Strategic corporate social responsibility in the tourism and hospitality industry: Conceptual proposal

Abstract

Considering the growing significance of CSR in the corporate world, this study critically reflects the extant CSR literature and CSR practices, and proposes a conceptual CSR framework, called Strategic CSR, to highlight the importance of developing and implementing CSR practices that can create and optimize both social and business value. Strategic CSR incorporates four existing concepts and frameworks: creating shared value, enlightened stakeholder theory, resource-based theory, and CSR fit perspective. The essential argument for Strategic CSR is that businesses should develop and implement CSR practices that are directly related to the businesses’ core operations and competencies. This study also discusses several additional important issues to consider in developing and implementing Strategic CSR to enhance the understanding of the framework along with tourism and hospitality industry examples. This study conducted survey of which results generally support the proposed framework. Lastly, the study suggests several research directions for CSR scholars.