Tan Jia Xin Vanessa and Teoh Ming Wei. This article benefited from insights arising from academic discussions while the first author was a visiting professor at ESSEC Business School, Paris. These valuable contributions are gratefully acknowledged.