In this dissertation, including three papers, I examine the business case for corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the hospitality industry. The first paper provides a systematic review of the business case for CSR based on 170 articles published in leading hospitality journals. The review paper serves as a literature review of this dissertation, leading to the second and third papers. In the second paper, I examine CSR as a strategic tool to offset corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) in the hospitality industry. Findings indicate sector differences within the hospitality industry. The third paper examines corporate philanthropy, focusing on the notion of strategic philanthropy. Results indicate the predominance of strategic philanthropy especially in hospitality companies, compared to companies in other industries. Findings of the dissertation as a whole suggest the need for hospitality-specific business case for CSR. In practical terms, this dissertation provides better informed decisions for hospitality mangers in terms of using CSR as a corporate strategy to achieve competitive advantages in the highly competitive industry. / PHD / This dissertation examines corporate social responsibility (CSR), specifically, why hospitality companies engage in CSR and how they can achieve social and financial performance at the same time. The first paper reviews the relevant literature. And based on the findings and gaps in the extant literature, I conducted the 2nd and 3rd studies. In the 2nd paper, I examine whether hospitality companies do something good in response to something bad (to society). Findings indicate that hospitality companies do good to offset their wrong doing. However, it appears to be less salient in casinos and fast-food restaurants, which are controversial with the possible harms of operating their businesses to society. The 3rd paper examines corporate philanthropy, which can be considered as altruistic activities to help people in need. Arguably due to lack of resources in hospitality companies, corporate philanthropy in the industry seems to be used as a marketing-tool, increasing firm sales.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/99340 |
| Date | 18 January 2019 |
| Creators | Rhou, Yinyoung |
| Contributors | Hospitality and Tourism Management, Singal, Manisha, Xiang, Zheng, Murrmann, Suzanne K., Gnyawali, Devi R. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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