Research Progress in Corporate Social Responsibility in the Context of ‘Tourism-Assisting the Poor’ in China

ABSTRACT

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and successful social enterprises would play an irreplaceable role in Tourism-assisting the poor (TAP). Research into CSR and social enterprises in TAP in China is in a very early stage. Although more and more researchers have paid attention to CSR in tourism and poverty alleviation practice, they seldom give their focuses on TAP where CSR and social enterprises would play a significant role. The research focusing on TAP either at theoretical and practical levels is left behind the practice. This paper reviews the research progress in China and compares it with the international research literature. It suggests that while China can learn a lot from the international community about CSR practice and research, China needs its own research agenda of CSR and social enterprise in the context of TAP to suit China’s uniqueness in terms of its institutional arrangement, legal system, and rural capacity.

摘要

企业社会责任（CSR）和成功的社会企业（social enterprise）在旅游扶贫中扮演着不可替代的角色。在中国，相关的研究尚处于初始阶段。尽管越来越多的学者一直在关注旅游发展以及扶贫减困中的企业社会责任等问题，但是很少有学者把这二者结合起来，对旅游扶贫的过程中的起重要作用的企业社会责任和社会企业等问题，开展深入研究。总体来讲，相对于中国各地的广泛的社会组织参与扶贫旅游的实践探索，相关的理论和应用研究已经滞后。本文分析了近年来相关文献，对中国和国际上的相关研究进行了比较和评述。我们认为，一方面，中国能够从国际社会学习和借鉴很多实践经验和研究成果。另一方面，中国需要有自己的研究议程，去继续深入探讨在‘扶贫旅游’的语境中，如何理解、规范和践行企业社会责任，探索社会企业的模式，建立起与中国的政治经济体制、法律体系和乡村治理水平和能力等特点相适应的研究话语体系。

KEYWORDS:

• Community benefits
• CSR
• social enterprise
• rural poverty
• tourism development

关键词:

• 社区利益
• 企业社会责任
• 社会企业
• 乡村贫困
• 旅游发展。

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the previous version of this paper. Sincere thanks also go to Professor Rolf Gerritsen for editorial advice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Benxiang Zeng

Benxiang Zeng is Senior Research Fellow in The Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University, Australia. His research interests include sustainable tourism, pro-poor tourism, and the impacts of tourism on social, cultural and economic development (E-mail: [email protected]).

Chenguang Wang

Chenguang Wang is Professor in School of Tourism Management at Shandong University, China. His research interests include rural tourism, tourism marketing and hospitality management (E-mail: [email protected]).