Hospitality Managers' Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility: An Explorative Study

Abstract

In recent years, many factors have influenced the hotel industry to identify areas of social concern most beneficial to it. Staff incentives, rewards, community involvement, and charitable activities, coinciding with increased management and staff education concerning internal and external social responsibilities, have increased. The objective of this study is to investigate how hotel leaders from Hong Kong in high-tier and medium-tier hotels attempt to influence employees' behaviour to act in a more socially responsible manner towards their companies and communities. It highlights both leaders' perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) behaviour of their employees and the instruments used to influence that behaviour. As a first step, this study aims to determine hotel managers' perception of leadership styles and their interpretation of the CSR role in the industry and community. Managers differ in leadership styles, thereby influencing their employees' perception of the CSR role in industry and community. Findings have shown that CSR awareness is deeply incorporated into high-tier Hong Kong hotels where community involvement is particularly strong.

Keywords:

• corporate social responsibility
• leadership
• hotels
• Hong Kong
• CSR

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on improving an early version of this paper. This project was supported by a research grant funded by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Contract Number: G-U769).