BEST EN Think Tank XI, May 2011 Temple University, Philadelphia, PA CSR 2.0: Management Perspectives of CSR Practices in the Lodging Industry Dr. Stuart E. Levy Assistant Professor Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, School of Business The George Washington University Dr. Sun-Young Park Assistant Professor School of Management University of San Francisco

Corporate Social Responsibility in the Lodging Industry

CSR in the Lodging Industry  A company’s voluntary activities that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm or legal obligations (McWilliams and Siegel 2001)  A multidimensional construct which includes activities in the areas of employee relations, product quality, community relations, environmental issues, and diversity issues (Inoue and Lee 2010)

CSR in the Lodging Industry  Limited attention to strategic assessment of CSR activities due to  Broad, expansive nature (Sheldon and Park 2010; WBCSD 2011)  Popularity of sustainability (Houdre 2008)  Lack of clear corporate benefits, unlike cost savings generated by green efforts (Bohdanowicz 2006; El Dief and Font 2010)

Contributions of this Study  Gain a better understanding of benefits received through CSR engagement  Clarify the specific activities which compose CSR  Understand the managerial perspective of CSR activities in hotel properties utilizing importance- performance analysis (IPA)

Method  Sample  613 AHLA members in SF and DC cities and vicinities.  55 respondents  Survey  35 CSR/sustainability activity items from literature, top 10 hotels’ websites, reports  Executives’ perceived importance and performance of CSR activities  Benefits, respondent demographics, hotel attributes  Online survey for 15 days in May  Data Analysis  Descriptive statistics, Principal Component Analysis, Pearson Correlation Analysis, using SPSS 19.0

Results: Descriptive Statistics  Respondents  83% male  73% bachelor’s degree  Average 45 years old (SD=7.4)  20 yrs of hotel industry experience (SD=9.5) and 5.3 yrs at the current position (SD=5.1)  74%: personal perspectives on CSR importance similar or very similar with that of the hotel operator  Hotels  SF, DC; 50% each (20)  Hotel location: 60% urban, 18% suburban  55% mgmt company, 17.5% brand, 27.5% independent  15% luxury, 35% upscale, 30% midprice

Results: CSR Benefits as Perceived by Hotel Managers N = 46 Scale: 1=not at all; 5=to a great extent

Results: CSR Activities Categorized by Dimension 35 activities in total 1 activity = governance; 2 activities = international issues

Importance Performance Quadrant 4: (Low P & High I) “Concentrate Here” Quadrant 3: (Low P&I) “Low Priority” Quadrant 1: (High P&I) “Keep up the Good Work” Quadrant 2: (High P & Low I) “Possible Overkill”

Results: CSR Practices – “Keep up the Good Work”

Results: CSR Practices – “Concentrate Here”

Results: Positive Correlation Between CSR Activities and Benefits Competitive advantage of hotel in marketplace Employee motivation Hotel reputation among guests Guest loyalty Employee recruitment Hotel image among guests Employee retention Installing energy-efficient appliances Installing low-flow fixtures r=.53, p<0.01 Importance Component “Save Resources” Benefits Component “Positive Attributes”

Discussion: CSR Practices in the Lodging Industry  Contributes to our understanding of the state of CSR in the lodging industry through examination of a comprehensive list of CSR activities from managerial perspective.  CSR benefits focus on cost savings and guest perceptions, with benefits of employee engagement and retention being of a secondary nature.  The majority of CSR activities employed by hotels and identified in the academic literature are focused on environmental issues. There is relatively little attention given to the other dimensions of CSR.  Most CSR activities fall into the “Keep up the Good Work” and “Low Priority” quadrants, with few in the “Concentrate Here” quadrant. This may suggest a complacency on moving the CSR agenda forward.  There is a need to deepen the understanding and practices of CSR at hotels “beyond” reducing energy and water consumption.

Moving the Agenda Forward….  What influences hotel manager perceptions of CSR activity importance?  What are effective ways to further educate hospitality managers on the importance and breadth of CSR activities?  How can we as tourism and hospitality academics move the conversation of CSR and sustainability beyond “green practices”?