Corporate social responsibility : perspective of Hotel frontline employee

1. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY :
PERSPECTIVE OF HOTEL FRONTLINE
EMPLOYEE
Presented by
Frederick Bassey
Instructor
Prof. Dr Osman M. KARATEPE
spring 2013-2014

2. INTRODUCTION
In recent times, interest in and
practice of corporate social
Responsibility (CSR) has grown
tremendously. But the understanding
of it in the hospitality literature is so
limited. This curves the perception
and domination of corporate social
responsibility in the industry

3. In the industry, environmental greening
has gained dominance of CSR activities.
Cost saving nature of green Practices
such as :
- Linen and towel re-use
-Energy saving installation
-Water-efficient fixtures in guest rooms.

4. But in real sense, CSR encompasses
other initiatives that go beyond
environmental concerns. Such other
concerns as
- Consumer
- Community
- Employee( i.e. employee boycott)

5. Corporate social responsibility
programs of a firm usually
represent the firm’s values and
norms.
Therefore, the perception of the
employee of these programs can
influence the relationship between
the employee and the firm

6. Since CSR programs often represent
company values and norms, employees’
perceptions of them can influence how
employees identify with the firm
The perception becomes a driving force
for employees’ attitudinal and behavioral
support to help achieve the firm’s goals
Bartel, 2001; Dutton et al., 1994; Mael andTetrick, 1992

7. - several studies have proven that
employee attitudes and
performance have a major
influence on how consumers
evaluate service quality, value,
satisfaction, and repeat patronage.
Bitner, 1990; Chi andGursoy, 2009; Hartline andJones, 1996; Liao andChuang, 2004;Smith et al., 1999).

9. The employees are the ones who
help carry out the firm’s CSR
activities through the execution of
their daily activities and
operations.These operations are
influenced by work place policies
involving the community and the
environment

10. - As published by the U.S Bureau of
Labor Statistics in 2011, employee
turnover has averaged 76.8% per year
compared to 56.27% in the retail
service industry
- Based on this statistics, it is therefore
important to understand how
employee perception may influence
their attitude towards the firm

11. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
•To investigate and understand how employee’s
perception of CSR can influence their attitude towards
the firm
•To understand the impact of CSR activities from the
perspective of the frontline employee which is a link
to the firms performance and social well being.
•To help deepen the understanding of executives of
these impact

12. •Dodd’s (1932) argument for firms’ responsibility toward
society beyond shareholders (cited in Cochran, 2007),
Bowen’s (1953) book ‘Social Responsibilities of
Businessman’ (cited in Carroll, 1999) whom Carroll (1999)
called, the “Father of Corporate Social Responsibility” (p.
270)
•Boulding’s general systems theory (1956) in regards to CSR
measurements (cited in Wood, 2010).
LITRATURE REVIEW

13. -There are several definition of CSR, they all
commonly refer the relationship between the
business and the society, which indicates firm’s
action to place a balance between financial
performance, impact on the society and the
environment
- These corporate activities are often voluntary and/or
beyond legal obligations (Carroll, 1999; McWilliams and
Siegel, 2001).

14. •CSR has become an important matter for business
•Managers now recognize CSR and
sustainability as essential for strategic
operations, innovations & talent management
•PwC contended, “Corporate responsibility
is not an altruistic nice-to-have, but a
business imperative” (p. 121).

15. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND EMPLOYEE
•CSR activities have found to positively influence
attitudes and behavior of employees, who are
considered critical internal stakeholders (Clarkson, 1995;
Kim et al., 2010).
•CSR activities increase commitment and morale of current
employees and increase retention rates (Brokaw, 2009;
Galbreath, 2010; Maignan et al., 1999;Porter and Kramer,
2006; Peterson,2004; Rupp et al., 2006; Rego et al., 2010;
Turker, 2009b)
•Firms’ good CSR performance can a sign of attractive
workplace conditions, Contributing to positive corporate
image and reputation, which tends to help attract good
quality employees

16. •SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY - (Tajfel and Turner, 1986), when an
employee perceives a firm’s characteristics appealing and
akin to his/her self-identity, s/he identifies with it to be an
extension of personal identity
•ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTIFICATION (OI) which refers to the
group member’s perceived affinity with and sharing
experiences with an organization where s/he belongs to and
where his/her personal identity is defined in reference to the
group characteristics
(Ashforth and Mael, 1989; Gautam et al., 2004; Mael and
Ashforth,1992; Mael and Tetrick, 1992).

17. SELF-CATEGORIZATION THEORY (Turner, 1984) asserts that
s/he supports the positive characteristics of the group by
internalizing and following group’s mission, norms and
values, and behaves cooperatively and collaboratively
toward the firm’s goals
(Ashforth and Mael, 1989; Collier and Esteban, 2007; Dutton
et al.,1994; Turner, 1984).

18. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. How do frontline employees perceive of
their hotel CSR activities?
2. How do frontline employees’
perceptions of their hotel CSR activities
influence their level of OI?

19. RESEARCH CONTENT
•Pre-test of the survey with 15 business school faculty and
graduate students for brevity and clarity
•Survey was open for 2months
•Respondents were reminded to participate three times
within the period of 2months
•Screening questions were also included in other to select
frontline employee who have either or medium interaction
with guest and also do not hold managerial and supervisory
positions

20. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
•Survey
•Online Questioner

21. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
RESPONDENTS:
•Recipients were confirmed subscribers of
qualtrics
•Participant were limited to an already
determined customized respondent group hotel
employee in US
•Total number 575 respondent was used as a result

22. •five-point likert-type scale (environment,
community, employee & customer)
•SPSS version 19 ( obtain construct
component of CSR & OI)

23. RESULTS
•Result of this study shows that many
frontline employees preferred a holistic
CSR activity
•Most of the respondents were more
positive to CSR initiatives centered
towards responsiveness and responsibility
of then hotels to customer than
environment

24. •The more positively frontline employees viewed
their CSR polices, the more they were affected by
other people’s view about their hotels, in other
words, they saw the hotel’s success as their
success and vice versa (test of feelings of critics)
•The survey showed that interactions and
communications between frontline employee vs
fellow employee, customers and employers was
fostered by the way these frontline employees
perceived their hotel’s CSR activities

25. •The perception of CSR activities has effect on
their attitude and behavior towards job and firm’s
performance also their own well being as a
community member where the hotel is located.

26. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATION & CONCLUSION
•The results derived showed that employee’s
expect versatility of CSR activities and not just
one tended towards the environment
•Hoteliers should maintain a more holistic
perspective when indentifying CSR initiatives
•A review of already existing CSR activities of
the industry which are published
•Hotel managers should foster organizational
culture which enhances positive perception of
employee and also consistent with the
expectations of guest and the society

27. •For employee to engage in the CSR activities,
then it should be activities they perceive
positively
•Hotel managers should recognize the important
of employees perception of their CSR activities in
other to ensure a positive effect of those activities
on the customer and society
•Hotel managers should engage frontline
employees in the process of developing CSR
activities and the review of those activities

28. •CSR activities and it success should be
introduced as part of internal marketing. Ie.
Newsletters, emails, blogs social network
platforms
•Discussion of good CSR practices should be
encouraged during daily meetings

29. LIMITATIONS
•Samples did not represent the entire frontline
employee in the industry of the sample
location
•online panel may have limited the scope to
only those who use computers and are good in
English language

30. FURTHER STUDIES
future surveys should test for social
desirability and potential relationship
among other variables relevant to
organizational identification

31. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION