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TRŽIŠTE
MARKET
Review for marketing theory and practice Časopis za tržiÅ”nu teoriju i praksu
Scientiļ¬c semi-annual journal Znanstveni polugodiÅ”nji časopis
Zagreb, Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 147-272 Zagreb, godina 27, broj 2, 2015., str. 147-272
Publisher / Nakladnik:
UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB, FACULTY OF ECONOMICS & BUSINESS, Marketing Department /
SVEUČILIÅ TE U ZAGREBU, EKONOMSKI FAKULTET, Katedra za marketing ā€¢
CROMAR ā€“ Croatian Marketing Association / CROMAR ā€“ Hrvatska udruga za marketing
Editor in Chief / Glavna urednica:
Đurđana Ozretić DoÅ”en
Editorial Board / Uređivački odbor:
George J. Avlonitis, Athens University of Economics and Business ā€¢ AndrĆ”s Bauer, Corvinus University of Budapest ā€¢ JĆ³zsef BerĆ”cs,
Corvinus University of Budapest ā€¢ Nenad Brkić, School of Economics and Business, University of Sarajevo ā€¢ Muris Čičić, School of
Economics and Business, University of Sarajevo ā€¢ Marina Dabić, Faculty of Economics & Business-Zagreb, University of Zagreb ā€¢
Irene Gil-Saura, University of Valencia ā€¢ Miguel Ɓngel GĆ³mez Borja, School of Economics and Business Administration, University
of Castilla-La Mancha ā€¢ Milan JurÅ”e, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor ā€¢ Tanja Kesić, Faculty of Economics
& Business, University of Zagreb ā€¢ Maja Makovec Brenčič, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana ā€¢ Marin Marinov, Centre of
International Business, Aalborg University ā€¢ Mira MaruÅ”ić, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb ā€¢ Alejandro MollĆ”
Descals, University of Valencia ā€¢ Đurđana Ozretić DoÅ”en, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb ā€¢ Jurica Pavičić,
Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb ā€¢ Jozo PreviÅ”ić, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb
ā€¢ Arnold Schuh, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration ā€¢ Boris Snoj, Faculty of Economics and Business,
University of Maribor ā€¢ Svetla Trifonova Marinova, Centre of International Business, Aalborg University ā€¢ Gabriele Troilo, Bocconi
University ā€¢ Sigitas Urbonavičius, Faculty of Economics, Vilnius University ā€¢ Udo Wagner, Faculty of Business, Economics and
Statistics, University of Vienna ā€¢ Berend Wierenga, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University ā€¢ Vesna Žabkar, Faculty
of Economics, University of Ljubljana
Technical Editors / Tehnički urednici:
Zoran Krupka ā€¢ Vatroslav Å kare
Editorial Oļ¬ƒce / UredniÅ”tvo:
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business, J. F. Kennedy Square 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Phone: ++385 1 238 3463; ++385 1 238 3305; Fax: ++385 1 233 5633
E-mail and Website / E-mail i internetska stranica:
market@efzg.hr, www.efzg.unizg.hr/market
International secondary publications and information databases /
Međunarodne sekundarne publikacije i baze podataka u kojima se časopis referira:
Cabellā€™s International ā€¢ Central and Eastern European Online Library - C.E.E.O.L. ā€¢ CiteFactor ā€¢ DOAJ ā€¢ EBSCO Publishing ā€¢ Hrčak
ā€¢ Index Copernicus ā€¢ ProQuest ABI/INFORM ā€¢ RePEc ā€¢ Scopus
Information about Market is included in several catalogues /
Informacije o TržiÅ”tu dostupne su u sljedećim katalozima:
Academic Journals Database ā€¢ Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek ā€“ EZB ā€¢ ELMAR ā€¢ Google Scholar ā€¢ JournalSeek ā€¢ Ulrichsweb
Proof Readers / Lektori:
Kolumbina Benčević Tomljanović, prof. ā€¢ Jasmina Pažanin, prof.
UDK Classiļ¬cation / Klasiļ¬kacija (UDK): Vladimir Sebok
Graphic Design / Oblikovanje i graļ¬Äko uređenje: Adverta d.o.o.
Layout and Printing / Prijelom i tisak: SveučiliŔna tiskara d.o.o., Zagreb
Circulation / Naklada: 350
ISSN (print) 0353-4790
ISSN (online) 1849-1383
In accordance with Art. 58(3) of the Public Information Act, the journal is registered with the Ministry of Science,
Education and Sports under Reg. No. 362. / U skladu sa čl. 58. st. 3. Zakona o javnom informiranju časopis je
ubilježen pod red. br. 362 u Ministarstvu znanosti, obrazovanja i Ŕporta.
This issue of MARKET is partially ļ¬nanced by Ministry of science, education and sport, Republic of Croatia. / Ovaj broj
TRŽIÅ TA suļ¬nanciran je sredstvima Ministarstva znanosti, obrazovanja i Å”porta Republike Hrvatske.
TRŽIŠTE
148
MARKET/TRŽIÅ TE is the oļ¬ƒcial journal of University
of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business, Market-
ing Department and CROMAR (Croatian Marketing
Association). The ļ¬rst issue was published in 1989
and between then and 2005, it was exclusively the
oļ¬ƒcial CROMAR journal. The Faculty of Economics &
Business-Zagreb, Marketing Department joined as a
co-publisher in 2006. The journal has been published
twice a year in continuity.
In the course of 27 years, MARKET/TRŽIŠTE has fol-
lowed development trends of the marketing science
and its practical application. It publishes papers on
any topic in the ļ¬eld of marketing. Any interdisciplin-
ary papers (whose topics have to include marketing)
are also welcome. A wide range of scientiļ¬c papers
such as literature reviews, conceptual papers, re-
search papers as well as those focusing on methodol-
ogy development, will be considered for publishing.
Furthermore, any essays and book reviews will also be
considered.
Interested authors are invited to send their papers
written in English to the editorial board: Faculty of
Economics & Business-Zagreb, Journal MARKET/
TRŽIŠTE, J. F. Kennedy Square 6, 10000 Zagreb, CROA-
TIA or via e-mail to: market@efzg.hr. Please refer to the
Instructions for Authors at the end of the journal for
the exact form in which the papers are to be written
and presented.
CROMAR
Croatian Marketing Association
Faculty of Economics-Rijeka
I. Filipovića 4, 51000 Rijeka, CROATIA
Phone: ++385 51 355 169
E-mail: jasmina.dlacic@ri.t-com.hr
HRVATSKA
UDRUGA ZA
MARKETING
CROATIAN
MARKETING
ASSOCIATION
University of Zagreb SveučiliŔte u Zagrebu
Faculty of Economics & Business Ekonomski fakultet
Zagreb - Croatia Zagreb - Hrvatska
Faculty of Economics & Business
Marketing Department
J. F. Kennedy Square 6, 10000 Zagreb, CROATIA
Phone: ++385 1 238 3463; Fax: ++385 1 233 5633
TRŽIŠTE
149
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL PREFACE
PAPERS
Patrik Jangl
Relationship between Market Orientation and Business Performance
in Czech and German High-Tech Firms
Odnos između tržiÅ”ne orijentacije i poslovne uspjeÅ”nosti čeÅ”kih i njemačkih
visokotehnoloÅ”kih poduzeća...................................................................................................... 153
Katija Vojvodić, Matea Matić
Generation Y Online Buying Patterns
Online kupovni obrasci generacije Y..................................................................................... 171
Naili Farida, Elia Ardyan
Repeat Purchase Intention of Starbucks Consumers in Indonesia:
A Green Brand Approach
Namjera ponovljene kupovine potroŔača Starbucksa u Indoneziji:
Pristup zelene marke........................................................................................................................ 189
Ovidiu-Ioan Moisescu
Adopting and Implementing CSR Policies in Travel Agency Business:
The Case of Romania
Prihvaćanje i primjena politika korporativne druÅ”tvene odgovornosti
u poslovanju putničkih agencija: Slučaj Rumunjske...................................................... 203
Giacomo Del Chiappa, Carlota Lorenzo-Romero,
MarĆ­a-del-Carmen AlarcĆ³n-del-Amo
The Inļ¬‚uence of User-Generated Content on Touristsā€™ Choices
Utjecaj sadržaja koji stvaraju korisnici na odabire turista........................................... 221
TRŽIŠTE
150
Helena Alves, Arminda do PaƧo, Carla Roberto
Inļ¬‚uence of Internal Marketing on Organizational Commitment
ā€“ Evidence from Care Institutions for the Elderly
Utjecaj internog marketinga na predanost organizaciji
ā€“ nalazi iz institucija skrbi za osobe starije životne dobi............................................. 237
Manuel Cuadrado, Marƭa JosƩ Miquel, Juan D. Montoro
Analyzing Music Services Positioning Through Qualitative Research
Analiziranje pozicioniranja glazbenih usluga putem kvalitativnog
istraživanja.............................................................................................................................................. 251
REVIEWERS LIST
INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS
TRŽIŠTE
ADOPTING AND IMPLEMENTING CSR
POLICIES IN TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS:
THE CASE OF ROMANIA
PRIHVAĆANJE I PRIMJENA POLITIKA
KORPORATIVNE DRUÅ TVENE
ODGOVORNOSTI U POSLOVANJU
PUTNIČKIH AGENCIJA: SLUČAJ RUMUNJSKE
UDK 338.486.21(498)
Prethodno priopćenje
Preliminary communication
Ovidiu-Ioan Moisescu, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeș-
Bolyai University
Teodor Mihali Street, No. 58-60, 400591 Cluj Napoca,
ROMANIA
Phone: ++40 26 4418 652; Mobile: ++40 740 311 322
E-mail: ovidiu.moisescu@econ.ubbcluj.ro
Ključne riječi:
politika korporativne druŔtvene odgovornosti, neto
promet, neto proit, putničke agencije, turistička
distribucija, Rumunjska
Key words:
CSRpolicies,netturnover,netproit,travelagencies,
tourism distribution, Romania
ABSTRACT
The paper investigates the extent to which Ro-
maniaā€™s largest travel agencies adopt and imple-
ment corporate social responsibility (CSR) pol-
icies, correlating these ļ¬ndings with their busi-
ness performance reļ¬‚ected by their net turnover
and net proļ¬t. In order to evaluate the level of
CSR policies adoption and implementation, an
online survey was conducted among top man-
agers from each travel agency. The questionnaire
comprised several sets of items reļ¬‚ecting work-
SAŽETAK
U radu se istražuje do koje mjere najveće rumunj-
ske putničke agencije prihvaćaju i primjenjuju
politike korporativne druŔtvene odgovornosti, i
to povezivanjem ovih nalaza s njihovom poslov-
nom uspjeÅ”noŔću iskazanom kroz neto promet i
neto proļ¬t. Kako bi se ocijenila razina prihvaćanja
i implementacije politika korporativne druŔtvene
odgovornosti, provedena je online anketa s vr-
hovnim menadžerima iz svih odabranih putnič-
kih agencija. Upitnik je sadržavao nekoliko grupa
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place, environmental, marketplace, community,
and, respectively, company values policies. Our
results point to the fact that the CSR policies ad-
opted and implemented to the highest degree
are those concerning the marketplace, while
the least embraced CSR policies refer to the en-
vironment. Our ļ¬ndings also suggest that there
are several CSR policies which are adopted and
implemented to a higher degree by larger trav-
el agencies in terms of net turnover, while some
other CSR policies are adopted more thoroughly
by smaller ones. The results also indicate positive
correlations between the proļ¬tability of travel
agencies and the adoption and implementation
of certain CSR policies. Last but not least, our re-
search suggests that marketplace policies adop-
tion and implementation could have a signiļ¬-
cant positive impact on business performance
of travel agencies in terms of both net turnover
and net proļ¬tability.
tvrdnji koje su odražavale politike vezane uz rad-
no mjesto, okoliŔ, tržiŔte, zajednicu, odnosno po-
litike vrijednosti poduzeća. Rezultati upućuju na
činjenicu da je politika korporativne druŔtvene
odgovornosti s najviÅ”om razinom prihvaćanja i
primjene ona koja se odnosi na tržiŔta, dok je naj-
manje usvojena ona koja se odnosi na okoliÅ”. Isto
tako, rezultati upućuju na to da postoji nekoliko
politika korporativne druŔtvene odgovornosti
koje su prihvaćene i primijenjene u većoj mjeri
u slučaju većih turističkih agencija (prema kriteri-
ju neto prometa), kao i neke druge politike koje
su temeljitije prihvatile manje agencije. Rezultati
upućuju i na pozitivnu korelaciju između proļ¬ta-
bilnosti putničkih agencija i prihvaćanja te primje-
ne nekih politika korporativne druŔtvene odgo-
vornosti. Konačno, ali ne i najmanje važno, analize
pokazuju kako bi prihvaćanje i primjena politika
vezanih uz tržiŔte moglo imati značajan pozitivan
utjecaj na poslovnu uspjeŔnost putničkih agencija
po pitanju i neto prometa i neto proļ¬ta.
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ADOPTING AND IMPLEMENTING CSR POLICIES IN TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS: THE CASE OF ROMANIA UDK 338.486.21(498)
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1. INTRODUCTION
Despite internationally increasing emphasis
on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the
tourism industry (Holcomb, Upchurch & Oku-
mus, 2007; Sheldon & Park, 2011), knowledge
regarding the manner in which members of
the tourism distribution sector adopt and im-
plement CSR policies and their relationship to
business performance is rather scarce. Most
such studies are focused on other tourism sec-
tors, such as the hotel industry (e.g. Lee & Park,
2009; Kang, Lee & Huh, 2010) or the airline in-
dustry (e.g. Tsai & Hsu, 2008; Cowper-Smith &
de Grosbois, 2011).
The literature suggests that adopting and imple-
menting CSR policies can, in general, generate
several beneļ¬ts for organizations including bet-
ter attraction and retention of both employees
(Kim & Park, 2011) and customers (Sen & Bhat-
tacharya, 2001; Peloza & Shang, 2011), as well as
enhanced business reputation and improved
market performance (Ogilvy, 2010).
However, little is known about the methods
employed in Eastern Europe and, more specif-
ically, by Romanian tourism industry members
in adopting and implementing CSR policies,
and how this relates to their business outcomes;
the few studies conducted so far, especially
in the tourism distribution sector, are either
too general, or restricted to certain particular
CSR aspects (e.g. Ciuchete et al, 2012; Baicu &
Popescu, 2014).
Therefore, considering the scarcity of literature
regarding CSR adoption and its relationship with
business outcomes in the tourism distribution
sector, on one hand, and in the Eastern Europe-
an and especially Romanian tourism industry, on
the other hand, this paper aims to investigate
the extent to which the largest Romanian travel
agencies, in terms of net turnover, adopt and im-
plement CSR policies and to correlate these ļ¬nd-
ings with their business performance, reļ¬‚ected
by net turnover and net proļ¬t/loss.
2. CSR CONCEPT
Despite numerous eļ¬€orts to deļ¬ne CSR, there
is still no universally accepted deļ¬nition of the
concept (Dahlsrud, 2008; Freeman et al, 2010).
While numerous deļ¬nitions have been pro-
posed, none of them have gained wide support
in the literature, the depiction of CSR being still
embryonic, while theoretical frameworks, mea-
surement, and empirical methods have not been
resolved yet (McWilliams, Siegel & Wright, 2006).
Consequently, although CSR is one of the most
prominent themes in the marketing literature, it
is diļ¬ƒcult to provide a precise and comprehen-
sive deļ¬nition of the term (MartĆ­nez, Perez & del
Bosque, 2013).
CSR basically refers to such voluntary activities
that prove the inclusion of social and environ-
mental concerns in business operations and in
interactions with stakeholders (van Marrewijk,
2003). According to McWilliams et al. (2006), CSR
implies incorporating social characteristics or
features into products and manufacturing pro-
cesses, adopting progressive human resource
management practices, achieving higher levels
of environmental performance through recy-
cling and pollution abatement, and advancing
the goals of community organizations. Thus, CSR
can be deļ¬ned as situations in which a company
goes beyond compliance and engages in ac-
tions that appear to further some social good,
beyond its own interests and that which is re-
quired by law (McWilliams & Siegel, 2001). Over-
all, CSR represents a construct that emphasizes
the obligation of companies to integrate social
and environmental parameters into their modus
operandi and their long-term development poli-
cies (Martinez et al., 2013).
Considering the most relevant literature on CSR
systematization, three main approaches regard-
ing CSR can be outlined.
The ļ¬rst approach comes from Carroll (1991),
who presents a four-dimensional conceptualiza-
tion of CSR, including economic, legal, ethical,
TRŽIŠTE
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and discretionary (philanthropic) responsibilities.
According to Carroll, none of the four responsi-
bilities are optional if a ļ¬rm wants to be involved
in long-term relationships with its stakeholders.
The second main approach regarding CSR sys-
tematization originates from the concept of
sustainable development and regards CSR as a
three-dimensional structure, including three fac-
ets (economic, environmental, and social), with
companies having to take into consideration
societyā€™s well-being, managing their impact and
role in the economy, environment, and society
(PĆ©rez & del Bosque, 2013).
The third relevant approach comes from Free-
man et al. (2010), who conceptualize CSR within
a stakeholder management framework, catego-
rizing the social responsibilities of companies
based on their stakeholders. Thus, managers
should tailor their policies to satisfy numerous
constituents (not just shareholders), these in-
cluding workers, customers, suppliers, and com-
munity organizations. A similar approach is de-
veloped by Mandl & Dorr (2007), who consider
that CSR implies that companies integrate social
and environmental concerns in their interaction
with business relevant groups on a voluntary ba-
sis, the main ļ¬elds of CSR activities covering four
main stakeholder categories: workplace, com-
munity, environment, and market (customers
and business partners included).
3. CSR IN THE TOURISM
INDUSTRY
Nowadays, the tourism sector represents one of
the main service industries worldwide (Martinez
et al., 2013), crucially impacting the people, the
society, and the environment (Å trukelj & Å uligoj,
2014). The ā€œEuropean Cities Marketingā€ organiza-
tion argues that tourism businesses have strong
relationships to the local communities in which
they operate, strongly inļ¬‚uencing the socio-eco-
nomic development of these regions (Smith &
Ong, 2014).
The tourism industry is frequently mentioned
in the literature as a source of economic, envi-
ronmental, social, and cultural beneļ¬ts (through
its support of job creation, improvements to
infrastructures and cultural understanding). On
the other hand, it produces a number of other
negative impacts regarding pollution, biodiver-
sity, waste, labor, or other social, economic or
ecological aspects (MartĆ­nez & del Bosque, 2013).
Tourism is at the same time a poverty alleviation
instrument and a poverty-enhancing inequali-
ties generator (Harrison, 2008). Moreover, due to
the nature of the industryā€™s operations, tourism
enterprises, especially those involved in transpor-
tation and accommodation, consume consider-
able amounts of water, energy, and disposable
products (Ham & Han, 2013). Thus, the social and,
especially, ecological impact of the tourism indus-
try tends to be larger than that of other service or
manufacturing industries (Bohdanowicz, 2006).
The CSR aspects that companies choose to ad-
dress vary depending on the industry in which
they operate (Campbell, 2007). In the tourism
sector, CSR has been widely applied, especially
from a sustainable development perspective
(Martinez et al., 2013), to become an essential
part of business strategies in the industry, cov-
ering aspects such as environmental protection
and fair working conditions or contributing to
the welfare of local communities.
However, even if there is a high degree of consen-
sus on the majority of socio-economic and natural
problems in the tourism industry, things are only
slowly being put to practice (Å trukelj & Å uligoj,
2014). Thus, several particular industry issues relat-
ed to CSR (such as overloaded unskilled workers,
belowaveragewages,seasonaloverloads,discom-
fort and discontent among local residents, quality
and environmental standards/labels, etc.) are not
widely accepted and need further attention.
CSR in tourism implies that managers in the
tourism industry should not only adopt ethical
principles, but also add value to the environ-
ment, communities, entrepreneurs, and tourists
(Ryan, 2002). Nevertheless, as tourism enterprises
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mainly relate social responsibility to some form
of charitable donations, the majority of them
include no mention of CSR in their vision or mis-
sion statements (Holcomb et al., 2007).
Recent studies regarding tourism businessesā€™
motivations to engage in CSR (Garay & Font,
2012) have shown that the main reason for act-
ing responsibly lies in altruistic, competitiveness
reasons that are also important to small and
medium-sized tourism enterprises. Other recent
research conducted among tourism businesses
has revealed that most of these consider the im-
portance of CSR to be the same or greater in the
coming years, while a signiļ¬cant part of them
believe that practices related to CSR will guide
consumer decisions in the long term (DLA Piper,
2010). Therefore, it can be deduced that tour-
ism businesses showing sensitivity to their eco-
nomic, social, and ecological responsibilities will
probably have a higher degree of success.
Numerous international initiatives have also
supported a growing importance of CSR in the
tourism industry (Martinez et al., 2013). Thus, the
World Travel and Tourism Council, the World
Tourism Organization and the Earth Council
have created ā€œAgenda 21ā€, which comprises inter-
national guidelines relating to sustainable tour-
ism. Moreover, the European Federation of Food
and Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions and
an association of Hotels, Restaurants and CafƩs in
Europe have drafted a set of compliance param-
eters, referring mostly to responsibilities towards
employees in tourism. Last but not least, the
Green Hotels Association has been promoting
a special initiative in the hotel industry, focusing
on programs that are designed to save water,
save energy, reduce solid waste, etc.
4. TOURISM DISTRIBUTION
SECTOR AND CSR
As part of the marketing mix, tourism distribu-
tion makes tourism products available to con-
sumers by linking producers of tourism services
and their customers (Gartner & Bachri, 1994). A
tourism distribution channel can be deļ¬ned as a
system of intermediaries that facilitates the sale
and delivery of tourism services from suppliers
to consumers (Buhalis & Laws, 2001). During the
1990s, this tourism subsector consisted mainly
of traditional travel agents and tour operators,
global distribution systems (GDS) and destina-
tion marketing organizations (DMO). But thanks
to the development of the Internet, other types
of travel distribution specialists ā€“ such as com-
puter reservation systems (CRS), or online travel
agents and tour operators ā€“ have emerged and
grown during the 2000s (Kracht & Wang, 2010).
However, the primary functions of tourism dis-
tribution have remained the same ā€“ information,
combination, and travel arrangement services
ā€“ with most channels providing information for
prospective tourists, bundling tourism products
together, and providing mechanisms to enable
making, conļ¬rming, and paying for reservations
(Buhalis & Laws, 2001).
Due to their high importance both in the sub-
sector and in the whole tourism industry, pre-
vious studies of the tourism distribution sector
have largely focused on intermediaries such as
travel agents or tour operators (Pearce & Schott,
2005). As a matter of fact, the position of the
distribution sector in tourism is much stronger
than that of other trade intermediaries since
the main actors of this subsector (such as travel
agents and tour operators) have a greater pow-
er to inļ¬‚uence and direct demand than do their
counterparts in other industries (Buhalis & Laws,
2001). Therefore, it is not surprising that this tour-
ism subsector has received a growing amount of
attention in recent years, with its importance be-
ing recognized and emphasized by researchers
(Pearce & Schott, 2005).
Tourism distribution, alongside with other tour-
ism industry subsectors such as transportation,
face environmental issues more critically than
others, such as accommodation providers or
restaurants (Sheldon & Park, 2011). Moreover, on
account of their inļ¬‚uence on destinations devel-
opment and on touristsā€™ choice of destinations,
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travel agents and tour operators have a critical
role in destination sustainability (Van Wijk & Per-
soon, 2006).
Much of the responsibility for ensuring a sustain-
able tourism (related to avoiding or diminishing
negative social, ecological, or economic impacts
of holidays) falls in the hands of travel agents and
tour operators (Dodds & Joppe, 2005). Many con-
sumers, especially those in developed countries,
consider that tour operators should assume re-
sponsibility for preserving the local environment
and culture, and ensuring that local people bene-
ļ¬t from tourism, believing that both travel agents
and tour operators have a responsibility to pro-
vide the information on whether a responsible
travel policy is employed (Dodds & Joppe, 2005).
However, despite their important role in the tour-
ism industry, travel agents and tour operators
show a lower engagement in CSR activities than
do other tourism subsectorsā€™ members (Van Wijk
& Persoon, 2006; Tepelus, 2005). Tourism compa-
nies considered to be at the forefront of CSR are
mostly major corporations, such as airlines, hotel
chains and cruise lines, while travel agents and
tour operators are regarded as less involved in
regard to the issue of CSR policies adoption and
implementation (Wight, 2007).
5. CSR AND BUSINESS
PERFORMANCE
CSR has strategic importance; the literature sug-
gests that companies which adopt and imple-
ment CSR beneļ¬t from several advantages, such
as better attraction and retention of employees
(Kim & Park, 2011), as well as higher preference
from customers (Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001; Pelo-
za & Shang, 2010). Also, recent studies in the tour-
ism industry have shown a positive relationship
between consumer perception of tourism ser-
vices suppliersā€™ CSR and customer loyalty (Chen,
Chang & Lin, 2012; Ham & Han, 2013; MartĆ­nez &
del Bosque, 2013).
Moreover, by adopting, implementing and com-
municating CSR policies, companies can ā€œes-
tablish an industry leadership position, launch
a brand, leapfrog competitors, penetrate a new
market, proļ¬le a new product, engender cus-
tomer loyalty, generate employee commitment,
and ultimately transform a companyā€™s reputa-
tionā€ (Ogilvy 2010, p. 11). Also, CSR has become
a highly eļ¬€ective attribute for a strategy of dif-
ferentiation and positioning (Du, Bhattacharya &
Sen, 2007).
As to the relationship between CSR and business
performance, despite the fact that studies have
yielded inconsistent and contradictory results
(Zhu, Sun & Leung, 2014), most researchers con-
vey the idea of a positive relationship between
the two, with only a few studies suggesting no
association (Teoh, Welch & Wazzan, 1999) or a
negative association (e.g. Wright & Ferris, 1997)
between CSR and ļ¬rm performance (and this
only regards performance in term of share value).
Overall, the literature suggests that CSR can pos-
itively contribute to business performance. Thus,
if analyzed in terms of sales, business perfor-
mance has been proven to be positively correlat-
ed with corporate philanthropy (Lev, Petrovitis &
Radhakrishnan, 2010). Analyzing business perfor-
mance in ļ¬nancial terms, recent research (Oka-
moto, 2009; Lai et al., 2010; Mishra & Suar, 2010)
has suggested that an increase in CSR can boost
ļ¬rm performance, corporate social performance
being positively correlated with corporate ļ¬nan-
cial performance. Moreover, other studies have
shown that CSR can reduce debt ļ¬nancing costs,
both in developed (Chen et al., 2010) and devel-
oping countries (Ye & Zhang, 2011).
These business performance beneļ¬ts of CSR oc-
cur due to at least two reasons (Mishra & Suar,
2010). On the one hand, CSR can enhance sales
and price margins, positively inļ¬‚uencing rev-
enues while, on the other hand, it can reduce
costs through tax concessions by the govern-
ment to promote CSR activities, eļ¬ƒciency gains
from environment-friendly technologies, and re-
duced cost of capital.
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However, none of the relevant studies men-
tioned above have focused on the tourism
sector. When it comes to the tourism indus-
try, knowledge regarding the relationship be-
tween CSR and business performance is still
scarce and needs further and deeper investi-
gation. Moreover, the few studies conducted
so far mainly regard accommodation and air
transport services providers, with almost no
focus on the tourism distribution subsector.
However, a recent addition to the literature
regarding the topic in this particular subsector
(Zhu et al., 2014) revealed that CSR has an in-
direct and positive eļ¬€ect on ļ¬rm performance
via ļ¬rm reputation (based on a survey conduct-
ed among general and vice-general managers
from tourism ļ¬rms such as hotels and travel
agencies in China).
6. TOURISM AND TRAVEL
AGENCIES IN ROMANIA
The Romanian tourism industry is a growing
sector, with positive prospects and a signiļ¬cant
impact on the national economy. According to
the WTTCā€™s latest ā€œTravel & Tourism Economic
Impactā€ report on Romania (WTTC, 2014), the
Travel & Tourism sector (reļ¬‚ecting the econom-
ic activity generated by industries such as ho-
tels, travel agents, airlines, and other passenger
transportation services, as well as restaurant and
leisure industries directly supported by tourists)
directly contributed 1.6% to the Romanian GDP
in 2013, with this contribution expected to grow
to 1.8% of the GDP by 2024. Moreover, the total
contribution of Travel & Tourism to the Roma-
nian GDP (including wider eļ¬€ects of investment,
the supply chain, and induced income impacts)
stood at 5.1% of GDP and was estimated to rise
to 5.6% of the GDP by 2024. Also, the sector gen-
erated 212,500 jobs directly in 2013 (2.4% of to-
tal employment) and is expected to account for
231,000 new jobs by 2024. If the total contribu-
tion is taken into consideration, the industry sup-
ported 500,500 jobs in 2013 (5.7% of total em-
ployment) and is estimated to support 553,000
jobs by 2024.
If visitor exports are analyzed, Romania has per-
formed poorly to date, attracting fewer than 6
million international tourist arrivals in 2013, and
generating less than 2 billion EUR in visitor exports
(WTTC, 2014). Most international visitors during
2013 came from European countries including
Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany or Italy (INS, 2014).
As to the Romanians, despite several relevant
domestic tourism attractions (including the
Carpathians, the rural area, rural traditions, me-
dieval cities, the Danube, the Black Sea, etc.), a
large portion of them preferred spending their
holidays abroad, especially during the last de-
cade, the most frequent destinations being
Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Spain, and Italy (INS,
2014). From this perspective, travel agents and
tour operators in Romania harnessed a signiļ¬-
cant opportunity for development and growth
during the last decade, as Romanian travelers
usually buy service packages from such enter-
prises when spending holidays abroad (and
much less so when travelling within the coun-
try, as domestic tourists).
As a particularity, the Romanian tourism distri-
bution sector is extremely regulated (currently
under the Romanian Government order no. 65
of 2013), and travel agents and tour operators
(either traditional or online) are all denominat-
ed under the same term ā€“ ā€œtravel agencyā€. Fur-
thermore, all these travel agencies must comply
with certain regulations (regarding insurance,
physical space, endowments, staļ¬€ qualiļ¬cation,
and others) in order to receive a license from the
Government allowing them to create/organize
and/or sell tourism products. Moreover, Roma-
nian travel agencies are formally classiļ¬ed into
either ā€œretailersā€ or ā€œtour-operatorsā€, only the
latter ones being legally allowed to organize/
create travel packages as retail travel agenciesā€™
activities are limited to reselling tour-operatorsā€™
products or to selling isolated tourism services
(such as accommodation, transportation, travel
insurance, etc.).
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According to the Romanian Government (turism.
gov.ro) more than 3,000 travel agencies were le-
gally licensed and active in Romania at the end of
2014. However, the vast majority of these, even if
legally licensed as ā€œtour-operatorsā€, limited their
activity to selling isolated tourism services and
reselling other travel agenciesā€™ products.
Last but not least, it is important to empha-
size that the Romanian travel agency market
is highly concentrated, with the top 20 players
accounting for the largest part of it. Thus, even
though there are no oļ¬ƒcial annual public ļ¬g-
ures regarding the total turnover of active travel
agencies in Romania, an available estimate of it
can be found for 2012 (Tiron, 2012). According
to this estimate, the total turnover of active
travel agencies in Romania was of about EUR
500 million in 2012, while during the same year
the sales of the top 20 travel agencies totaled
about EUR 380 million, representing more than
75% of the market.
7. METHODOLOGY
Due to the fact that the tourism sector includes
several subsectors with diļ¬€erent characteristics
and problems (transportation, accommodation,
distribution, etc.) that could distort the results
of a research study aimed at the entire sector
(MartĆ­nez, Perez & del Bosque, 2013), the current
paper is focused on a single tourism subsector,
more speciļ¬cally on travel agencies as the main
ā€œactorsā€ of the Romanian tourism distribution
subsector. This paper aims to investigate the
extent to which the largest Romanian travel
agencies, in terms of net turnover, adopt and
implement CSR policies, and to correlate these
ļ¬ndings with their business performance reļ¬‚ect-
ed by net turnover and net proļ¬t.
In order to accomplish the research objective,
an online survey was conducted among mem-
bers of the top management (CEOs, marketing
managers, sales managers, brand managers)
on an initial sample, comprising the largest 20
Romanian travel agencies in terms of net turn-
over.
Even though this methodological approach to
sampling could be seen as limitative, it is justi-
ļ¬ed by the fact that the Romanian travel agency
market is highly concentrated, with the top 20
local players accounting for the largest part of it,
despite the fact that several thousands of travel
agencies are oļ¬ƒcially active in Romania.
Also, the vast majority of travel agencies active
in Romania are small or micro enterprises, which
manifest no or low interest in CSR policies. More-
over, small and micro enterprises, regardless of
the industry, generally do not signiļ¬cantly apply
and/or communicate about their CSR (Europe-
an Commission, 2009) not only because their
limited resources, but also because they do not
understand or realize the multiple positive sig-
niļ¬cant eļ¬€ects of CSR adoption and communi-
cation.
For each travel agency included in the initial
sample, several top management members
were personally and directly contacted, with
the research issue presented to them; they were
asked them to complete an online questionnaire
and, in exchange, promised a reward consisting
of a personalized research report for their re-
spective companies. After a data collection pro-
cess of two months (Aug-Sept 2014), out of the
20 travel agencies included in the initial sample,
14 (70%) provided completed questionnaires,
one per each travel agency.
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Table 1: Data regarding the ļ¬nal investigated sample
Travel Agency
Net turnover*
(mln RON**
)
Net proit*
(mln RON**
)
No of
employees*
Respondentā€™s position in
the company
Accent Travel & Events 47.0 -1.6 41 Sales Manager
Aerotravel 150.0 0.9 96 Marketing Manager
Business Travel & Turism 70.2 4.5 40 Sales Manager
Christian Tour 195.3 4.4 100 Marketing Manager
EXIMTUR 160.1 1.4 130 Brand Manager
Filadelļ¬a Turism 44.9 1.1 100 Marketing Manager
Jā€™info Tours 46.6 0.6 42 CEO & Owner
Mareea Comtur 67.5 0.1 72 Marketing Manager
Marshal Turism 44.1 0.0 127 CEO & Owner
Paralela 45 157.0 1.4 175 Marketing Representative
Perfect Tour 206.4 1.4 163 CEO
Prompt Service Travel 61.9 0.2 39 Marketing Representative
SunMedair 61.5 0.3 56 CEO
Vola 107.5 0.8 43 Marketing Manager
*
Data for 2013, extracted from the database provided by the Romanian Government (mļ¬nante.ro)
**
Annual average exchange rate in 2013: 4.42 RON/EUR
8. RESULTS
Table 2 provides a general overview of the man-
ner in which the largest Romanian travel agencies
adopt and implement CSR policies, according to
top management membersā€™ assessments. As can
be seen, considering the situation in an aggregate
manner, CSR policies regarding the marketplace
are those with the highest level of adoption and
implementation, while CSR policies regarding the
environment are the least embraced by the inves-
tigated Romanian travel agencies.
The questionnaire used in order to assess the
CSR policy adoption and implementation was
based on an awareness-raising questionnaire
regarding CSR developed by the European Com-
mission (2005), and on the CSR activities struc-
ture outlined by Mandl and Dorr (2007) specif-
ically for SMEs, considering the fact that all the
top Romanian travel agencies are medium-sized
enterprises. The ļ¬nal analyzed item pool consist-
ed of 22 indicators (see Table 2), reļ¬‚ecting work-
place policies (4 items), environmental policies (5
items), marketplace policies (5 items), communi-
ty policies (5 items) and, respectively, company
values and their dissemination among employ-
ees, customers, business partners, and other
stakeholders (3 items); respondents had to rate
each item on a scale from 1 (completely false) to
5 (completely true).
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Table 2: CSR policy adoption and implementation within the investigated sample
Item*
Mean
Frequency**
1 2 3 4 5
[W1] Our employees are encouraged to develop skills and long-term
careers
4.57 6 8
[W2] We have a clear policy against all forms of discrimination in the
workplace
4.50 7 7
[W3] We provide our employees with suitable health, safety & welfare
conditions
4.93 1 13
[W4] Our enterprise actively oļ¬€ers a good work-life balance to its
employees
4.21 3 5 6
[E1] We have a clear policy for minimizing our enterpriseā€™s energy
consumption
3.86 1 5 3 5
[E2] We have a clear policy regarding waste minimization and
recycling
4.00 4 6 4
[E3] We have a clear policy regarding pollution prevention 3.79 1 5 4 4
[E4] We have a clear policy concerning sustainable transport options 3.93 1 3 6 4
[E5] When developing new products, we consider potential
environmental impacts
4.00 3 8 3
[M1] We have a policy to ensure honesty & quality in our dealings and
advertising
4.71 4 10
[M2] We supply clear and accurate information about products,
including aftersales
4.71 4 10
[M3] We ensure timely payment of our suppliersā€™invoices 4.57 6 8
[M4] We have an eļ¬ƒcient system to ensure feedback from customers
and partners
4.64 5 9
[M5] We have an eļ¬ƒcient system to register & solve customersā€™/
partnersā€™complaints
4.50 7 7
[C1] We oļ¬€er training opportunities to people from the local
community
4.36 1 7 6
[C2] We minimize our negative eļ¬€ects (e.g. discomfort) on the local
community
3.93 3 9 2
[C3] We have a clear policy directed towards purchasing locally,
whenever possible
4.07 2 9 3
[C4] Our employees are encouraged to participate in local
community activities
4.07 1 4 2 7
[C5] We give regular ļ¬nancial support to local community activities
and projects
4.29 3 4 7
[V1] Our enterpriseā€™s values and rules of conduct are clearly and
formally deļ¬ned
4.57 2 2 10
[V2] Our enterpriseā€™s values are communicated to customers & partners 4.57 6 8
[V3] Our employees are trained about our enterpriseā€™s values and
rules of conduct
4.64 2 1 11
*
W=workplace; E=environment; M=marketplace; C=community; V=company values
**
Answers provided on a scale from 1 (completely false) to 5 (completely true)
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Analyzing each CSR domain separately, we can
point to the fact that the most adopted and im-
plemented policies in each ļ¬eld are: providing
employees with suitable health, safety and wel-
fare conditions (in the part that concerns work-
place policies), minimizing waste and recycling
(in the part that concerns environment policies),
ensuring honesty and quality in dealings and ad-
vertising, while supplying clear and accurate in-
formation about products (in the part that con-
cerns marketplace policies), oļ¬€ering training op-
portunities to people from the local community
(in the part that concerns community policies),
and training employees about company values
and rules of conduct (in the part that concerns
company values policies). On the other hand, we
should also emphasize the least embraced CSR
policies in each CSR domain: oļ¬€ering a good
work-life balance to employees (workplace),
pollution prevention (environment), registering
and solving customersā€™ and partnersā€™ complaints
(marketplace), minimizing negative eļ¬€ects on
the local community (community), and commu-
nicating company values to customers and part-
ners (company values).
Furthermore, we investigated the relationship
between adopting and implementing CSR pol-
icies and the investigated travel agenciesā€™ busi-
ness performance. Due to the small sample size,
analyzing the correlations between CSR policy
adoption and implementation, and respective
business outcomes was not relevant using para-
metric correlation coeļ¬ƒcients. Therefore, cor-
relations were investigated using Spearman R
non-parametric correlation coeļ¬ƒcients (Table 3).
Spearman R correlation coeļ¬ƒcients suggest that,
in the case of larger travel agencies in terms of
turnover (in comparison to the smaller ones in-
cluded in the sample), several CSR policies are
adopted and implemented to a larger degree,
such as those regarding avoiding discrimination
in the workplace, ensuring honesty and quality
in dealings and advertising, registering and solv-
ing customersā€™ or partnersā€™ complaints, and com-
municating company values to customers and
partners. However, results suggest that smaller
travel agencies adopt more thoroughly other
CSR policies, such as those concerning choos-
ing sustainable transport options, developing
new products environmentally, and purchasing
locally. Moreover, the results indicate a positive
correlation between the proļ¬tability of travel
agencies and the adoption and implementation
of CSR policies, such as: avoiding discrimination
in the workplace, ensuring honesty and quality
in dealings and advertising, supplying clear and
Table 3: Correlations between CSR policy adoption and implementation, and respective business
performance (Spearman R)
Net turnover Net proit
R p R p
[W1] .000 1.000 .216 .459
[W2] .620 .018 .587 .027
[W3] .378 .182 -.104 .724
[W4] -.370 .193 -.348 .223
[E1] -.261 .367 .183 .530
[E2] -.211 .469 .118 .689
[E3] -.405 .151 -.079 .789
[E4] -.689 .006 -.171 .560
[E5] -.541 .046 -.245 .399
[M1] .667 .009 .552 .041
[M2] .431 .123 .630 .016
Net turnover Net proit
R p R P
[M3] .215 .461 .144 .624
[M4] .425 .130 .204 .484
[M5] .656 .011 .552 .041
[C1] .032 .914 .123 .674
[C2] -.501 .068 -.060 .840
[C3] -.606 .021 -.371 .192
[C4] -.064 .827 .148 .613
[C5] .069 .814 .389 .170
[V1] .000 1.000 -.033 .910
[V2] .680 .007 .432 .123
[V3] .064 .827 -.055 .851
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accurate information about products, and regis-
tering and solving customersā€™ or partnersā€™ com-
plaints.
In order to reinforce the previously identiļ¬ed
relationships, we investigated the diļ¬€erences
in CSR policy adoption and implementation
between pairs of business outcomes-based
groups. Thus, due to the small sample size, we
used the Mann-Whitney U non-parametric test
for comparing two independent samples (Table
4) after the whole sample was divided into two
equally large groups, considering net turnover
and respective net proļ¬t (50% of the sample
with a turnover of up to RON 70 mln vs. the rest
with a turnover of more than RON 70 mln, and,
respectively, 50% of the sample with a proļ¬t of
up to RON 0.8 mln vs. the rest with a proļ¬t of
more than RON 0.8 mln).
Our Man-Whitney U test results reinforced a
large part of the correlations outlined using
Spearman R coeļ¬ƒcients, with a few exceptions.
Thus, the relationships between net turnover
and CSR policies such as developing new prod-
ucts environmentally or having a clear policy
directed towards purchasing locally were not
conļ¬rmed. Also, the correlations identiļ¬ed be-
tween net proļ¬t and CSR policies such as those
regarding discrimination in the workplace, hon-
esty and quality in dealings and advertising, or
registering and solving complaints were not
reinforced.
However, the Man-Whitney U test results out-
lined a couple of new signiļ¬cant relationships.
Thus, the ļ¬gures showed signiļ¬cant diļ¬€erenc-
es in supplying clear and accurate information
about products (between net turnover groups)
and, respectively, in communicating compa-
ny values to customers and partners (between
net proļ¬t groups). After these new relationships
were analyzed in more detail, it could be stated
that, when it comes to larger travel agencies in
terms of turnover, supplying clear and accurate
information about products is more salient than
in the case of smaller ones; on the other hand,
communicating company values to customers
and partners is more applicable in the case of
travel agencies with higher proļ¬ts than those
having lower proļ¬ts.
Eventually, in order to investigate the relationship
between travel agenciesā€™ business outcomes
and the synergy of each group of CSR items re-
ļ¬‚ecting certain CSR domains, we designed ļ¬ve
simple linear regression models, one for each
CSR domain, as depicted in Figure 1.
Table 4: Diļ¬€erencesinCSRpolicyadoptionandimplementationbetweenbusinessoutcomes-based
travel agencies groups (Mann-Whitney U)
Net turnover Net proit
U Z p U Z p
[W1] 17.5 -1.04 .298 24.5 .00 1.00
[W2] 7.0 -2.57 .010 14.0 -1.54 .122
[W3] 21.0 -1.00 .317 21.0 -1.00 .317
[W4] 17.0 -1.02 .304 11.5 -1.78 .075
[E1] 24.0 -.06 .946 21.0 -.47 .638
[E2] 24.5 .00 1.00 19.5 -.68 .496
[E3] 18.5 -.80 .422 23.0 -.20 .841
[E4] 9.5 -2.02 .042 19.0 -.74 .457
[E5] 13.5 -1.57 .116 19.0 -.78 .431
[M1] 10.5 -2.28 .023 17.5 -1.14 .254
[M2] 10.5 -2.28 .023 10.5 -2.28 .023
Net turnover Net proit
U Z p U Z p
[M3] 17.5 -1.04 .298 24.5 .00 1.00
[M4] 14.0 -1.61 .107 21.0 -.53 .591
[M5] 7.0 -2.57 .010 14.0 -1.54 .122
[C1] 20.0 -.64 .520 20.0 -.64 .520
[C2] 15.5 -1.35 .177 21.5 -.45 .653
[C3] 16.0 -1.27 .202 16.0 -1.27 .202
[C4] 22.0 -.34 .729 22.0 -.34 .729
[C5] 18.0 -.90 .367 14.5 -1.38 .165
[V1] 24.5 .00 1.00 24.5 .00 1.00
[V2] 10.5 -2.08 .037 10.5 -2.08 .037
[V3] 21.5 -.53 .593 21.5 -.53 .593
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Figure 1: Proposed simple linear regression models for the relationship between CSR policies
adoption and implementation, and respective business performance
those domains and the latent variables reļ¬‚ected
accordingly had to be conļ¬rmed from a statistical
standpoint. Due to the small sample size, we em-
bracedtheviewofJohnsonandGustafsson(2000),
W1 W2 W3 W4 E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 V1 V2 V3
Workplace
policies [WP]
Environment
policies [EP]
Marketplace
policies [MP]
Community
policies [CP]
Comp. values
policies (VP)
Net turnover /
Net profit
Net turnover /
Net profit
Net turnover /
Net profit
Net turnover /
Net profit
Net turnover /
Net profit
Even though the items were designed on a theo-
retical basis so as to depict the adoption and im-
plementation of CSR policies regarding a set of ļ¬ve
distinctive CSR domains, grouping the items into
Table 5: Simple linear regression results depicting the relationship between CSR policy adoption
and implementation, and respective net turnover and net proļ¬t
Dependent variable: Net turnover Dependent variable: Net proit
B t P
(Constant) 25.369 .119 .907
WP* 16.703 .359 .726
R2
= .110
B t P
(Constant) -4.210 -.756 .464
WP* 1.168 .958 .357
R2
= .071
B t P
(Constant) 248.262 2.929 .013
EP* -37.512 -1.760 .104
R2
= .205
B t P
(Constant) .086 .034 .974
EP* .261 .406 .692
R2
= .0140
B t P
(Constant) -476.72 -2.591 .024
MP* 124.909 3.150 .008
R2
= .453
B t P
(Constant) -10.27 -1.752 .105
MP* 2.460 1.945 .067
R2
= .240
B t P
(Constant) 192.800 1.522 .154
CP* -22.055 -.727 .481
R2
= .042
B t P
(Constant) -2.493 -.746 .470
CP* .869 1.086 .299
R2
= .089
B t P
(Constant) -1.891 -.013 .989
VP* 22.484 .743 .472
R2
= .044
B t P
(Constant) -1.328 -.348 .734
VP* .530 .643 .532
R2
= .033
*WP = Workplace policies; EP = Environment policies; MP = Marketplace policies;
CP = Community policies; VP = Company values policies
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who recommend a theory-based (rather than da-
ta-driven) alternative to the traditional factor analy-
sis, consisting in running successively as many fac-
tor analyses as the number of theory-based latent
variables (the ļ¬ve CSR domains, in our case), the
conclusion depending on whether each analysis
returns a single factor with an Eigenvalue greater
than 1. Therefore, we performed ļ¬ve factor anal-
yses (one for each group of items), using Varimax
rotation and each analysis revealed a single factor,
thus conļ¬rming the grouping of the items into the
ļ¬ve previously conceptualized CSR domains.
We computed each of the ļ¬ve theory-based la-
tent variables (corresponding to speciļ¬c CSR do-
mains) as the average score of all the reļ¬‚ecting
items and, furthermore, ran the corresponding
linear regression analyses (Table 5).
While most of the simple regression analyses did
not yield signiļ¬cant outputs, results suggest that
the adoption and implementation of market-
place policies (referring to ensuring honesty and
quality in dealings and advertising, supplying
clear and accurate information about products,
timely payment of suppliers, ensuring feedback
from customers and partners, and registering
and solving customersā€™ or partnersā€™ complaints)
has a signiļ¬cant positive impact on travel agen-
ciesā€™ business performance in terms of net turn-
over (R2
= .453; p=.008<.05; Figure 2).
Moreover, the results also suggest a potential-
ly signiļ¬cant positive impact of the same CSR
policies on travel agenciesā€™ net proļ¬t (R2
= .240;
p=.067<.1; Figure 2). Even though the p value in
this case exceeds the standard .05, it is still below
.1, which could represent an acceptable bound-
ary for a very small sample size within the scope
of a research study of exploratory nature.
9. CONCLUSIONS
Our results point to the fact that the CSR policies
with the highest level of adoption and implemen-
tation by the largest Romanian travel agencies
are those concerning the marketplace (ensuring
honesty and quality in dealings and advertising,
supplying clear and accurate information about
products, timely payment of suppliers, ensur-
ing feedback from customers and partners, and
registering and solving customersā€™ or partnersā€™
complaints), while the least embraced CSR poli-
cies refer to the environment (minimizing energy
consumption, minimizing waste and recycling,
pollution prevention, choosing sustainable trans-
Figure 2: Relationship between marketplace CSR policy adoption and implementation, and re-
spective net turnover and net proļ¬t
TRŽIŠTE
217
ADOPTING AND IMPLEMENTING CSR POLICIES IN TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS: THE CASE OF ROMANIA UDK 338.486.21(498)
ā– 
Vol.
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203
-
220
port options, and developing new products in an
environmentally friendly manner).
Our ļ¬ndings also suggest that, in the case of larger
travel agencies in terms of turnover, several CSR
policies are adopted and implemented to a high-
er degree than by the smaller ones comprised in
the sample; speciļ¬cally, they are the policies that
address avoiding discrimination in the workplace,
ensuring honesty and quality in dealings and
advertising, supplying clear and accurate infor-
mation about products, registering and solving
customersā€™ or partnersā€™ complaints, and commu-
nicating company values to customers and part-
ners. On the other hand, the smaller travel agen-
cies from our sample adopt more thoroughly CSR
policies such as those concerning sustainable
transport options, developing new products en-
vironmentally, and purchasing locally.
Moreover, the results indicate a positive correlation
between the proļ¬tability of travel agencies and
the adoption and implementation of CSR policies
such as: avoiding discrimination in the workplace,
ensuring honesty and quality in dealings and ad-
vertising, supplying clear and accurate information
about products, registering and solving customersā€™
or partnersā€™ complaints, and communicating com-
pany values to customers and partners.
Last but not least, the results of our regression
analyses suggest that marketplace policy adop-
tion and implementation could have a signiļ¬-
cant positive impact on travel agenciesā€™ business
performance, in terms of both net turnover and
net proļ¬tability.
10. RESEARCH
LIMITATION AND
RECOMMENDATION
FOR FURTHER
RESEARCH
Considering the limitations of the research, we
could outline the fact that analyzing only the
largest travel agencies does not oļ¬€er a com-
prehensive image of the whole travel agency
business in Romania. However, despite the fact
that limiting the initial sample to the top 20 Ro-
manian travel agencies in terms of net turnover
might indicate a rather subjective approach, the
investigated sample generates the majority of
the total turnover of all existing local competi-
tors in this subsector.
Moreover, due to the small sample size, our re-
search is of exploratory nature only and contrib-
utes to the literature by suggesting several hy-
potheses to be further tested on a considerably
larger sample. The variables used in this research
for analyzing the CSR policy adoption and imple-
mentation by the largest travel agencies could
be further employed to expand the research by
taking into consideration a large and random
sample of travel agencies, enabling a compre-
hensive analysis of the whole sector. Also, an
interesting future research approach would be
to investigate, in a comparative manner (small
and micro vs. medium-sized travel agencies), the
extent of CSR adoption and implementation as
well as the relationship between CSR and busi-
ness performance.
Also, as to the indicators used for measuring busi-
ness performance, this research is focused sole-
ly on net turnover and net proļ¬t. Nevertheless,
other beneļ¬ts linked to business performance,
such as customer loyalty (Chen et al., 2012; Ham
& Han, 2013; MartĆ­nez & del Bosque, 2013) or debt
ļ¬nancing costs (Chen et al., 2010; Ye & Zhang,
2011), could be included in a future analysis.
Finally, our research has focused on a national
market which, even though it is one of the larg-
est in the Eastern European region, could not of-
fer a comprehensive image of the whole region-
al travel agency business. From this standpoint,
future research eļ¬€orts should aim at expanding
the researched area by taking into consideration
at least one more country from the same Euro-
pean region.
TRŽIŠTE
218 Ovidiu-Ioan Moisescu
ā– 
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No.
2,
2015,
pp.
203
-
220
Acknowledgements
This work was supported from the European
Social Fund through Sectoral Operational Pro-
gramme Human Resources Development 2007-
2013, project number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/142115,
project title ā€œPerformance and Excellence in
Postdoctoral Research in Romanian Economics
Science Domainā€.
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Adopting And Implementing CSR Policies In Travel Agency Business The Case Of Romania

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  • 2. TRŽIÅ TE MARKET Review for marketing theory and practice Časopis za tržiÅ”nu teoriju i praksu Scientiļ¬c semi-annual journal Znanstveni polugodiÅ”nji časopis Zagreb, Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 147-272 Zagreb, godina 27, broj 2, 2015., str. 147-272 Publisher / Nakladnik: UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB, FACULTY OF ECONOMICS & BUSINESS, Marketing Department / SVEUČILIÅ TE U ZAGREBU, EKONOMSKI FAKULTET, Katedra za marketing ā€¢ CROMAR ā€“ Croatian Marketing Association / CROMAR ā€“ Hrvatska udruga za marketing Editor in Chief / Glavna urednica: Đurđana Ozretić DoÅ”en Editorial Board / Uređivački odbor: George J. Avlonitis, Athens University of Economics and Business ā€¢ AndrĆ”s Bauer, Corvinus University of Budapest ā€¢ JĆ³zsef BerĆ”cs, Corvinus University of Budapest ā€¢ Nenad Brkić, School of Economics and Business, University of Sarajevo ā€¢ Muris Čičić, School of Economics and Business, University of Sarajevo ā€¢ Marina Dabić, Faculty of Economics & Business-Zagreb, University of Zagreb ā€¢ Irene Gil-Saura, University of Valencia ā€¢ Miguel Ɓngel GĆ³mez Borja, School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Castilla-La Mancha ā€¢ Milan JurÅ”e, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor ā€¢ Tanja Kesić, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb ā€¢ Maja Makovec Brenčič, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana ā€¢ Marin Marinov, Centre of International Business, Aalborg University ā€¢ Mira MaruÅ”ić, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb ā€¢ Alejandro MollĆ” Descals, University of Valencia ā€¢ Đurđana Ozretić DoÅ”en, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb ā€¢ Jurica Pavičić, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb ā€¢ Jozo PreviÅ”ić, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb ā€¢ Arnold Schuh, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration ā€¢ Boris Snoj, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor ā€¢ Svetla Trifonova Marinova, Centre of International Business, Aalborg University ā€¢ Gabriele Troilo, Bocconi University ā€¢ Sigitas Urbonavičius, Faculty of Economics, Vilnius University ā€¢ Udo Wagner, Faculty of Business, Economics and Statistics, University of Vienna ā€¢ Berend Wierenga, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University ā€¢ Vesna Žabkar, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana Technical Editors / Tehnički urednici: Zoran Krupka ā€¢ Vatroslav Å kare Editorial Oļ¬ƒce / UredniÅ”tvo: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business, J. F. Kennedy Square 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia Phone: ++385 1 238 3463; ++385 1 238 3305; Fax: ++385 1 233 5633 E-mail and Website / E-mail i internetska stranica: market@efzg.hr, www.efzg.unizg.hr/market International secondary publications and information databases / Međunarodne sekundarne publikacije i baze podataka u kojima se časopis referira: Cabellā€™s International ā€¢ Central and Eastern European Online Library - C.E.E.O.L. ā€¢ CiteFactor ā€¢ DOAJ ā€¢ EBSCO Publishing ā€¢ Hrčak ā€¢ Index Copernicus ā€¢ ProQuest ABI/INFORM ā€¢ RePEc ā€¢ Scopus Information about Market is included in several catalogues / Informacije o TržiÅ”tu dostupne su u sljedećim katalozima: Academic Journals Database ā€¢ Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek ā€“ EZB ā€¢ ELMAR ā€¢ Google Scholar ā€¢ JournalSeek ā€¢ Ulrichsweb Proof Readers / Lektori: Kolumbina Benčević Tomljanović, prof. ā€¢ Jasmina Pažanin, prof. UDK Classiļ¬cation / Klasiļ¬kacija (UDK): Vladimir Sebok Graphic Design / Oblikovanje i graļ¬Äko uređenje: Adverta d.o.o. Layout and Printing / Prijelom i tisak: SveučiliÅ”na tiskara d.o.o., Zagreb Circulation / Naklada: 350 ISSN (print) 0353-4790 ISSN (online) 1849-1383 In accordance with Art. 58(3) of the Public Information Act, the journal is registered with the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports under Reg. No. 362. / U skladu sa čl. 58. st. 3. Zakona o javnom informiranju časopis je ubilježen pod red. br. 362 u Ministarstvu znanosti, obrazovanja i Å”porta. This issue of MARKET is partially ļ¬nanced by Ministry of science, education and sport, Republic of Croatia. / Ovaj broj TRŽIÅ TA suļ¬nanciran je sredstvima Ministarstva znanosti, obrazovanja i Å”porta Republike Hrvatske.
  • 3. TRŽIÅ TE 148 MARKET/TRŽIÅ TE is the oļ¬ƒcial journal of University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business, Market- ing Department and CROMAR (Croatian Marketing Association). The ļ¬rst issue was published in 1989 and between then and 2005, it was exclusively the oļ¬ƒcial CROMAR journal. The Faculty of Economics & Business-Zagreb, Marketing Department joined as a co-publisher in 2006. The journal has been published twice a year in continuity. In the course of 27 years, MARKET/TRŽIÅ TE has fol- lowed development trends of the marketing science and its practical application. It publishes papers on any topic in the ļ¬eld of marketing. Any interdisciplin- ary papers (whose topics have to include marketing) are also welcome. A wide range of scientiļ¬c papers such as literature reviews, conceptual papers, re- search papers as well as those focusing on methodol- ogy development, will be considered for publishing. Furthermore, any essays and book reviews will also be considered. Interested authors are invited to send their papers written in English to the editorial board: Faculty of Economics & Business-Zagreb, Journal MARKET/ TRŽIÅ TE, J. F. Kennedy Square 6, 10000 Zagreb, CROA- TIA or via e-mail to: market@efzg.hr. Please refer to the Instructions for Authors at the end of the journal for the exact form in which the papers are to be written and presented. CROMAR Croatian Marketing Association Faculty of Economics-Rijeka I. Filipovića 4, 51000 Rijeka, CROATIA Phone: ++385 51 355 169 E-mail: jasmina.dlacic@ri.t-com.hr HRVATSKA UDRUGA ZA MARKETING CROATIAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION University of Zagreb SveučiliÅ”te u Zagrebu Faculty of Economics & Business Ekonomski fakultet Zagreb - Croatia Zagreb - Hrvatska Faculty of Economics & Business Marketing Department J. F. Kennedy Square 6, 10000 Zagreb, CROATIA Phone: ++385 1 238 3463; Fax: ++385 1 233 5633
  • 4. TRŽIÅ TE 149 CONTENTS EDITORIAL PREFACE PAPERS Patrik Jangl Relationship between Market Orientation and Business Performance in Czech and German High-Tech Firms Odnos između tržiÅ”ne orijentacije i poslovne uspjeÅ”nosti čeÅ”kih i njemačkih visokotehnoloÅ”kih poduzeća...................................................................................................... 153 Katija Vojvodić, Matea Matić Generation Y Online Buying Patterns Online kupovni obrasci generacije Y..................................................................................... 171 Naili Farida, Elia Ardyan Repeat Purchase Intention of Starbucks Consumers in Indonesia: A Green Brand Approach Namjera ponovljene kupovine potroÅ”ača Starbucksa u Indoneziji: Pristup zelene marke........................................................................................................................ 189 Ovidiu-Ioan Moisescu Adopting and Implementing CSR Policies in Travel Agency Business: The Case of Romania Prihvaćanje i primjena politika korporativne druÅ”tvene odgovornosti u poslovanju putničkih agencija: Slučaj Rumunjske...................................................... 203 Giacomo Del Chiappa, Carlota Lorenzo-Romero, MarĆ­a-del-Carmen AlarcĆ³n-del-Amo The Inļ¬‚uence of User-Generated Content on Touristsā€™ Choices Utjecaj sadržaja koji stvaraju korisnici na odabire turista........................................... 221
  • 5. TRŽIÅ TE 150 Helena Alves, Arminda do PaƧo, Carla Roberto Inļ¬‚uence of Internal Marketing on Organizational Commitment ā€“ Evidence from Care Institutions for the Elderly Utjecaj internog marketinga na predanost organizaciji ā€“ nalazi iz institucija skrbi za osobe starije životne dobi............................................. 237 Manuel Cuadrado, MarĆ­a JosĆ© Miquel, Juan D. Montoro Analyzing Music Services Positioning Through Qualitative Research Analiziranje pozicioniranja glazbenih usluga putem kvalitativnog istraživanja.............................................................................................................................................. 251 REVIEWERS LIST INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS
  • 6. TRŽIÅ TE ADOPTING AND IMPLEMENTING CSR POLICIES IN TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS: THE CASE OF ROMANIA PRIHVAĆANJE I PRIMJENA POLITIKA KORPORATIVNE DRUÅ TVENE ODGOVORNOSTI U POSLOVANJU PUTNIČKIH AGENCIJA: SLUČAJ RUMUNJSKE UDK 338.486.21(498) Prethodno priopćenje Preliminary communication Ovidiu-Ioan Moisescu, Ph. D. Associate Professor Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeș- Bolyai University Teodor Mihali Street, No. 58-60, 400591 Cluj Napoca, ROMANIA Phone: ++40 26 4418 652; Mobile: ++40 740 311 322 E-mail: ovidiu.moisescu@econ.ubbcluj.ro Ključne riječi: politika korporativne druÅ”tvene odgovornosti, neto promet, neto proit, putničke agencije, turistička distribucija, Rumunjska Key words: CSRpolicies,netturnover,netproit,travelagencies, tourism distribution, Romania ABSTRACT The paper investigates the extent to which Ro- maniaā€™s largest travel agencies adopt and imple- ment corporate social responsibility (CSR) pol- icies, correlating these ļ¬ndings with their busi- ness performance reļ¬‚ected by their net turnover and net proļ¬t. In order to evaluate the level of CSR policies adoption and implementation, an online survey was conducted among top man- agers from each travel agency. The questionnaire comprised several sets of items reļ¬‚ecting work- SAŽETAK U radu se istražuje do koje mjere najveće rumunj- ske putničke agencije prihvaćaju i primjenjuju politike korporativne druÅ”tvene odgovornosti, i to povezivanjem ovih nalaza s njihovom poslov- nom uspjeÅ”noŔću iskazanom kroz neto promet i neto proļ¬t. Kako bi se ocijenila razina prihvaćanja i implementacije politika korporativne druÅ”tvene odgovornosti, provedena je online anketa s vr- hovnim menadžerima iz svih odabranih putnič- kih agencija. Upitnik je sadržavao nekoliko grupa
  • 7. TRŽIÅ TE 204 Ovidiu-Ioan Moisescu ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 place, environmental, marketplace, community, and, respectively, company values policies. Our results point to the fact that the CSR policies ad- opted and implemented to the highest degree are those concerning the marketplace, while the least embraced CSR policies refer to the en- vironment. Our ļ¬ndings also suggest that there are several CSR policies which are adopted and implemented to a higher degree by larger trav- el agencies in terms of net turnover, while some other CSR policies are adopted more thoroughly by smaller ones. The results also indicate positive correlations between the proļ¬tability of travel agencies and the adoption and implementation of certain CSR policies. Last but not least, our re- search suggests that marketplace policies adop- tion and implementation could have a signiļ¬- cant positive impact on business performance of travel agencies in terms of both net turnover and net proļ¬tability. tvrdnji koje su odražavale politike vezane uz rad- no mjesto, okoliÅ”, tržiÅ”te, zajednicu, odnosno po- litike vrijednosti poduzeća. Rezultati upućuju na činjenicu da je politika korporativne druÅ”tvene odgovornosti s najviÅ”om razinom prihvaćanja i primjene ona koja se odnosi na tržiÅ”ta, dok je naj- manje usvojena ona koja se odnosi na okoliÅ”. Isto tako, rezultati upućuju na to da postoji nekoliko politika korporativne druÅ”tvene odgovornosti koje su prihvaćene i primijenjene u većoj mjeri u slučaju većih turističkih agencija (prema kriteri- ju neto prometa), kao i neke druge politike koje su temeljitije prihvatile manje agencije. Rezultati upućuju i na pozitivnu korelaciju između proļ¬ta- bilnosti putničkih agencija i prihvaćanja te primje- ne nekih politika korporativne druÅ”tvene odgo- vornosti. Konačno, ali ne i najmanje važno, analize pokazuju kako bi prihvaćanje i primjena politika vezanih uz tržiÅ”te moglo imati značajan pozitivan utjecaj na poslovnu uspjeÅ”nost putničkih agencija po pitanju i neto prometa i neto proļ¬ta.
  • 8. TRŽIÅ TE 205 ADOPTING AND IMPLEMENTING CSR POLICIES IN TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS: THE CASE OF ROMANIA UDK 338.486.21(498) ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 1. INTRODUCTION Despite internationally increasing emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the tourism industry (Holcomb, Upchurch & Oku- mus, 2007; Sheldon & Park, 2011), knowledge regarding the manner in which members of the tourism distribution sector adopt and im- plement CSR policies and their relationship to business performance is rather scarce. Most such studies are focused on other tourism sec- tors, such as the hotel industry (e.g. Lee & Park, 2009; Kang, Lee & Huh, 2010) or the airline in- dustry (e.g. Tsai & Hsu, 2008; Cowper-Smith & de Grosbois, 2011). The literature suggests that adopting and imple- menting CSR policies can, in general, generate several beneļ¬ts for organizations including bet- ter attraction and retention of both employees (Kim & Park, 2011) and customers (Sen & Bhat- tacharya, 2001; Peloza & Shang, 2011), as well as enhanced business reputation and improved market performance (Ogilvy, 2010). However, little is known about the methods employed in Eastern Europe and, more specif- ically, by Romanian tourism industry members in adopting and implementing CSR policies, and how this relates to their business outcomes; the few studies conducted so far, especially in the tourism distribution sector, are either too general, or restricted to certain particular CSR aspects (e.g. Ciuchete et al, 2012; Baicu & Popescu, 2014). Therefore, considering the scarcity of literature regarding CSR adoption and its relationship with business outcomes in the tourism distribution sector, on one hand, and in the Eastern Europe- an and especially Romanian tourism industry, on the other hand, this paper aims to investigate the extent to which the largest Romanian travel agencies, in terms of net turnover, adopt and im- plement CSR policies and to correlate these ļ¬nd- ings with their business performance, reļ¬‚ected by net turnover and net proļ¬t/loss. 2. CSR CONCEPT Despite numerous eļ¬€orts to deļ¬ne CSR, there is still no universally accepted deļ¬nition of the concept (Dahlsrud, 2008; Freeman et al, 2010). While numerous deļ¬nitions have been pro- posed, none of them have gained wide support in the literature, the depiction of CSR being still embryonic, while theoretical frameworks, mea- surement, and empirical methods have not been resolved yet (McWilliams, Siegel & Wright, 2006). Consequently, although CSR is one of the most prominent themes in the marketing literature, it is diļ¬ƒcult to provide a precise and comprehen- sive deļ¬nition of the term (MartĆ­nez, Perez & del Bosque, 2013). CSR basically refers to such voluntary activities that prove the inclusion of social and environ- mental concerns in business operations and in interactions with stakeholders (van Marrewijk, 2003). According to McWilliams et al. (2006), CSR implies incorporating social characteristics or features into products and manufacturing pro- cesses, adopting progressive human resource management practices, achieving higher levels of environmental performance through recy- cling and pollution abatement, and advancing the goals of community organizations. Thus, CSR can be deļ¬ned as situations in which a company goes beyond compliance and engages in ac- tions that appear to further some social good, beyond its own interests and that which is re- quired by law (McWilliams & Siegel, 2001). Over- all, CSR represents a construct that emphasizes the obligation of companies to integrate social and environmental parameters into their modus operandi and their long-term development poli- cies (Martinez et al., 2013). Considering the most relevant literature on CSR systematization, three main approaches regard- ing CSR can be outlined. The ļ¬rst approach comes from Carroll (1991), who presents a four-dimensional conceptualiza- tion of CSR, including economic, legal, ethical,
  • 9. TRŽIÅ TE 206 Ovidiu-Ioan Moisescu ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 and discretionary (philanthropic) responsibilities. According to Carroll, none of the four responsi- bilities are optional if a ļ¬rm wants to be involved in long-term relationships with its stakeholders. The second main approach regarding CSR sys- tematization originates from the concept of sustainable development and regards CSR as a three-dimensional structure, including three fac- ets (economic, environmental, and social), with companies having to take into consideration societyā€™s well-being, managing their impact and role in the economy, environment, and society (PĆ©rez & del Bosque, 2013). The third relevant approach comes from Free- man et al. (2010), who conceptualize CSR within a stakeholder management framework, catego- rizing the social responsibilities of companies based on their stakeholders. Thus, managers should tailor their policies to satisfy numerous constituents (not just shareholders), these in- cluding workers, customers, suppliers, and com- munity organizations. A similar approach is de- veloped by Mandl & Dorr (2007), who consider that CSR implies that companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their interaction with business relevant groups on a voluntary ba- sis, the main ļ¬elds of CSR activities covering four main stakeholder categories: workplace, com- munity, environment, and market (customers and business partners included). 3. CSR IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY Nowadays, the tourism sector represents one of the main service industries worldwide (Martinez et al., 2013), crucially impacting the people, the society, and the environment (Å trukelj & Å uligoj, 2014). The ā€œEuropean Cities Marketingā€ organiza- tion argues that tourism businesses have strong relationships to the local communities in which they operate, strongly inļ¬‚uencing the socio-eco- nomic development of these regions (Smith & Ong, 2014). The tourism industry is frequently mentioned in the literature as a source of economic, envi- ronmental, social, and cultural beneļ¬ts (through its support of job creation, improvements to infrastructures and cultural understanding). On the other hand, it produces a number of other negative impacts regarding pollution, biodiver- sity, waste, labor, or other social, economic or ecological aspects (MartĆ­nez & del Bosque, 2013). Tourism is at the same time a poverty alleviation instrument and a poverty-enhancing inequali- ties generator (Harrison, 2008). Moreover, due to the nature of the industryā€™s operations, tourism enterprises, especially those involved in transpor- tation and accommodation, consume consider- able amounts of water, energy, and disposable products (Ham & Han, 2013). Thus, the social and, especially, ecological impact of the tourism indus- try tends to be larger than that of other service or manufacturing industries (Bohdanowicz, 2006). The CSR aspects that companies choose to ad- dress vary depending on the industry in which they operate (Campbell, 2007). In the tourism sector, CSR has been widely applied, especially from a sustainable development perspective (Martinez et al., 2013), to become an essential part of business strategies in the industry, cov- ering aspects such as environmental protection and fair working conditions or contributing to the welfare of local communities. However, even if there is a high degree of consen- sus on the majority of socio-economic and natural problems in the tourism industry, things are only slowly being put to practice (Å trukelj & Å uligoj, 2014). Thus, several particular industry issues relat- ed to CSR (such as overloaded unskilled workers, belowaveragewages,seasonaloverloads,discom- fort and discontent among local residents, quality and environmental standards/labels, etc.) are not widely accepted and need further attention. CSR in tourism implies that managers in the tourism industry should not only adopt ethical principles, but also add value to the environ- ment, communities, entrepreneurs, and tourists (Ryan, 2002). Nevertheless, as tourism enterprises
  • 10. TRŽIÅ TE 207 ADOPTING AND IMPLEMENTING CSR POLICIES IN TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS: THE CASE OF ROMANIA UDK 338.486.21(498) ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 mainly relate social responsibility to some form of charitable donations, the majority of them include no mention of CSR in their vision or mis- sion statements (Holcomb et al., 2007). Recent studies regarding tourism businessesā€™ motivations to engage in CSR (Garay & Font, 2012) have shown that the main reason for act- ing responsibly lies in altruistic, competitiveness reasons that are also important to small and medium-sized tourism enterprises. Other recent research conducted among tourism businesses has revealed that most of these consider the im- portance of CSR to be the same or greater in the coming years, while a signiļ¬cant part of them believe that practices related to CSR will guide consumer decisions in the long term (DLA Piper, 2010). Therefore, it can be deduced that tour- ism businesses showing sensitivity to their eco- nomic, social, and ecological responsibilities will probably have a higher degree of success. Numerous international initiatives have also supported a growing importance of CSR in the tourism industry (Martinez et al., 2013). Thus, the World Travel and Tourism Council, the World Tourism Organization and the Earth Council have created ā€œAgenda 21ā€, which comprises inter- national guidelines relating to sustainable tour- ism. Moreover, the European Federation of Food and Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions and an association of Hotels, Restaurants and CafĆ©s in Europe have drafted a set of compliance param- eters, referring mostly to responsibilities towards employees in tourism. Last but not least, the Green Hotels Association has been promoting a special initiative in the hotel industry, focusing on programs that are designed to save water, save energy, reduce solid waste, etc. 4. TOURISM DISTRIBUTION SECTOR AND CSR As part of the marketing mix, tourism distribu- tion makes tourism products available to con- sumers by linking producers of tourism services and their customers (Gartner & Bachri, 1994). A tourism distribution channel can be deļ¬ned as a system of intermediaries that facilitates the sale and delivery of tourism services from suppliers to consumers (Buhalis & Laws, 2001). During the 1990s, this tourism subsector consisted mainly of traditional travel agents and tour operators, global distribution systems (GDS) and destina- tion marketing organizations (DMO). But thanks to the development of the Internet, other types of travel distribution specialists ā€“ such as com- puter reservation systems (CRS), or online travel agents and tour operators ā€“ have emerged and grown during the 2000s (Kracht & Wang, 2010). However, the primary functions of tourism dis- tribution have remained the same ā€“ information, combination, and travel arrangement services ā€“ with most channels providing information for prospective tourists, bundling tourism products together, and providing mechanisms to enable making, conļ¬rming, and paying for reservations (Buhalis & Laws, 2001). Due to their high importance both in the sub- sector and in the whole tourism industry, pre- vious studies of the tourism distribution sector have largely focused on intermediaries such as travel agents or tour operators (Pearce & Schott, 2005). As a matter of fact, the position of the distribution sector in tourism is much stronger than that of other trade intermediaries since the main actors of this subsector (such as travel agents and tour operators) have a greater pow- er to inļ¬‚uence and direct demand than do their counterparts in other industries (Buhalis & Laws, 2001). Therefore, it is not surprising that this tour- ism subsector has received a growing amount of attention in recent years, with its importance be- ing recognized and emphasized by researchers (Pearce & Schott, 2005). Tourism distribution, alongside with other tour- ism industry subsectors such as transportation, face environmental issues more critically than others, such as accommodation providers or restaurants (Sheldon & Park, 2011). Moreover, on account of their inļ¬‚uence on destinations devel- opment and on touristsā€™ choice of destinations,
  • 11. TRŽIÅ TE 208 Ovidiu-Ioan Moisescu ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 travel agents and tour operators have a critical role in destination sustainability (Van Wijk & Per- soon, 2006). Much of the responsibility for ensuring a sustain- able tourism (related to avoiding or diminishing negative social, ecological, or economic impacts of holidays) falls in the hands of travel agents and tour operators (Dodds & Joppe, 2005). Many con- sumers, especially those in developed countries, consider that tour operators should assume re- sponsibility for preserving the local environment and culture, and ensuring that local people bene- ļ¬t from tourism, believing that both travel agents and tour operators have a responsibility to pro- vide the information on whether a responsible travel policy is employed (Dodds & Joppe, 2005). However, despite their important role in the tour- ism industry, travel agents and tour operators show a lower engagement in CSR activities than do other tourism subsectorsā€™ members (Van Wijk & Persoon, 2006; Tepelus, 2005). Tourism compa- nies considered to be at the forefront of CSR are mostly major corporations, such as airlines, hotel chains and cruise lines, while travel agents and tour operators are regarded as less involved in regard to the issue of CSR policies adoption and implementation (Wight, 2007). 5. CSR AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE CSR has strategic importance; the literature sug- gests that companies which adopt and imple- ment CSR beneļ¬t from several advantages, such as better attraction and retention of employees (Kim & Park, 2011), as well as higher preference from customers (Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001; Pelo- za & Shang, 2010). Also, recent studies in the tour- ism industry have shown a positive relationship between consumer perception of tourism ser- vices suppliersā€™ CSR and customer loyalty (Chen, Chang & Lin, 2012; Ham & Han, 2013; MartĆ­nez & del Bosque, 2013). Moreover, by adopting, implementing and com- municating CSR policies, companies can ā€œes- tablish an industry leadership position, launch a brand, leapfrog competitors, penetrate a new market, proļ¬le a new product, engender cus- tomer loyalty, generate employee commitment, and ultimately transform a companyā€™s reputa- tionā€ (Ogilvy 2010, p. 11). Also, CSR has become a highly eļ¬€ective attribute for a strategy of dif- ferentiation and positioning (Du, Bhattacharya & Sen, 2007). As to the relationship between CSR and business performance, despite the fact that studies have yielded inconsistent and contradictory results (Zhu, Sun & Leung, 2014), most researchers con- vey the idea of a positive relationship between the two, with only a few studies suggesting no association (Teoh, Welch & Wazzan, 1999) or a negative association (e.g. Wright & Ferris, 1997) between CSR and ļ¬rm performance (and this only regards performance in term of share value). Overall, the literature suggests that CSR can pos- itively contribute to business performance. Thus, if analyzed in terms of sales, business perfor- mance has been proven to be positively correlat- ed with corporate philanthropy (Lev, Petrovitis & Radhakrishnan, 2010). Analyzing business perfor- mance in ļ¬nancial terms, recent research (Oka- moto, 2009; Lai et al., 2010; Mishra & Suar, 2010) has suggested that an increase in CSR can boost ļ¬rm performance, corporate social performance being positively correlated with corporate ļ¬nan- cial performance. Moreover, other studies have shown that CSR can reduce debt ļ¬nancing costs, both in developed (Chen et al., 2010) and devel- oping countries (Ye & Zhang, 2011). These business performance beneļ¬ts of CSR oc- cur due to at least two reasons (Mishra & Suar, 2010). On the one hand, CSR can enhance sales and price margins, positively inļ¬‚uencing rev- enues while, on the other hand, it can reduce costs through tax concessions by the govern- ment to promote CSR activities, eļ¬ƒciency gains from environment-friendly technologies, and re- duced cost of capital.
  • 12. TRŽIÅ TE 209 ADOPTING AND IMPLEMENTING CSR POLICIES IN TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS: THE CASE OF ROMANIA UDK 338.486.21(498) ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 However, none of the relevant studies men- tioned above have focused on the tourism sector. When it comes to the tourism indus- try, knowledge regarding the relationship be- tween CSR and business performance is still scarce and needs further and deeper investi- gation. Moreover, the few studies conducted so far mainly regard accommodation and air transport services providers, with almost no focus on the tourism distribution subsector. However, a recent addition to the literature regarding the topic in this particular subsector (Zhu et al., 2014) revealed that CSR has an in- direct and positive eļ¬€ect on ļ¬rm performance via ļ¬rm reputation (based on a survey conduct- ed among general and vice-general managers from tourism ļ¬rms such as hotels and travel agencies in China). 6. TOURISM AND TRAVEL AGENCIES IN ROMANIA The Romanian tourism industry is a growing sector, with positive prospects and a signiļ¬cant impact on the national economy. According to the WTTCā€™s latest ā€œTravel & Tourism Economic Impactā€ report on Romania (WTTC, 2014), the Travel & Tourism sector (reļ¬‚ecting the econom- ic activity generated by industries such as ho- tels, travel agents, airlines, and other passenger transportation services, as well as restaurant and leisure industries directly supported by tourists) directly contributed 1.6% to the Romanian GDP in 2013, with this contribution expected to grow to 1.8% of the GDP by 2024. Moreover, the total contribution of Travel & Tourism to the Roma- nian GDP (including wider eļ¬€ects of investment, the supply chain, and induced income impacts) stood at 5.1% of GDP and was estimated to rise to 5.6% of the GDP by 2024. Also, the sector gen- erated 212,500 jobs directly in 2013 (2.4% of to- tal employment) and is expected to account for 231,000 new jobs by 2024. If the total contribu- tion is taken into consideration, the industry sup- ported 500,500 jobs in 2013 (5.7% of total em- ployment) and is estimated to support 553,000 jobs by 2024. If visitor exports are analyzed, Romania has per- formed poorly to date, attracting fewer than 6 million international tourist arrivals in 2013, and generating less than 2 billion EUR in visitor exports (WTTC, 2014). Most international visitors during 2013 came from European countries including Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany or Italy (INS, 2014). As to the Romanians, despite several relevant domestic tourism attractions (including the Carpathians, the rural area, rural traditions, me- dieval cities, the Danube, the Black Sea, etc.), a large portion of them preferred spending their holidays abroad, especially during the last de- cade, the most frequent destinations being Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Spain, and Italy (INS, 2014). From this perspective, travel agents and tour operators in Romania harnessed a signiļ¬- cant opportunity for development and growth during the last decade, as Romanian travelers usually buy service packages from such enter- prises when spending holidays abroad (and much less so when travelling within the coun- try, as domestic tourists). As a particularity, the Romanian tourism distri- bution sector is extremely regulated (currently under the Romanian Government order no. 65 of 2013), and travel agents and tour operators (either traditional or online) are all denominat- ed under the same term ā€“ ā€œtravel agencyā€. Fur- thermore, all these travel agencies must comply with certain regulations (regarding insurance, physical space, endowments, staļ¬€ qualiļ¬cation, and others) in order to receive a license from the Government allowing them to create/organize and/or sell tourism products. Moreover, Roma- nian travel agencies are formally classiļ¬ed into either ā€œretailersā€ or ā€œtour-operatorsā€, only the latter ones being legally allowed to organize/ create travel packages as retail travel agenciesā€™ activities are limited to reselling tour-operatorsā€™ products or to selling isolated tourism services (such as accommodation, transportation, travel insurance, etc.).
  • 13. TRŽIÅ TE 210 Ovidiu-Ioan Moisescu ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 According to the Romanian Government (turism. gov.ro) more than 3,000 travel agencies were le- gally licensed and active in Romania at the end of 2014. However, the vast majority of these, even if legally licensed as ā€œtour-operatorsā€, limited their activity to selling isolated tourism services and reselling other travel agenciesā€™ products. Last but not least, it is important to empha- size that the Romanian travel agency market is highly concentrated, with the top 20 players accounting for the largest part of it. Thus, even though there are no oļ¬ƒcial annual public ļ¬g- ures regarding the total turnover of active travel agencies in Romania, an available estimate of it can be found for 2012 (Tiron, 2012). According to this estimate, the total turnover of active travel agencies in Romania was of about EUR 500 million in 2012, while during the same year the sales of the top 20 travel agencies totaled about EUR 380 million, representing more than 75% of the market. 7. METHODOLOGY Due to the fact that the tourism sector includes several subsectors with diļ¬€erent characteristics and problems (transportation, accommodation, distribution, etc.) that could distort the results of a research study aimed at the entire sector (MartĆ­nez, Perez & del Bosque, 2013), the current paper is focused on a single tourism subsector, more speciļ¬cally on travel agencies as the main ā€œactorsā€ of the Romanian tourism distribution subsector. This paper aims to investigate the extent to which the largest Romanian travel agencies, in terms of net turnover, adopt and implement CSR policies, and to correlate these ļ¬ndings with their business performance reļ¬‚ect- ed by net turnover and net proļ¬t. In order to accomplish the research objective, an online survey was conducted among mem- bers of the top management (CEOs, marketing managers, sales managers, brand managers) on an initial sample, comprising the largest 20 Romanian travel agencies in terms of net turn- over. Even though this methodological approach to sampling could be seen as limitative, it is justi- ļ¬ed by the fact that the Romanian travel agency market is highly concentrated, with the top 20 local players accounting for the largest part of it, despite the fact that several thousands of travel agencies are oļ¬ƒcially active in Romania. Also, the vast majority of travel agencies active in Romania are small or micro enterprises, which manifest no or low interest in CSR policies. More- over, small and micro enterprises, regardless of the industry, generally do not signiļ¬cantly apply and/or communicate about their CSR (Europe- an Commission, 2009) not only because their limited resources, but also because they do not understand or realize the multiple positive sig- niļ¬cant eļ¬€ects of CSR adoption and communi- cation. For each travel agency included in the initial sample, several top management members were personally and directly contacted, with the research issue presented to them; they were asked them to complete an online questionnaire and, in exchange, promised a reward consisting of a personalized research report for their re- spective companies. After a data collection pro- cess of two months (Aug-Sept 2014), out of the 20 travel agencies included in the initial sample, 14 (70%) provided completed questionnaires, one per each travel agency.
  • 14. TRŽIÅ TE 211 ADOPTING AND IMPLEMENTING CSR POLICIES IN TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS: THE CASE OF ROMANIA UDK 338.486.21(498) ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 Table 1: Data regarding the ļ¬nal investigated sample Travel Agency Net turnover* (mln RON** ) Net proit* (mln RON** ) No of employees* Respondentā€™s position in the company Accent Travel & Events 47.0 -1.6 41 Sales Manager Aerotravel 150.0 0.9 96 Marketing Manager Business Travel & Turism 70.2 4.5 40 Sales Manager Christian Tour 195.3 4.4 100 Marketing Manager EXIMTUR 160.1 1.4 130 Brand Manager Filadelļ¬a Turism 44.9 1.1 100 Marketing Manager Jā€™info Tours 46.6 0.6 42 CEO & Owner Mareea Comtur 67.5 0.1 72 Marketing Manager Marshal Turism 44.1 0.0 127 CEO & Owner Paralela 45 157.0 1.4 175 Marketing Representative Perfect Tour 206.4 1.4 163 CEO Prompt Service Travel 61.9 0.2 39 Marketing Representative SunMedair 61.5 0.3 56 CEO Vola 107.5 0.8 43 Marketing Manager * Data for 2013, extracted from the database provided by the Romanian Government (mļ¬nante.ro) ** Annual average exchange rate in 2013: 4.42 RON/EUR 8. RESULTS Table 2 provides a general overview of the man- ner in which the largest Romanian travel agencies adopt and implement CSR policies, according to top management membersā€™ assessments. As can be seen, considering the situation in an aggregate manner, CSR policies regarding the marketplace are those with the highest level of adoption and implementation, while CSR policies regarding the environment are the least embraced by the inves- tigated Romanian travel agencies. The questionnaire used in order to assess the CSR policy adoption and implementation was based on an awareness-raising questionnaire regarding CSR developed by the European Com- mission (2005), and on the CSR activities struc- ture outlined by Mandl and Dorr (2007) specif- ically for SMEs, considering the fact that all the top Romanian travel agencies are medium-sized enterprises. The ļ¬nal analyzed item pool consist- ed of 22 indicators (see Table 2), reļ¬‚ecting work- place policies (4 items), environmental policies (5 items), marketplace policies (5 items), communi- ty policies (5 items) and, respectively, company values and their dissemination among employ- ees, customers, business partners, and other stakeholders (3 items); respondents had to rate each item on a scale from 1 (completely false) to 5 (completely true).
  • 15. TRŽIÅ TE 212 Ovidiu-Ioan Moisescu ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 Table 2: CSR policy adoption and implementation within the investigated sample Item* Mean Frequency** 1 2 3 4 5 [W1] Our employees are encouraged to develop skills and long-term careers 4.57 6 8 [W2] We have a clear policy against all forms of discrimination in the workplace 4.50 7 7 [W3] We provide our employees with suitable health, safety & welfare conditions 4.93 1 13 [W4] Our enterprise actively oļ¬€ers a good work-life balance to its employees 4.21 3 5 6 [E1] We have a clear policy for minimizing our enterpriseā€™s energy consumption 3.86 1 5 3 5 [E2] We have a clear policy regarding waste minimization and recycling 4.00 4 6 4 [E3] We have a clear policy regarding pollution prevention 3.79 1 5 4 4 [E4] We have a clear policy concerning sustainable transport options 3.93 1 3 6 4 [E5] When developing new products, we consider potential environmental impacts 4.00 3 8 3 [M1] We have a policy to ensure honesty & quality in our dealings and advertising 4.71 4 10 [M2] We supply clear and accurate information about products, including aftersales 4.71 4 10 [M3] We ensure timely payment of our suppliersā€™invoices 4.57 6 8 [M4] We have an eļ¬ƒcient system to ensure feedback from customers and partners 4.64 5 9 [M5] We have an eļ¬ƒcient system to register & solve customersā€™/ partnersā€™complaints 4.50 7 7 [C1] We oļ¬€er training opportunities to people from the local community 4.36 1 7 6 [C2] We minimize our negative eļ¬€ects (e.g. discomfort) on the local community 3.93 3 9 2 [C3] We have a clear policy directed towards purchasing locally, whenever possible 4.07 2 9 3 [C4] Our employees are encouraged to participate in local community activities 4.07 1 4 2 7 [C5] We give regular ļ¬nancial support to local community activities and projects 4.29 3 4 7 [V1] Our enterpriseā€™s values and rules of conduct are clearly and formally deļ¬ned 4.57 2 2 10 [V2] Our enterpriseā€™s values are communicated to customers & partners 4.57 6 8 [V3] Our employees are trained about our enterpriseā€™s values and rules of conduct 4.64 2 1 11 * W=workplace; E=environment; M=marketplace; C=community; V=company values ** Answers provided on a scale from 1 (completely false) to 5 (completely true)
  • 16. TRŽIÅ TE 213 ADOPTING AND IMPLEMENTING CSR POLICIES IN TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS: THE CASE OF ROMANIA UDK 338.486.21(498) ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 Analyzing each CSR domain separately, we can point to the fact that the most adopted and im- plemented policies in each ļ¬eld are: providing employees with suitable health, safety and wel- fare conditions (in the part that concerns work- place policies), minimizing waste and recycling (in the part that concerns environment policies), ensuring honesty and quality in dealings and ad- vertising, while supplying clear and accurate in- formation about products (in the part that con- cerns marketplace policies), oļ¬€ering training op- portunities to people from the local community (in the part that concerns community policies), and training employees about company values and rules of conduct (in the part that concerns company values policies). On the other hand, we should also emphasize the least embraced CSR policies in each CSR domain: oļ¬€ering a good work-life balance to employees (workplace), pollution prevention (environment), registering and solving customersā€™ and partnersā€™ complaints (marketplace), minimizing negative eļ¬€ects on the local community (community), and commu- nicating company values to customers and part- ners (company values). Furthermore, we investigated the relationship between adopting and implementing CSR pol- icies and the investigated travel agenciesā€™ busi- ness performance. Due to the small sample size, analyzing the correlations between CSR policy adoption and implementation, and respective business outcomes was not relevant using para- metric correlation coeļ¬ƒcients. Therefore, cor- relations were investigated using Spearman R non-parametric correlation coeļ¬ƒcients (Table 3). Spearman R correlation coeļ¬ƒcients suggest that, in the case of larger travel agencies in terms of turnover (in comparison to the smaller ones in- cluded in the sample), several CSR policies are adopted and implemented to a larger degree, such as those regarding avoiding discrimination in the workplace, ensuring honesty and quality in dealings and advertising, registering and solv- ing customersā€™ or partnersā€™ complaints, and com- municating company values to customers and partners. However, results suggest that smaller travel agencies adopt more thoroughly other CSR policies, such as those concerning choos- ing sustainable transport options, developing new products environmentally, and purchasing locally. Moreover, the results indicate a positive correlation between the proļ¬tability of travel agencies and the adoption and implementation of CSR policies, such as: avoiding discrimination in the workplace, ensuring honesty and quality in dealings and advertising, supplying clear and Table 3: Correlations between CSR policy adoption and implementation, and respective business performance (Spearman R) Net turnover Net proit R p R p [W1] .000 1.000 .216 .459 [W2] .620 .018 .587 .027 [W3] .378 .182 -.104 .724 [W4] -.370 .193 -.348 .223 [E1] -.261 .367 .183 .530 [E2] -.211 .469 .118 .689 [E3] -.405 .151 -.079 .789 [E4] -.689 .006 -.171 .560 [E5] -.541 .046 -.245 .399 [M1] .667 .009 .552 .041 [M2] .431 .123 .630 .016 Net turnover Net proit R p R P [M3] .215 .461 .144 .624 [M4] .425 .130 .204 .484 [M5] .656 .011 .552 .041 [C1] .032 .914 .123 .674 [C2] -.501 .068 -.060 .840 [C3] -.606 .021 -.371 .192 [C4] -.064 .827 .148 .613 [C5] .069 .814 .389 .170 [V1] .000 1.000 -.033 .910 [V2] .680 .007 .432 .123 [V3] .064 .827 -.055 .851
  • 17. TRŽIÅ TE 214 Ovidiu-Ioan Moisescu ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 accurate information about products, and regis- tering and solving customersā€™ or partnersā€™ com- plaints. In order to reinforce the previously identiļ¬ed relationships, we investigated the diļ¬€erences in CSR policy adoption and implementation between pairs of business outcomes-based groups. Thus, due to the small sample size, we used the Mann-Whitney U non-parametric test for comparing two independent samples (Table 4) after the whole sample was divided into two equally large groups, considering net turnover and respective net proļ¬t (50% of the sample with a turnover of up to RON 70 mln vs. the rest with a turnover of more than RON 70 mln, and, respectively, 50% of the sample with a proļ¬t of up to RON 0.8 mln vs. the rest with a proļ¬t of more than RON 0.8 mln). Our Man-Whitney U test results reinforced a large part of the correlations outlined using Spearman R coeļ¬ƒcients, with a few exceptions. Thus, the relationships between net turnover and CSR policies such as developing new prod- ucts environmentally or having a clear policy directed towards purchasing locally were not conļ¬rmed. Also, the correlations identiļ¬ed be- tween net proļ¬t and CSR policies such as those regarding discrimination in the workplace, hon- esty and quality in dealings and advertising, or registering and solving complaints were not reinforced. However, the Man-Whitney U test results out- lined a couple of new signiļ¬cant relationships. Thus, the ļ¬gures showed signiļ¬cant diļ¬€erenc- es in supplying clear and accurate information about products (between net turnover groups) and, respectively, in communicating compa- ny values to customers and partners (between net proļ¬t groups). After these new relationships were analyzed in more detail, it could be stated that, when it comes to larger travel agencies in terms of turnover, supplying clear and accurate information about products is more salient than in the case of smaller ones; on the other hand, communicating company values to customers and partners is more applicable in the case of travel agencies with higher proļ¬ts than those having lower proļ¬ts. Eventually, in order to investigate the relationship between travel agenciesā€™ business outcomes and the synergy of each group of CSR items re- ļ¬‚ecting certain CSR domains, we designed ļ¬ve simple linear regression models, one for each CSR domain, as depicted in Figure 1. Table 4: Diļ¬€erencesinCSRpolicyadoptionandimplementationbetweenbusinessoutcomes-based travel agencies groups (Mann-Whitney U) Net turnover Net proit U Z p U Z p [W1] 17.5 -1.04 .298 24.5 .00 1.00 [W2] 7.0 -2.57 .010 14.0 -1.54 .122 [W3] 21.0 -1.00 .317 21.0 -1.00 .317 [W4] 17.0 -1.02 .304 11.5 -1.78 .075 [E1] 24.0 -.06 .946 21.0 -.47 .638 [E2] 24.5 .00 1.00 19.5 -.68 .496 [E3] 18.5 -.80 .422 23.0 -.20 .841 [E4] 9.5 -2.02 .042 19.0 -.74 .457 [E5] 13.5 -1.57 .116 19.0 -.78 .431 [M1] 10.5 -2.28 .023 17.5 -1.14 .254 [M2] 10.5 -2.28 .023 10.5 -2.28 .023 Net turnover Net proit U Z p U Z p [M3] 17.5 -1.04 .298 24.5 .00 1.00 [M4] 14.0 -1.61 .107 21.0 -.53 .591 [M5] 7.0 -2.57 .010 14.0 -1.54 .122 [C1] 20.0 -.64 .520 20.0 -.64 .520 [C2] 15.5 -1.35 .177 21.5 -.45 .653 [C3] 16.0 -1.27 .202 16.0 -1.27 .202 [C4] 22.0 -.34 .729 22.0 -.34 .729 [C5] 18.0 -.90 .367 14.5 -1.38 .165 [V1] 24.5 .00 1.00 24.5 .00 1.00 [V2] 10.5 -2.08 .037 10.5 -2.08 .037 [V3] 21.5 -.53 .593 21.5 -.53 .593
  • 18. TRŽIÅ TE 215 ADOPTING AND IMPLEMENTING CSR POLICIES IN TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS: THE CASE OF ROMANIA UDK 338.486.21(498) ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 Figure 1: Proposed simple linear regression models for the relationship between CSR policies adoption and implementation, and respective business performance those domains and the latent variables reļ¬‚ected accordingly had to be conļ¬rmed from a statistical standpoint. Due to the small sample size, we em- bracedtheviewofJohnsonandGustafsson(2000), W1 W2 W3 W4 E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 V1 V2 V3 Workplace policies [WP] Environment policies [EP] Marketplace policies [MP] Community policies [CP] Comp. values policies (VP) Net turnover / Net profit Net turnover / Net profit Net turnover / Net profit Net turnover / Net profit Net turnover / Net profit Even though the items were designed on a theo- retical basis so as to depict the adoption and im- plementation of CSR policies regarding a set of ļ¬ve distinctive CSR domains, grouping the items into Table 5: Simple linear regression results depicting the relationship between CSR policy adoption and implementation, and respective net turnover and net proļ¬t Dependent variable: Net turnover Dependent variable: Net proit B t P (Constant) 25.369 .119 .907 WP* 16.703 .359 .726 R2 = .110 B t P (Constant) -4.210 -.756 .464 WP* 1.168 .958 .357 R2 = .071 B t P (Constant) 248.262 2.929 .013 EP* -37.512 -1.760 .104 R2 = .205 B t P (Constant) .086 .034 .974 EP* .261 .406 .692 R2 = .0140 B t P (Constant) -476.72 -2.591 .024 MP* 124.909 3.150 .008 R2 = .453 B t P (Constant) -10.27 -1.752 .105 MP* 2.460 1.945 .067 R2 = .240 B t P (Constant) 192.800 1.522 .154 CP* -22.055 -.727 .481 R2 = .042 B t P (Constant) -2.493 -.746 .470 CP* .869 1.086 .299 R2 = .089 B t P (Constant) -1.891 -.013 .989 VP* 22.484 .743 .472 R2 = .044 B t P (Constant) -1.328 -.348 .734 VP* .530 .643 .532 R2 = .033 *WP = Workplace policies; EP = Environment policies; MP = Marketplace policies; CP = Community policies; VP = Company values policies
  • 19. TRŽIÅ TE 216 Ovidiu-Ioan Moisescu ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 who recommend a theory-based (rather than da- ta-driven) alternative to the traditional factor analy- sis, consisting in running successively as many fac- tor analyses as the number of theory-based latent variables (the ļ¬ve CSR domains, in our case), the conclusion depending on whether each analysis returns a single factor with an Eigenvalue greater than 1. Therefore, we performed ļ¬ve factor anal- yses (one for each group of items), using Varimax rotation and each analysis revealed a single factor, thus conļ¬rming the grouping of the items into the ļ¬ve previously conceptualized CSR domains. We computed each of the ļ¬ve theory-based la- tent variables (corresponding to speciļ¬c CSR do- mains) as the average score of all the reļ¬‚ecting items and, furthermore, ran the corresponding linear regression analyses (Table 5). While most of the simple regression analyses did not yield signiļ¬cant outputs, results suggest that the adoption and implementation of market- place policies (referring to ensuring honesty and quality in dealings and advertising, supplying clear and accurate information about products, timely payment of suppliers, ensuring feedback from customers and partners, and registering and solving customersā€™ or partnersā€™ complaints) has a signiļ¬cant positive impact on travel agen- ciesā€™ business performance in terms of net turn- over (R2 = .453; p=.008<.05; Figure 2). Moreover, the results also suggest a potential- ly signiļ¬cant positive impact of the same CSR policies on travel agenciesā€™ net proļ¬t (R2 = .240; p=.067<.1; Figure 2). Even though the p value in this case exceeds the standard .05, it is still below .1, which could represent an acceptable bound- ary for a very small sample size within the scope of a research study of exploratory nature. 9. CONCLUSIONS Our results point to the fact that the CSR policies with the highest level of adoption and implemen- tation by the largest Romanian travel agencies are those concerning the marketplace (ensuring honesty and quality in dealings and advertising, supplying clear and accurate information about products, timely payment of suppliers, ensur- ing feedback from customers and partners, and registering and solving customersā€™ or partnersā€™ complaints), while the least embraced CSR poli- cies refer to the environment (minimizing energy consumption, minimizing waste and recycling, pollution prevention, choosing sustainable trans- Figure 2: Relationship between marketplace CSR policy adoption and implementation, and re- spective net turnover and net proļ¬t
  • 20. TRŽIÅ TE 217 ADOPTING AND IMPLEMENTING CSR POLICIES IN TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS: THE CASE OF ROMANIA UDK 338.486.21(498) ā–  Vol. 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 203 - 220 port options, and developing new products in an environmentally friendly manner). Our ļ¬ndings also suggest that, in the case of larger travel agencies in terms of turnover, several CSR policies are adopted and implemented to a high- er degree than by the smaller ones comprised in the sample; speciļ¬cally, they are the policies that address avoiding discrimination in the workplace, ensuring honesty and quality in dealings and advertising, supplying clear and accurate infor- mation about products, registering and solving customersā€™ or partnersā€™ complaints, and commu- nicating company values to customers and part- ners. On the other hand, the smaller travel agen- cies from our sample adopt more thoroughly CSR policies such as those concerning sustainable transport options, developing new products en- vironmentally, and purchasing locally. Moreover, the results indicate a positive correlation between the proļ¬tability of travel agencies and the adoption and implementation of CSR policies such as: avoiding discrimination in the workplace, ensuring honesty and quality in dealings and ad- vertising, supplying clear and accurate information about products, registering and solving customersā€™ or partnersā€™ complaints, and communicating com- pany values to customers and partners. Last but not least, the results of our regression analyses suggest that marketplace policy adop- tion and implementation could have a signiļ¬- cant positive impact on travel agenciesā€™ business performance, in terms of both net turnover and net proļ¬tability. 10. RESEARCH LIMITATION AND RECOMMENDATION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH Considering the limitations of the research, we could outline the fact that analyzing only the largest travel agencies does not oļ¬€er a com- prehensive image of the whole travel agency business in Romania. However, despite the fact that limiting the initial sample to the top 20 Ro- manian travel agencies in terms of net turnover might indicate a rather subjective approach, the investigated sample generates the majority of the total turnover of all existing local competi- tors in this subsector. Moreover, due to the small sample size, our re- search is of exploratory nature only and contrib- utes to the literature by suggesting several hy- potheses to be further tested on a considerably larger sample. The variables used in this research for analyzing the CSR policy adoption and imple- mentation by the largest travel agencies could be further employed to expand the research by taking into consideration a large and random sample of travel agencies, enabling a compre- hensive analysis of the whole sector. Also, an interesting future research approach would be to investigate, in a comparative manner (small and micro vs. medium-sized travel agencies), the extent of CSR adoption and implementation as well as the relationship between CSR and busi- ness performance. Also, as to the indicators used for measuring busi- ness performance, this research is focused sole- ly on net turnover and net proļ¬t. Nevertheless, other beneļ¬ts linked to business performance, such as customer loyalty (Chen et al., 2012; Ham & Han, 2013; MartĆ­nez & del Bosque, 2013) or debt ļ¬nancing costs (Chen et al., 2010; Ye & Zhang, 2011), could be included in a future analysis. Finally, our research has focused on a national market which, even though it is one of the larg- est in the Eastern European region, could not of- fer a comprehensive image of the whole region- al travel agency business. From this standpoint, future research eļ¬€orts should aim at expanding the researched area by taking into consideration at least one more country from the same Euro- pean region.
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