1

STUDENT No: 10033397

Project submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements of the

BA (HONS) INETERNATIONAL HOSPITALITY

AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT

of Northumbria University

NAME CHAN Hoi Yee DEGREE BA (Hons) International

Hospitality and Tourism Management

TUTOR Dr. Connie Mok TITLE The development of Corporate

Social Responsibility in Hotel Industry

DATE April 2011 CAMPUS Shape (Hong Kong)

2

Declarations

I declare the following:

(1) that the material contained in this Project is the end result of my own

work and that due acknowledgement has been given in the bibliography

and references to ALL sources be they printed, electronic or personal.

(2) the Word Count of this Project is: Section A: 3738

Section B: 5210

Reflective Statement: 869

Total Word Count: 9817

(3) that unless this Project has been confirmed as confidential, I agree to

an entire electronic copy or sections of the Project to being placed on

Blackboard, if deemed appropriate, to allow future students the

opportunity to see examples of past Projects. I understand that if

displayed on Blackboard it would be made available for no longer than

five years and that students would be able to print off copies or download.

The authorship would remain anonymous.

(4) I agree to my Project being submitted to a plagiarism detection

service, where it will be stored in a database and compared against work

submitted from this or any other School or from other institutions using

the service.

In the event of the service detecting a high degree of similarity between

content within the service this will be reported back to my supervisor and

second marker, who may decide to undertake further investigation which

may ultimately lead to disciplinary actions, should instances of plagiarism

be detected.

(5) I have read the University Policy Statement on Ethics in Resarch and

Consultancy and the Policy for Informed Consent in Research and

Consultancy and I declare that ethical issues have been considered and

taken into account in this research.

SIGNED: .......................................................... DATE: ................................................................

3

Abstract

This paper is divided into two sections. Section A is a personal

development project while section B is a literature review.

There are 2 parts in section A. In part 1, the author will do three

questionnaires in order to explore her strengths and weakness in

learning preferences, personality and team role, and then get comments

from her family and friends. In part 2, the author will talk about her

lifelong learning plan and transferable, as well as to justify her career

choice.

Section B of this paper is the literature review. The topic of the

dissertation is the development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

in Hotel Industry. Corporate Social Responsibility is now seen as an

obligation of business and requires that business undo social and

environmental problems it has created. Society and business have a

direct relationship that has grown more contentious in the past decade.

CSR reports are primarily the result of the insistence of employees who

are demanding assurances that their companies are behaving

themselves, and there is a correlation between companies that are seen

as good employers and that take their social responsibilities seriously. At

the end, recommendations will be suggested for the development of

CSR in hotel industry.

4

Acknowledgements

This project is the product of many months of investigation and work. All of

these could not be possible without the help of many people that kindly

contributed their time and expertise to collaborate in this project.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Connie Mok, who has given

me a lot of valuable opinions on my work, especially for guiding me to work out

the topic of the literature review.

Last but not least, I would also like to thank my family and friends who

completed the questionnaires and continual encouragement, especially

Jasmine Li and Wilson Leung, for their unfailing supply of patience, help and

support.

5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Title page 1

Declaration and Word Count 2

Abstract 3

Acknowledgements 4

Contents Page 5

List of figures 8

Section A

Part 1: Who I am as a learner?

1.1 Introduction 9

1.2 Learning Style 9

1.2.1 Definition of VARK 9

1.2.2 VARK Results 11

1.2.3 Implications for learning 12

1.2.4 Family and friends to comment 12

1.3 Personality 13

1.3.1 Definition of Myers Briggs 13

1.3.2 Myers Briggs Results 14

1.3.3 Implications for learning 15

1.3.4 Family and friends to comment 15

1.4 Team Role 16

1.4.1 Definition of Belbin Inventory 16

1.4.2 Belbin Inventory Results 17

1.4.3 Implications for learning 18

6

1.4.4 Family and friends to comment 19

Part 2: Implications for career choice

2.1 Lifelong Learning 20

2.1.1 The author‟s lifelong learning plan 21

2.2 Transferable Skills 22

2.2.1 The author‟s transferable skills 22

2.3 Justify Chosen Career Choice 24

Appendix A VARK, Myers Briggs, Belbin Inventory 26

Appendix B Curriculum vitae, Two job adverts, 27

Standard application form

Appendix C PowerPoint Presentation 28

Section B

Part 1 Introduction

1.1 Reason for choice of topic 29

1.2 Academic objectives of the Project 30

1.3 Outline of sections 31

Part 2 Literature Review

2.1 Background of CSR 32

2.1.1 Definition 32

2.1.2 History 33

2.2 Recent CSR programs in the hotel industry 34

2.2.1 Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts 34

7

2.2.2 InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 38

2.3 Importance of CSR to hotels‟ competitiveness 42

2.3.1 Financial performance 42

2.3.2 Employee satisfaction 43

2.3.3 Customer satisfaction 45

2.4 Challenges to the hotel industry 47

2.4.1 Financial aspect 47

2.4.2 Ethical aspect 48

Part 3 Summary and Conclusions

3.1 Summary 50

3.2 Recommendations 51

References 53

Bibliography 60

Reflective Statement 62

Last Page 66

8

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1.1 VARK Questionnaire Results 10

Table 1.2 MBTI 16 Personality Types 12

Table 1.3 MBTI Questionnaire Results 13

Table 1.4 SPI Questionnaire Results 16

9

Section A

Part 1: Who I am as a learner?

1.1 Introduction

Section A of this project is going to explore the author‟s learning styles,

personality types, abilities, preferences and team role by completing three

recognized questionnaires. She will also ask her family and friends to

comment her about the tests. According to Coffield, Moseley and Ecclestone

(2004), it is important for people to identify and match individual learning

preferences with suitable instructions. All the three tests can help her to

understand herself deeper that she may not know in daily life, and she can use

the advice for her own growth and improvement, finally to develop an

appropriate career in the near future.

1.2 Learning Style

1.2.1 Definition of VARK

VARK test is a questionnaire created by a New Zealand educator, Neil

Fleming, which helps people to identify their own learning styles. Learning

style refers to how an individual is able to learn and remember information.

Everyone should have their own learning preference, once knowing their

learning preference, it helps them learn effectively and efficiently. According to

Fleming and Baume (2006), students and teachers need a starting place for

thinking about, and understanding, how they learn. A learning style is, rather, a

10

description of a process, or of preferences. Any inventory that encourages a

learner to think about the way that he or she learns is a useful step towards

understanding, and hence improving, learning.

Fleming and Mills (1992) suggested four categories that seemed to reflect the

experiences of the students and teachers. VARK stands for Visual,

Aural/Auditory, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic, they are defined as follows.

- Visual (V): Learners prefer learning through depiction of information in

diagrams, charts, maps, etc. rather than words only. It does include

designs, patterns, shapes, and different formats that are used to highlight

and convey information.

- Aural/Auditory (A): Learners have preference for information that is “heard

or spoken”. They learn best from lectures, tutorials, group discussion, etc.,

and they want to sort things out by speaking, rather than sorting things out

and then speaking.

- Read/Write (R): Learners prefer all the information displayed as words,

such as printout and PowerPoint, etc. This preference emphasizes

text-based input and output – reading and writing in all its forms..

- Kinesthetic (K): Learners have preference on the use of experience and

practice. They prefer touching, feeling and interacting with their

environment, like demonstrations.

11

1.2.2 VARK Results

VARK Test 1 Test 2

Visual 11 7

Aural/Auditory 12 11

Read/Write 8 9

Kinesthetic 11 10

Table 1.1 VARK Questionnaire Results

The author has done the VARK test twice. These two results reflect that she

has a multimodal (VARK) learning preference (Appendix A1 and A2). The

results are quite accurate for the author although they are not exactly the same.

The author does not like reading books or writing very much. She often got

relatively low marks for compositions in Secondary School. However, the

author learns best through group discussions and demonstrations, also by

asking question and doing the task for several times, so that she can keep the

information in her mind deeply. The author had an internship in Hong Kong

Disneyland during Year 1 of higher diploma, there were some training courses

for candidates. In on-the-job training part, she learned best and most

comfortable from the trainer‟s demonstrations and explanation, the most

exciting part for her was the candidates could have real practices after

demonstration.

12

1.2.3 Implications for learning

The multimodal learning preference for the author is good as life is also

multimodal. The author can choose which mode to use and has more than one

learning strategy when learning different things and interacting with others. For

example, the author is good at aural learning preference, it is easier for her to

memorize information through listening, so she can have more discussions

with classmates when studying.

According to French, Cosgritt and Brown (2007), learning needs to cooperate

in all aspects to achieve the good result. As a whole developed student, she

should improve reading and writing skills. Although the author does not like

reading books, she can try to start with reading some interesting books or

watching English news that she is interested in. Therefore, she can not only

learn more good sentences, but also improve writing skills.

1.2.4 Family and friends to comment

The author‟s family and friends absolutely agreed with the test results. They

both agreed that the author does not like neither reading nor writing, but learns

quickly through explanation aurally and demonstration. To improve the reading

and writing skills, their perception are same as the author, that is read more

editorial articles, news and books. Her mother even said that she can sponsor

the author for buying books. They also suggested that the author can make

some notes when watching demonstrations or during discussions, this can

help to strengthen the understanding and memory of the principles, not only

suitable for studying, but also for working.

13

1.3 Personality

1.3.1 Definition of Myers Briggs

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most well known personality

instrument in the world. It was developed by Isabel Briggs Myers and her

mother Katharine Cook Briggs. MBTI is a questionnaire which helps people to

find out the type of their personality, therefore they can know themselves

deeply. Wall (2008, pp78) stated that “Our personality type determines how we

interact with our world, how we gather information, how we make decisions,

and how we orient our lifestyles. It is who we are and dictates how we

communicate with others.”

As defined by Myers and Briggs, much of the personality can be divided into

four independent preference areas: Energizing, Attending, Deciding, and

Living. Within each scale, there is a preference for one of two opposites that

define the scale, i.e. Extraversion-Introversion (EI), Sensing-Intuition (SN),

Thinking-Feeling (TF), and Judgment-Perception (JP). This makes for a total

of 16 different combinations as follow:

ISTJ ISFJ INFJ INTJ

ISTP ISFP INFP INTP

ESTP ESFP ENFP ENTP

ESTJ ESFJ ENFJ ENTJ

Table 1.2 MBTI 16 Personality Types

14

1.3.2 Myers Briggs Results

The test report shows that the author‟s personality type is probably ENFJ, or

perhaps ESFJ (Appendix A3).

ISTJ 58% ISFJ 65% INFJ 67% INTJ 60%

ISTP 47% ISFP 60% INFP 61% INTP 48%

ESTP 49% ESFP 55% ENFP 58% ENTP 51%

ESTJ 54% ESFJ 68% ENFJ 69% ENTJ 56%

Table 1.3 MBTI Questionnaire Results

ENFJ direct their energy primarily towards the outer world of actions and

spoken words. They try to build harmony in important personal relationships.

Their life is organized on a personal basis, seeking to develop and promote

personal growth in people they value. The dominant function for an ENFJ is

the judging one of Feeling, that is, they make decisions on the basis of

personal values and are appreciative or accepting of people. The judging

Feeling function is extraverted. They tend to express the appreciation that they

feel towards others, consider others' feelings before their own. They are

sensitive to praise and criticism, and seek to accommodate others'

(reasonable) expectations as far as possible. Also, the Feeling function is

primarily supported by introverted intuitive perception - that is, intuitive

perception is used primarily to manage the inner world of thoughts and

emotions.

15

1.3.3 Implications for learning

As an ENFJ, it is true that the author sometimes has difficulty to make good

decisions, and relies heavily on other people in decision-making processes.

For example, the author wanted to learn one more foreign language a few

years ago, but she could not make decision whether to learn Japanese or

Spanish. Until now, she is still asking her friends‟ comments.

Also, she sometimes judges things too quickly based on established value

systems or social rules, without really understanding the current situation. And

she is quite sensitive to criticism, and to have the tendency to worry

excessively and feel guilty. She cares about the others‟ perception about her

because she always worries about the things she have done are not perfect

enough and thinks she can do better. But no friends know this side of the

author, everyone only knows the author loves to laugh, energetic and

interacting with people.

The author should define her life's direction and priorities according to her own

needs and has more self-confidence. She should not over-concentrate on

other people's needs. In contrast, she can keeps on having the positive

characteristic of ENFJ. That is, giving and caring, and maintaining good

relationship with others.

1.3.4 Family and friends to comment

Both the author‟s family and best friends consented that her decision-making

process is almost influenced by other people, just like the case of choosing

language to learn. Her best friend told her that it was unforgettable for her

16

birthday last year, because the author hand-made a small gift and a birthday

card to her. It was really touching to her. Another friend says that the author is

fun to be with, and truly understand. He thought she is very straight-forward

and honest. The author‟s father agreed that she has a great amount of ability

to do many different things, for instant, she had a lot of extra-curricular

activities at the same time, e.g. basketball and athletic team member,

Putonghua and English ambassador in secondary school.

1.4 Team Role

1.4.1 Definition of Belbin Inventory

Dr. Meredith Belbin developed the Belbin Team Role Self-Perception Inventory

(SPI) which can help people to know individual‟s behavioral tendency in a

team environment. There are nine clusters of behavior that individuals adopt

when participating in a team:

- Knowledge-oriented: Plants (PL), Monitor Evaluates (ME), Specialists (SP)

- Communication-oriented: Resources Investigators (RI), Co-ordinators (CO),

Team Workers (TW)

- Action-oriented: Shapers (SH), Implementers (IMP), Completer-Finishers

(CF)

The test provides advice for each role. It also brings out people‟s strengths and

significant weaknesses which might affect their future, and help to raise

self-awareness to inform participants which career would be best for them

(Test for young people).

17

1.4.2 Belbin Inventory Results

Team-Role Contribution Preferred Roles

Team Workers (TW) 88

Specialists (SP) 84

Team-Role Contribution Least Preferred Roles

Monitor Evaluates (ME) 29

Shapers (SH) 15

Table 1.4 SPI Questionnaire Results

The above table 1.4 shows part of the test results of the author. She gets the

highest marks in Team Workers and Specialists, however, these two roles are

quite different. Team Workers are co-operative and mild, they are the most

supportive members of a team, but Specialists are single-minded and

self-starting, they are dedicated individuals who pride themselves on acquiring

technical skills and specialized knowledge. Although these two roles are

contrasting, the results can actually reflect the author‟s role in different

situation.

Team Workers are mild, sociable and concerned about others. They have a

great capacity for flexibility and adapting to different situations and people.

They have a lubricating effect on teams. Morale is better and people seem to

cooperate better when they are around. Specialists‟ priorities centre on

maintaining professional standards and on furthering and defending their own

field. While they show great pride in their own subject, they usually lack

18

interest in other people.

When the author was in Secondary School, some classmates said that she

was a good listener, they loved to talk with the author and cooperate with her

for projects and activities. The author has joined a uniform group called Hong

Kong Sea Cadet Corps since 2003, the life experience in the organization

influences her character a lot, builds up her Team Worker role. She always

holds activities or does teambuilding games with the other cadets. She often

plays the role who can allow all team members to contribute effectively. Also,

the author loves playing piano and has played for many years. When playing

piano, the player should be single-minded and concentrated for every note of

the pieces. The Specialist team role then developed.

On the other hand, the author gets the lowest scores in Monitor Evaluates (ME)

and Shapers (SH). Monitor Evaluates are serious-minded, prudent individuals

with a built-in immunity for being over-enthusiastic. It is true that the author is

weak at analyzing problems and evaluating ideas and suggestions. Shapers

are highly motivated people with a lot of nervous energy and a need for

achievement. The author does not like to challenge others and not concern win

or lose, all what she wants are people can co-operate with each other

peacefully and happily.

1.4.3 Implications for learning

“Nobody is perfect!” this was told by an instructor in Sea Cadet Corps. By

experiencing the life in a team, the author knows that cooperation is very

important, not only for games, but also for works. As the Team Worker role fit

19

the author‟s personality, she can put more effort to develop herself on this side.

Since no one would see Team Workers as a threat, therefore people accept

them easily and love to work with them. She can make use of the advantage to

make things do effectively and efficiently.

For the weaknesses of the author, she should learn more different things and

read more editorial articles, so that she can develop good critical and

strategically thinking which can help her to analyze and judge accurately. From

time to time, she can have better capacity for shrewd judgments that take all

factors into account.

1.4.4 Family and friends to comment

The author‟s friends totally agreed that she is a Team Worker. Between four

best friends, the author often takes up the role of contact person, as she has

strong need for close, intimate relationships, and will put forth a lot of effort in

creating and maintaining the relationships. Besides, her friends in Hong Kong

Sea Cadet Corps said that she is a well-equipped team player and capable to

handle different situations. Whenever the focus is on individuals or team, she

has the ability to make her mark by offering well-informed support and advice.

20

Part: 2 Implications for career choice

2.1 Lifelong Learning

According to Department of Education and Science (2000), Lifelong learning is

the continuous building of skills and knowledge throughout the life of an

individual. It occurs through experiences encountered in the course of a

lifetime. These experiences could be formal, such as training, counseling,

tutoring, mentorship, apprenticeship, higher education, etc. or informal, such

as experiences and situations. It is the „lifelong, voluntary, and self-motivated‟

pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons.

Tung Chee Hwa, Ex-Chief Executive of Hong Kong, aspired to build a

knowledge-based society under his reign. He mentioned that lifelong learning

is a foundation of our educational system (Tung, 1999). „If Hong Kong wishes

to become a knowledge-based economy in the information age, we must

continue to innovate and change. This is why we must embrace “Lifelong

Learning”‟ (Tung, 1999, pp20).

The author understands that, because of the influence of globalization, Hong

Kong is unavoidable to act as an international city. Globalization requires

people to prepare themselves for a knowledge-based society. The general

public has embraced lifelong learning not only as a way but also as a

necessary part of life. Apart from this, more and more companies, especially in

hospitality industry, are seeking for multi-skills employees rather than unique

skills employee in order to make the organization works smoothly and

21

effectively. Therefore, the author must be well prepared to increase her

competitiveness to fight for better career development in the future.

2.1.1 The author’s lifelong learning plan

Jones, Woods, Coles and Rein (2001) sees graduates who hold a degree is

not the end of their learning. They must develop to be „critical lifelong learners‟

and to „save‟ their knowledge by further education.

The author hopes to be a front office manager within 6-8 years. In a short run,

the author will apply to be a front desk receptionist in hotel after graduated.

She will keep learning in the workplace to accumulate more relevant work

experiences. Apart from this, learning multi-languages is also an important part

of personal development. Nowadays, both English and Mandarin are major

communication languages in Hong Kong, especially in hospitality industry,

they are a must. To be a front office manager, fluent foreign language skills are

needed to communicate with different people, and many paper works like

reports need to be written. Therefore, the author plans to take some courses to

improve her Mandarin and English skills, such as reading, writing and

speaking within 1-2 years. After that, she will takes examination that are

related to these languages, e.g. PUTONGHUA SHUIPING CESHI (PSC) for

Mandarin and The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) for

English.

In a long run, the author decides to continue her studies in a master degree

that is related to hospitality industry after gaining 3-5 years working experience

as she hopes to be a front office manager. As the author learns well by

22

touching, feeling and interacting with the environment, working in the industry

for several years can help her to understand the real business situation of the

industry rather than only studying theories through books. With those

experiences in workplace, the author can master the study easier because she

has experienced them.

2.2 Transferable Skills

Ahern (2007, pp7) stated that, „In a world that is ever changing to keep up with

technology and a visible increase in part-time jobs dotting our landscape,

transferable skills are one of the most important pieces of luggage that a

person will take with them on their journey.‟ The transferable skills are often

intangible, they are vague for the practical purpose. They can be interpersonal

skills, communication skills, self-management skills, etc.

In Hong Kong, despite possessing a degree certificate, transferable skills are

always needed in the service-oriented industry. Today, employers hire people

not only focus on the academic results of applicants, but they will also look at

their transferable skills in order to consider whether they suit the position or not.

So that employers can make the right people do the right job to support the

organization.

2.2.1 The author’s transferable skills

Ahern (2007, pp7) also stated that, „It was “believing” in transferable skills that

helped me make the smooth transition. To have the skills is one thing, but to

23

believe in them is what makes the difference. I had some of the skills

necessary and I also had to learn many more skills that I had not been

exposed to in my previous work.‟

In accordance with the Myers Briggs test and the Belbin Inventory test, the

author has good teamwork and communication skills, she can put more effort

to improve and get these skills well developed. She can cooperate well with

others since she was a schoolchild, and she is enjoying to do so until now.

These skills are strengthened through the life of Hong Kong Sea Cadet Corps,

which is a uniform group like a small society. In the organization, cadets have

to stay along with different people from different ages and background, the

mind of „team spirit‟ has been set. Working in the real society is the same as

that in the Sea Cadet Corps - cooperating well with others. The author believes

that she can get well with colleagues at work.

„Good communication skills typically lead to better relationships with your

co-workers, a better relationship with your boss, and a greater likelihood that

you‟ll be given additional responsibilities or considered for promotion,‟ said

Tribune (2005, pp A8) The author noticed effective communication is important

since she has a part-time job in Hong Kong Disneyland. She works in the

outdoor vending department. The food carts can be found everywhere

„onstage‟ in the park, but the main control center is in the backstage, therefore,

effective communication is vital for the operation of the carts. Whenever the

communication breakdown, the whole workflow will be affected.

24

Apart from these skills, the author can improve her leadership also. She is

lucky that the uniform group has given her a large space to learn and practice

through holding activities and giving training to the cadets. She understands

how to assist her followers in attaining their goals and to provide directions or

supports. These experiences can enhance her personal growth and get well

prepared to be a front office manager in the future.

2.3 Justify Chosen Career Choice

„Career success is a way for individuals to fulfill their need for achievement and

power, because it improves people‟s quantity or quality of life‟, said Lau and

Shaffer (1999, pp 225).

Every child has dreamed about their future career, and it will change according

to their ages. When the author was in secondary school, she wished to be a

geologist because she loved geography. However, she only got a credit in the

HKCEE, and even failed in the HKAL. She knew that she has to look for other

career. As the author loves to interact with people, so she chose a

service-oriented subject in higher diploma, Hotel Management. After finished

the higher diploma, she found that she did make a right decision to study hotel

management. Therefore, she is now studying a degree of International

Hospitality and Tourism Management. She hopes to develop her career in

hotel industry.

25

The VARK test stated that the author has a strong ability to speak and listen

well. Besides, the Myers Briggs test result showed that the author does well in

positions where they deal with people in workplace. She has ability to

understand people and say just what needs to be said to make them happy

makes them naturals for counseling. Finally, the Belbin Inventory test showed

that the author‟s overall style is a well-equipped team player. Whether the

focus is on the individual or the team, she has the ability to make her mark by

offering well-informed support and advice. The author can works well with

colleagues in a team.

The author hopes to be a front office manager in the future within 6-8 years.

Therefore, she will first apply as a hotel receptionist to enter the industry after

her graduation. The hospitality industry requires team works, not only within

one team but also with other teams to provide excellent service to customers.

For instance, the front office department has to cooperate well with the

housekeeping department in order to provide comfortable and suitable

guestrooms to guests. The author has confidence that she can well

communicate and coordinate with the colleagues as her personality facilitates

her to build up harmonic relationship with people. This can also help her to

build up good relationship with guests as well, since listening, understanding

and patience are vital skills in hospitality industry to get customers satisfied.

29

Section B

Part 1: Introduction

1.1 Reason for choice of topic

The topic of the dissertation is the development of Corporate Social

Responsibility (CSR) in Hotel Industry. The hospitality industry is made up of

many companies who are run by business people. According to Jaszay and

Dunk (2006), business people who put short-term profits ahead of concern for

the long-term health of the company or who make additional profits by failing to

spend the money necessary to handle toxic waste or pollution resulting from

the manufacturing process, are not professionals and harm the reputation of

the industry as a profession. How CSR is closely related to the operations of

hotels and how they can implement the programs well cannot be ignored to the

success of the corporation.

Lee and Heo (2009) state that „CSR has emerged as an intensely relevant

issue in the corporate world in the past decade, and the hospitality industry has

been actively involving in the issue in various ways. Hotels have implemented

numerous green practices along with participating in green certificate

programs, such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

certification‟. Starwood even developed a new eco-friendly chain, ELEMENT

Hotels, in which properties must obtain LEED certification (Las Vegas Now,

2008).

30

Since the author would like to develop her career in hospitality industry in the

future, understanding the issues related to hotel industry can strengthen the

knowledge to get well prepared for the career development. The author

understands that corporate social responsibility is becoming a more and more

important issue not only in the hospitality industry, but also in all kinds of

industry worldwide. However, to compare with US or European countries,

Hong Kong seems falling behind on the development of CSR. Nowadays,

citizens are more concern about how the company acts as an enterprise in the

society when spending money on it. The higher the satisfaction, the more the

money they are willing to spend. CSR is vital for a company‟s improvement as

CSR activities can enhance brand images of hotels, and then, the improved

brand images can influence a hotel‟s financial performances by attracting more

customers.

1.2 Academic objectives of Project

This literature review aims to advise the following objectives:

1. to define Corporate Social Responsibility;

2. to review recent programs that hotel industry is doing;

3. to analyze the importance of CSR to hotels‟ competitiveness and

4. to examine the challenges hotel industry is facing

31

1.3 Outline of sections

This paper is structured by three sections as follow:

- Part 1 is the introduction. It presents a brief background and reasons for

this literature review, and main academic objectives of the dissertation. It

also briefly lists out the outline of each section.

- Part 2 is the literature review. This part reports the development of

corporate social responsibility in the hotel industry. It provides

comprehensive information and allows readers to have more

understanding of CSR. It also analyzes the importance and examines the

challenges of CSR in hotel industry.

- Part 3 is the conclusion. The objective of this section is to draw summary

and provide recommendations about corporate social responsibility to hotel

industry.

32

Part 2: Literature Review

2.1 Background of CSR

2.1.1 Definition

Corporate social responsibility is the “organization‟s obligation to maximize its

positive impact and minimize its negative effects in being a contributing

member to society, with concern for society‟s long-term needs and wants”

(Lantos, 2001, pp600).

Besides, CSR can be broadly defined as the activities making companies good

citizens who contribute to society‟s welfare beyond their own self interests. It

can also be anything from making sure staff has the right ergonomic chair at

work, to strategic development of a sustainable business, introducing best

practices or giving something back to the wider community.

Moreover, CSR involves running a business with an action-oriented

managerial strategy under a comprehensive set of policies, practices, and

programs integrated throughout the business operations. Decision making

includes a voluntary commitment to contribute to sustainable development by

making decisions that fairly balance the claims of all key stakeholders,

shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, and local communities. These

decisions should maximize the positive impact and minimize the negative

effects of the business, while maintaining concern for society‟s long-term

needs in ways that address or exceed the ethical, legal, environmental,

33

commercial, and other wants or expectations of society, with consumers trying

to be accountable to society for performance by explaining, justifying, or

reporting on their actions.

All in all, Corporate Social Responsibility involves “achieving commercial

success in ways that honor ethical values and respect people, communities,

and the natural environment” (Clark, 2006, pp 42). There is no universally

accepted definition of CSR, but most of the definitions have to do with

business having a positive impact on the community (Redford, 2005) and

meeting or exceeding public expectations of good corporate citizenship

(Brands that do good, 2003).

2.1.2 History

CSR activities is not new, they have already more than 100 years history.

Originally CSR came from charity principle or nobles oblige. This means some

firms or some rich people, that afford to help community or others because of

their profits or richness, did CSR activities by which firms and rich people do

not earn the money, but only spend money.

Ackerman and Bauer (1976) states that „CSR we handle is concerned about

not only social contribution but also positively solving social problems like

environmental issues.‟ In 1950s in U.S, social problems like environmental

pollution which caused by firms occurred and were accused by citizen were

discussed as corporate social responsibility. In 1960s and 70s CSR was very

34

hot issue in USA again, because some illegal action were accused and some

big incidents occurred in business and politics. So many people paid attention

to firms‟ activities which could cause them harm. In other words, firms‟

influence was huge and people could not ignore it. To survive, keep

developing and justify its existence, firms were in the situation to persuade

people and care of them. Then social issues were begun to discuss in CSR.

CSR is regarded as social issue in management in this context. An act of a firm

should be not only reactive, but also anticipatory and pro-active.

Nowadays CSR is not only spending money, doing CSR activities enable us to

earn the money. A firm‟s purpose is not only to survive, develop and justify its

existence, but also to do business with stakeholders, to develop society, to

support society, to solve social problems and to gain sustainability. Therefore,

CSR concepts are still spreading.

2.2 Recent CSR programs in the hotel industry

2.2.1 Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts have unified all initiatives within five key areas

of CSR namely, Environment, Health & Safety, Employees, Supply Chain,

Stakeholder Relations and under the umbrella brand of 'sustainability', so that

CSR can be used as a more significant tool towards development. The

followings are the brief description of the five areas:

35

For Environment, Shangri-La mitigates impacts on the environment by

ensuring that its day-to-day operations promote and implement responsible

environmental practices and continual improvement. It has to ensure every

property built respects local traditions and culture to restore natural habitats,

conserve biodiversity and manage waste, water and energy. Regarding to

Health and Safety, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has commenced

certification under the Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems

(OHSA: 18001). For Employees, Shangri-La highly encourages employment

from local communities in order to contribute to the overall residents' quality

of life. In addition, 2% of every hotel‟s headcount is made up of colleagues who

have various mental and/or physical challenges. In Supply Chain aspect,

Shangri-La prefers local community-based suppliers and eco-friendly products

so as to promote growth and development in the communities in which it

operates. It is strongly committed to working with business partners who share

the values of corporate citizenship, respect for the environment, human rights

and social justice. Finally, for Stakeholder relations, Shangri-La is launching its

first Sustainability Report for the year 2010 to feature baseline data on

environmental, social and economic practice. Regular dialogue is conducted

with corporate and preferred clients, suppliers, concessionaires and the local

community to better address issues that confront its properties.

CSR Programs - Embrace

Shangri-La's Care for People Project was launched in September 2009

committing each hotel to a 10-15 year partnership with a chosen beneficiary

working on children's health or education programs. Whether a school, health

center or orphanage, the entity must require resources that the hotel can very

36

ably to deliver on, such as infrastructure support, fundraising, life skills training

and even hotel apprenticeships. Yearly goals and targets are defined and at

the end of ten to fifteen years, it is envisioned that the children have finished

higher education, are able to look after their own health and are ready for

decent employment based on their own merits. Hotels are encouraged to look

at running hotel skills training programs to entice these graduates to work in

the industry and secure a sustainable career for themselves (Shangri-La CSR

Programs).

For example, Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa, Kota Kinabalu has

partnered with Seri Mengasih, a school for over 100 intellectually and

physically challenged children, since 2008. 2010 marks the third year of full

school fees support alongside regular hotel skills training in areas such as

housekeeping and bakery, with the goal of hiring apprentices into the hotel.

One apprentice works at the registration and towel counter by the poolside and

is able to interact with guests. Funds are currently being raised to help

purchase a Snozelen center, a device and learning device that promotes

children‟s capacity to respond to light and sound dynamics.

Another example is the School Renovation project in Changchun. In the Yitong

county of Jilin Province, 20% of middle school students drop out yearly due to

lack of financial resources. Shangri-La Hotel, Changchun pledged to reduce

this to 10% in 2015 through the provision of a strong basic education facility. It

raised funds in 2008, constructed in 2009 and by 2010, opened up the school

to over 140 students. Knowing that they cannot do it alone, the hotel involved

partners from the East Asia Economic and Trade Newspaper and German

37

International School to supplement its commitments. Through this private

cooperation, over 2,000 books and 50 desks and chairs have been made

available to over 140 children and 2 teachers have been enrolled in the

Changchun Teacher's Further Education Institute in July 2010. Furthermore,

this project enticed groups like the Hutchison Whampoa Properties and

various individuals from the German and Japanese communities to develop

their own CSR project with the school. With much success on the first year, the

hotel will continue to upgrade the school‟s facilities such as internet and

multimedia learning points, sustained students' after-school activities

and teacher training and development. By 2020, Xin Jia Primary School should

graduate from the EMBRACE project so that it could pay the assistance

forward, as well as assist other schools.

CSR Programs - Sanctuary

Sanctuary focuses on Shangri-La's Care for Nature Project, which aims to take

a concerted effort to ensure that biodiversity conservation and habitat

protection is consistent across all resorts. Through "sanctuary", each resort

works on an individualized project, which will be further developed, tracked,

monitored and better engage stakeholders (Shangri-La CSR Programs).

For instance, Shangri-La's Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa, Sultanate of Oman

is home to various species of green and hawksbill turtles, it has carried out a

turtle care project. The resort cares for both species through a dedicated turtle

ranger who ensures that nesting turtles are nurtured during their time ashore

and temporary barriers, which are erected to protect the nests from people

38

walking on the beach, remain in place until the eggs hatch. In the 2009 turtle

season the resort‟s beaches were visited by 85 turtles that laid 6,000 eggs,

while in the 2008 turtle season, 95 turtles laid 9,500 eggs. Apart from these,

the resort is also active in the propagation of almost 100 reef balls, to ensure

that the habitats for all the marine life creatures remain robust and healthy.

Moreover, a five-hectare marine sanctuary in Shangri-La's Mactan Resort and

Spa in the Philippines is home to over 100 species of marine life (130 fish

species and over 50 coral species). What used to be a rock garden is now a

habitat for vibrant species and an eco-lab where staff and guest activities such

as coral & giant clam propagation, reef checking, beach or dive clean-ups and

guided marine sanctuary tours regularly happen. The sanctuary will extend to

approximately 27,000 sqm more of artificial reef as it aims to restore more

species such as seahorses, butterfly fish and various types of parrot fish.

2.2.2 InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)

With over 4,400 hotels worldwide and more than 1,200 in the pipeline, IHG has

an enormous opportunity to help make tourism responsible, from the energy

used, to the economic opportunities created in the communities. IHG works to

achieve this by treating CR as a strategic business issue, and an integral part

of the vision to become one the world's great companies through its core

purpose, Great Hotels Guests Love. To measure the progress against the

overall goal, IHG focus on four areas:

39

- Financial returns - to generate higher returns for owners and IHG through

increased revenue share, improved operating efficiency and growing

margins.

- Employees - to create hotels that are well run, with brands brought to life by

people who are proud of the job they do.

- Guest experience - to operate a portfolio of brands that are attractive to

owners and guests, and stand for something unique in the eyes of the

market and our guests.

- Responsible business - to take an active stance on environment and

community issues in order to create value for IHG, owners and guests

Internal programs for employee

In accordance with IHG Corporate Responsibility Report (2009), IHG

developed a new training package for staff and owners called Green Engage –

The Fundamentals, 300 people took the refreshed program. This builds on and

replaces the previous Green Aware training course and integrates more fully

with Green Engage and the new corporate management wheel, of which

Corporate Responsibility is one of the segments.

In September 2009, IHG held a Green Day at UK headquarters to raise

awareness of IHG‟s approach to Corporate Responsibility (CR). Activities

included:

- surveying staff to find out what they think about IHG‟s approach to CR

- screening an educational CR documentary

- educating employees on the environmental credentials of our HQ building

40

- promoting the work our staff kitchen is doing to ensure food is sourced

ethically and locally

- providing information on running greener meetings in our conference area

- fundraising for Oxford University‟s conservation project

As communication between employers and employees is vital to success, IHG

did carry out related measures to feedback the employees. For example,

employees told that they would like IHG to focus on reducing waste and then

the company introduced a new efficiency campaign „War on waste‟.

To conclude, the internal programs for employees are quite success in IHG as

feedback from the staff questionnaire told that there is good awareness of CR

at IHG with nearly 90% of staff aware of the online report. Therefore, IHG has

extended the way to use the corporate intranet site „Merlin‟ to ensure all staff

have access to the CR policies, as well as included educational material in our

meetings area to help colleagues run their meetings in a more sustainable

way.

External programs for guests and corporate clients

Encouraging guests to behave responsibly is crucial to the effective

implementation of a corporate sustainability measures. IHG is doing this by

making recommendations to its hotels through Green Engage, such as:

- using signage, literature and helpful front-of-house staff to draw attention to

the green efforts of the hotel and encourage guests to participate

- promoting local sustainability shops, activities and alternative means of

transport so that guests‟ environmentally conscious choices permeate into

41

the surrounding economy

- providing guests with feedback on their energy and resource usage in a

friendly, informative manner.

Also through Green Engage, IHG can capture how its different hotels around

the world engage with guests on environmental issues in order to share

learning across the Group. One of the initiatives helping to bring responsible

tourism principles to life for guests is the partnership with National Geographic.

In 2011, the core purpose of IHG is to create Great Hotels Guests Love.

Feedback from the guests who stay in its hotels is therefore central to its CR

strategy. Also, the investment in consumer insight research confirms that CR is

important to the majority of customers. As IHG update CR report every quarter,

stakeholders can check on its progress throughout the year. Moreover, by

visiting the virtual Innovation Hotel, stakeholders also get a chance to take part

in creating their ideal hotel by sharing ideas on how to make a hotel greener.

Recently, a growing number of the corporate clients are setting themselves

sustainability targets and look for help to achieve them. IHG provide corporate

clients with details of its own carbon footprint when they choose to do business

with IHG. At the same time it has set a strategic objective of making every

guest's stay at one of its hotels more carbon efficient (IHG Corporate

Responsibility Report, 2011).

42

2.3 Importance of CSR to hotels’ competitiveness

CSR activities may not directly, but rather indirectly impact firm performance,

meaning that possible factors may mediate impacts of CSR activities on firm

performance. According to the stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984), CSR

activities may enhance brand image, not only for customers, but also for

employees and other stakeholders. Therefore, such activities can

subsequently enhance customers‟ satisfaction, employees‟ morale and

retention rates, and relationships with governments, and then, the hotel‟s

competitiveness.

2.3.1 Financial performance

Along with the growing concern for CSR of general public and corporate

attention to CSR issues, the hospitality industry has indicated an ever

increasing interest in CSR. In accordance with Kang, Lee and Huh (2009), the

number of CSR and environmental news items on a hospitality industry web

site, Hospitality Net, increased from 63 in 1999 to 139 in 2007 with 10.4%

compound annual growth rate while the number of overall news only increased

with just a 2.8% compound annual growth rate. More leading hospitality

companies exclusively provide CSR related reports, e.g. Hilton, Starwood, etc.

According to Post et al. (2002), a firm‟s capacity that generates sustainable

wealth over time and its long-term value are determined by the relationship

with both internal and external stakeholders. CSR, if it contributes to

enhancing firm value, can be an appropriate corporate strategy as the

43

stakeholder theory suggests, not an exploitation of shareholders‟ wealth to

benefit other parties, as Friedman (1970) worried.

Nicolau (2008) employed an event study that examined abnormal returns of

two Spanish hotels with 26 CSR-relater announcements during the 1996-2006

period. The study found positive abnormal returns and concluded that CSR is

considered value-added to hotel firms.

2.3.2 Employee satisfaction

Douglas Klein , President of Sirota Survey Intelligence said, “Businesses that

recognize the importance of social responsibility often have employees who

tend to be more satisfied with their jobs, adopt similar values, and become

more committed to achieving success within the industry,” (Amble, 2007, May).

While employees may not base their job decisions on CSR programs, almost

half (46%) still believe it is important for organizations to have such initiatives

in place. They also seem to appreciate opportunities to invest in the

community when they are given the chance. Among the 46% of workers who

work for an organization with a CSR program, nearly two-thirds participate.

Peg Buchenroth, senior vice president of human resources, Hudson, said

“While the return on investment (ROI) of a CSR initiative is tough to determine,

employees expect their employers to give back to the community and value

the opportunity to be a part of that. In addition, participating in a charitable

activity not only builds strong team dynamics but also makes an individual feel

like he or she is helping the organization give back to society” (Amble, 2007,

44

August). Employees who are satisfied with their organization's CSR record are

likely to be more positive, more engaged and more productive than those

working for less responsible employers.

According to the survey by Sirota Survey Intelligence (Amble, 2007, May), a

strong commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) has an impact on a

wide range of employee attitudes, and about 70% employees gave their

employer's commitment to CSR the thumbs-up. The survey showed that

employees who are satisfied with their organization's commitment to social

and environmental responsibility are likely to be more positive, more engaged

and more productive than those working for less responsible employers.

Employees‟ views of CSR are connected with a broader assessment of the

character of senior leadership – meaning that management can be relied on to

follow through on what they say. However, leaders who are seen as incapable

of following through are unlikely to be regarded as being socially responsible.

60% of employees who are satisfied with their employer's CSR commitment

feel that senior management has a strong sense of direction compared to just

18% in less enlightened organizations.

Moreover, effective leaders enhance the satisfaction of employees. When

employees question the time or money spent on certain social initiatives or any

other activities, an effective leader will demonstrate the strategic importance

these programs play in supporting the interests of the business. The effect of

these positive attitudes on employees‟ engagement is startling. When

employees are positive about their organization's CSR commitment,

employees‟ engagement rises to 86%. When employees are negative about

45

their employer's CSR activities, only 37% are highly engaged.

All in all, people want to be associated with a successful organization that has

a positive image. Employees do not divide the moral compass of their

company into one part for employees and another part for the community. The

employers' commitment to corporate social responsibility is critical in

conveying that the organization acts in their best interests, and is dedicated to

treating them fairly and equitably. To employees, CSR and business success

go together, companies that enhance their reputations through CSR perform

better, and generate greater employee loyalty from workers.

2.3.3 Customer satisfaction

According to Anderson, Fornell and Mazvancheryl (2004), customer

satisfaction is defined as an overall evaluation based on the customer‟s total

purchase and consumption experience with a good or service over time.

Several marketing studies have found that social responsibility programs have

a significant influence on several customer-related outcomes (Bhattacharya

and Sen, 2003). Besides, CSR is reported to affect, either directly or indirectly,

consumer product responses (Brown and Dacin, 1997), customer–company

identification (Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001), customer donations to nonprofit

organizations (Lichtenstein, Drumwright and Bridgette, 2004), and customers‟

product attitude (Berens, Riel and Bruggen, 2005).

In the marketing literature, customer satisfaction has been recognized as an

important part of corporate strategy and a key driver of firm long-term

46

profitability and market value (Gruca and Rego, 2005). A hotel‟s CSR

initiatives can lead to greater customer satisfaction.

Firstly, both institutional theory (Scott, 1987) and stakeholder theory (Maignan

and Ferrell, 2005) suggested that a company‟s actions appeal to the

multidimensionality of the consumer as not only an economic being but also a

member of a family, community, and country (Handelman and Arnold, 1999).

Building on this, Daub and Ergenzinger (2005) proposed the term “generalized

customer” to denote people who are not only customers who care about the

consumption experience but also actual or potential members of various

stakeholder groups that companies need to consider. Viewed in this way, such

generalized customers are likely to be more satisfied by products and services

that socially responsible firms (versus socially irresponsible counterparts)

offer.

Secondly, a strong record of CSR creates a favorable context that positively

boosts consumers‟ evaluations of and attitude toward the firm (Sen and

Bhattacharya, 2001). Specifically, recent works on customer–company

identification (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003) suggested that CSR initiatives

constitute a key element of corporate identity that can induce customers to

develop a sense of connection with the company. Indeed, Lichtenstein,

Drumwright and Bridgette (2004, pp 17) noted that “a way that CSR initiatives

create benefits for companies appears to be by increasing consumers‟

identification with the corporation … [and] support for the company.” Not

surprisingly, identified customers are more likely to be satisfied with a firm‟s

offerings.

47

Lastly, customers likely derive better perceived value and, consequently,

higher satisfaction from a product that is made by a socially responsible

company, that is, added value through good social causes. Furthermore,

engaging in CSR may allow firms to understand their generalized customers

better and thus improve their customer-specific knowledge (Sen and

Bhattacharya 2001). As improving customer knowledge represents another

antecedent that has been found to enhance customer satisfaction, therefore,

CSR initiatives may help promote customer satisfaction.

To conclude, consumers are increasingly more concerned with how

companies make their money and are expecting businesses to be responsible

for their social, ethical, and environmental impacts on society and the

community (Lane, 2006).

2.4 Challenges to the hotel industry

2.4.1 Financial aspect

It is very important for a hotel to think CSR and manage CSR activities. But it is

not easy to carry out because of a lack of financial resource, human resources

who have qualification of environmental studies, or other resource. Big hotel

chains, e.g. Hilton InterContinental, etc. can afford to pay these, for example

hire human resource or educate employees. However, other small hotels

sometimes cannot carry out, but they have to do it because it is requirement of

their stakeholders.

48

According to a recent study (Park and Lee, 2009), the effect of CSR decreases

accounting performance at the first stage, but it becomes positive as the level

of CSR investment increases at the second stage. The findings suggests that

the cost of CSR activities is initially greater than the benefits the company can

obtain in terms of accounting numbers. However, over time the investment

seems to pay off, perhaps because it takes time for customers, employees,

governments, and the public to recognize and appreciate the company‟s CSR

activities. Therefore, in terms of financial performance, management should

take a long-term perspective for its CSR investment.

2.4.2 Ethical aspect

The hospitality industry is made up of many companies who are run by

business people. Business people who put short-term profits ahead of concern

for the long-term health of the company or who make additional profits by

failing to spend the money necessary to handle toxic waste or pollution

resulting from the manufacturing process, are not professionals and harm the

reputation of the industry as a profession (Jaszay and Dunk, 2006).

There are many important doubts about the validity of the announced CSR

investments, despite the seeming attractiveness of this approach. For example,

there is a lack of consensus on what should be included or excluded in CSR

investments (Margolis and Walsh 2003). Few companies have their

announced CSR investments audited or validated externally by third parties.

Thus, some hotels may over report the CSR investments for impression

49

management that exaggerating their giving. Other firms may underreport CSR

investments because they may regard CSR investments only as donated cash

or in-kind products and services, which exclude investments that benefit the

environment and their employees.

Berner (2005) stated that although some external sources, e.g. 100 best

corporate citizens by Business Ethics, may track companies‟ CSR investments

objectively, the nature and amount of CSR investments for the same firm can

change dramatically from one source to another.

Furthermore, the expansion of social responsible investment (SRI, which

finances CSR activities) market means that CSR activities including societal,

environmental consciousness and economical are accepted in our society, but

it is also possible to think that some firms use these thinking as strategic tools.

It is not so problematic, but a problem is that stakeholders are regarded as

tools to gain profit or use stakeholders as tools. In other words, economical

perspective is a higher rank perspective than societal and environmental

consciousness, which is only the tool for gaining it. The firm has taken only

financial aspect into account, so concentrates on only profit.

50

Part 3: Summary and Conclusions

3.1 Summary

With this study, it provides a plenty of information related to corporate social

responsibility. To summarize, CSR can be anything from making sure staff

have the right ergonomic chair at work, to strategic development of a

sustainable business. The ultimate aim is introducing best practices or giving

something back to the wider community.

It is important for both large and small companies to carry out CSR programs.

Although larger companies benefitted more from high CSR ratings, smaller

hotel chains and independent hotels may be able to implement environmental

and social policies easier than the larger companies. Apart from these, a good

reputation can draw new customers and workers and help to raise staff morale

(Redford, 2005). As doing business with companies that have good CSR

reputations is becoming a preference for many consumers. Hotels can flexibly

implement their own strategic CSR programs in order to maximize their

competiveness among the others.

In conclusion, CSR requires organizations to demonstrate responsible

business conduct that does no harm in the marketplace, in the workplace, in

the community they operate in, and to the natural environment (Roberts, 2007).

The actions of business impact the local, national, and global community, so

businesses have a responsibility to ensure that the impact is positive (Paton,

2007).

51

3.2 Recommendations

As talked in the reason for choice of topic, Hong Kong seems falling behind on

the development of CSR comparing with US or European countries, especially

for small hotels. After referencing the current CSR programs that the industry

is doing, the following are some recommendations:

First of all, social and environmental perspectives are not instruments to gain

profits. Environmental and social perspectives could be connected with core

competence of a firm. Schepers and Sethi (2003) suggested that there are so

many different criteria to evaluate CSR activities and standards. The industry

has to develop rating system of CSR. The managements in hospitality firms

should have strategic insight for CSR‟s beneficial impact on increasing firm

value by taking into account legal stakeholders. When making strategic

decisions, the managements should predict the varying impacts of positive and

negative CSR activities on financial performance in the industry. In a recent

study (Kang, Lee and Huh, 2009), its results confirmed the positive effect in

hotel industry, the primary action for hotels should be taken to increase positive

CSR activities rather than reduce negative CSR activities. To employees,

providing equal opportunities and fair conditions, and maintaining a safe and

worker-friendly work environment are examples of positive CSR activities.

Furthermore, when establishing a CSR strategy, managements should be

cautious about the possibility of the tendency that more weights are placed on

positive CSR activities than negative CSR activities by stakeholders including

consumers, employees, suppliers, communities and investors that can

52

influence firm value. Therefore, concentrating on increasing positive CSR

activities rather than reducing negative ones would be a more appropriate

CSR strategy. More specifically, they should prepare CSR investment plans

considering long-term effect that compensates the implementation with firm

value evaluated by market rather than expecting short-term profitability.

53

References

Ackerman, R.W. and Bauer, R.A., 1976. Corporate Social Responsiveness:

The Modern Dilemma. (Virginia: Reston), pp 8

Ahern, J., 2007. Transferable skills vital to your future. Pembroke Observer

(Ontario), pp7.

Amble, B. (2007, August). CSR has little impact on employment decisions.

Management-issues. [online]. Last accessed 26 March 2011 at:

http://www.management-issues.com/2007/8/15/research/csr-has-little-impact-

on-employment-decisions.asp

Amble, B. (2007, May). Social responsibility boosts employee engagement.

Management-issues. [online]. Last accessed 26 March 2011 at:

http://www.management-issues.com/2007/5/9/research/social-responsibility-b

oosts-employee-engagement.asp

Anderson, Eugene W., Claes Fornell, and Sanal K. Mazvancheryl, 2004.

Customer Satisfaction and Shareholder Value. Journal of Marketing, 68

(October), pp 172–85.

Berens, Guido, Cees B.M. van Riel, and Gerrit H. van Bruggen, 2005.

Corporate Associations and Consumer Product Responses: The Moderating

Role of Corporate Brand Dominance. Journal of Marketing, 69 (July), pp

35–18.

54

Berner, Robert, 2005. Smarter Corporate Giving. Business-Week, (November

28), pp 68–76.

Bhattacharya, C.B. and Sankar Sen, 2003. Consumer–Company Identification:

A Framework for Understanding Consumers‟ Relationships with Companies.

Journal of Marketing, 67 (April), pp 76–88.

Brands that do good also do well, 2003. HSMAI Marketing Review, 20(3), pp

40.

Brown, Tom J. and Peter A. Dacin, 1997. The Company and the Product:

Corporate Associations and Consumer Product Responses. Journal of

Marketing, 61 (January), pp 68–84.

Clark, S., 2006. Corporate social responsibility: A marketing tool for major

hotel brands. HSMAI Marketing Review, 23(1), pp 42-45.

Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E., Ecclestone, K., 2004. Should we be using

learning styles? What research has to say to practice. London: Learning and

Skills Research Centre.

Daub, Claus-Heinrich and Rudolf Ergenzinger, 2005. Enabling Sustainable

Management Through a New Multi-Disciplinary Concept of Customer

Satisfaction. European Journal of Marketing, 39 (9–10), pp 998–1012.

55

Department of Education and Science, 2000. Learning for Life: White Paper on

Adult Education. Dublin: Stationery Office. Last accessed 6 March 2011 at:

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/

80/1a/c6/5e.pdf.

Fleming, N. & Mills, C., 1992. Not another inventory, rather a catalyst for

reflection To improve the academy, (11), pp 137-149.

Fleming, N., and Baume, D., 2006. Learning Styles Again: VARKing up the

right tree!, Educational Developments, SEDA Ltd, Issue 7.4, Nov. 2006, pp4-7.

Freeman, R.E., 1984. Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach.

Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

French, G., Cosgritt, T. & Brown, T. 2007. Learning style preferences of

Australian occupational therapy students. Australian Occupational Therapy

Journal, vol. 54, no. s1, pp S58-S65.

Gruca, Thomas S. and Lopo L. Rego, 2005. Customer Satisfaction, Cash Flow,

and Shareholder Value. Journal of Marketing, 69 (July), pp 115–30.

Handelman, Jay M. and Stephen J. Arnold, 1999. The Role of Marketing

Actions with a Social Dimension: Appeals to the Institutional Environment.

Journal of Marketing, 63 (July), pp 33–48.

56

IHG Corporate Responsibility Report, 2009. [online]. Last accessed 5 January

2011 at: http://www.ihgplc.com/files/pdf/2009_cr_report.pdf

IHG Corporate Responsibility Report, 2011. [online]. Last accessed 1 April

2011 at: http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=737

Jaszay, C. & Dunk, P., 2006. Ethical Decision Making in the Hospitality Industry.

Prentice Hall: New Jersey.

Jones, A., Woods, A., Coles, A-M., and Rein, M. Graduates as strategic

change agents in small firms: a case study of graduate placements and

lifelong learning // Strategic Change, 2001. – 10 (1). – pp. 59-69.

Kang, K.H., Lee, S. Huh, C., 2009. Impacts of positive and negative corporate

social responsibility activities on company performance in the hospitality

industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management 29 (2009), pp 72-82

Lane, G., 2006. Taking responsibility. Leisure Management, 26(6), pp 40-43.

Lantos, G. P., 2001. The boundaries of strategic corporate social responsibility.

Journal of Consumer Marketing, 18(7), 595-630.

Las Vegas Now, 2008. Eyewitness News. Retrived from ELEMENT Hotel

Chain First to go Green. Last accessed 3 March 2011 at:

http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8212251

57

Lau, V., & Shaffer, M. A. 1999. Career success: The effects of personality.

Career Development International, 4: pp 225-230.

Lee, S., Heo, C.Y., 2009. Corporate social responsibility and customer

satisfaction among US publicly demanded hotels and restaurants.

International Journal of Hospitality Management 28 (2009), pp 635-637

Lichtenstein, Donald R., Minette E. Drumwright, and Bridgette M. Braig, 2004.

The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Customer Donations to

Corporate-Supported Nonprofits. Journal of Marketing, 68 (October), pp

16–32.

Maignan, Isabelle, O.C. Ferrell, and Linda Ferrell, 2005. A Stakeholder Model

for Implementing Social Responsibility in Marketing. European Journal of

Marketing, 39 (9–10), pp 956–77.

Margolis, Joshua D. and James P. Walsh, 2003. Misery Loves Companies:

Rethinking Social Initiatives by Business. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38

(3), pp 268–305.

Nicolau, J.L., 2008. Corporate social responsibility: worth-creating activities.

Annals of Tourism Research 35(4), pp 990-1006.

58

Park, S.Y. and Lee, S., 2009. Financial Rewards for Social Responsibility: A

Mixed Picture for Restaurant Companies. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. 2009

Cornell University, DOI: 10.1177/1938965509331814, Vol. 50, Issue 2, pp

168-179.

Paton, N., 2007. Giving something back. Caterer & Hotelkeeper, 197(4496), pp

46-49.

Post, J.E., Preston, L.E., Sachs, S., 2002. Managing the extended enterprise:

the new stakeholder view. California Management Review 45 (1), pp 6-28.

Redford, K., 2005. Business brains get a heart. Caterer & Hotelkeeper,

195(4392), pp 36-39.

Roberts, P., 2007. What is corporate responsibility? Hospitality, (6), pp 54-55.

Schepers, D. H. and Sethi, P. 2003. Do Socially Responsible Funds Actually

Deliver What They Premise?. Business and Society Review, 108:1.

Scott, W. Richard, 1987. The Adolescence of Institutional Theory.

Administrative Science Quarterly, 32 (December), pp 493–511.

Sen, Sankar and C.B. Bhattacharya, 2001. Does Doing Good Always Lead to

Doing Better? Consumer Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility.

Journal of Marketing Research, 38 (May), pp 225–44.

59

Shangri-La CSR Programs. [online]. Last accessed 11 March 2011 at:

http://www.shangri-la.com/en/corporate/aboutus/socialresponsibility

Test for young people, How to Belbin Team Roles, viewed 27 January 2009.

Last accessed 10 March 2011 at: http://www.belbin.com/rte.asp?id=40.

Tribune, L.S. 2005, Good communication skills count. Welland Tribune

(Ontario), pp A8.

Tung, C. H. 1999. Quality people: Quality home. Address by the Chief

Executive at the Legislative council meeting. 6 October. Hong Kong: Printing

department.

Wall, S 2008, Personality: What Type Are You? RDH, vol. 28, no. 5, pp78.

60

Bibliography

Act responsibly: Corporate good deeds help communities and build long-term

business., 2004. Nation‟s Restaurant News, 38(36), pp 22.

Ashley, C. & Haysom, G., 2006. From philanthropy to a different way of doing

business: Strategies and challenges in integrating pro-poor approaches into

tourism business. Development Southern Africa, 23(2), pp 265-280.

Balmer, M. T., Fukukawa, K., & Gray, E. R., 2007. The nature and

management of ethical corporate identity: A commentary on corporate identity,

corporate social responsibility and ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 76, pp

7-15.

Choi, G. & Parsa, H.G., 2006. Green practices II: Measuring restaurant

managers‟ psychological attributes and their willingness to charge for the

“green practices,” Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 9(4), pp 41-63.

Cotterill, H., 2007. Training & recruitment. Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland,

pp 48-48.

Jones, P., Comfort, D., & Hillier, D., 2006. Reporting and reflecting on

corporate social responsibility in the hospitality industry. International Journal

of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 18(4), pp 329-340.

61

Kallio, T. J., 2007. Taboos in corporate social responsibility discourse. Journal

of Business Ethics, 74, pp 165-175.

Porter, M., & Kramer, M., 2002, December. Corporate philanthropy. Harvard

Business Review.

Responsible hospitality in independent hotels and smaller chains, 2005. Green

Hotelier, 35, pp 12-18.

62

Reflective Statement

After completing the tests which identified the personal strengths and

weaknesses, the author has a better self-understanding about her learning

style, personality and team role. Those test results are consistent to the

author‟s own perception and agreed by her family and friends. Also, the tests

recommended some suggestions for improvement and allow the author to

justify her career choice for the nearest future.

Referring to the author‟s learning preferences, VARK stated that she is

multimodal, which is in the majority, as approximately 60% of any population

fits that category. However, even in a multimodal, there are differences

between each category. The author‟s read/write ability is relatively lower than

the others. It reflects that the author is weak at reading information displayed

with only words. This may affect the working performance who works as a

receptionist. As receptionist greets guests very often, she should be well

prepared to satisfy guests‟ enquiries by gathering as much information as

possible by reading. Therefore, the author has to put more effort to improve

her reading skills. Also, to be a manager, writing reports and handling massive

paper works are needed. The author should also read more articles, books,

journals, etc. in order to improve her writing skills if she wants to be a front

office manager. Even though the author may change her career in the future,

she can still make use of her strengths in other fields as many works need

these abilities.

63

Besides, referring to the author‟s personality, MBTI stated that she is

people-oriented who has excellent people skills because of good

understanding and caring about people. She simply wants to have good

relationship with all people around and build up a harmonic environment. This

characteristic can help her to develop the career easier as the hospitality

industry is also people-oriented, having good impression and being sociable to

the others are important.

Also, she can handle many different things at the same time. For instance, the

author will apply to be a receptionist after graduated. Receptionist needs to

handle check-in and check-out, guests‟ enquiries, bookings, etc. There are

quite heavy workloads for the receptionist, therefore, having great amount of

ability to master different works and get things well-organized can enhance the

authors‟ competitiveness among the others. Also, working in the hospitality

industry requires team work spirit. The author needs to work well with her

colleagues to complete the tasks and provide excellent service to guests. The

personality of people-oriented helps her in this criteria a lot.

The greatest weakness of the author is being indecisive. Her mother, her

friends and herself agree that she always spends too much time to make

decision. However, to act as a manager, decision making is vital in the role

because plenty of problems need to be solved by the leader. The author

should improve her critical thinking skills in order to analyze and tackle with

problems.

64

Moreover, referring to the author‟s team role, Belbin Inventory Self-Perception

stated that she is a team worker. Her overall style is a well-equipped team

player, she has the ability to offer well-informed support and advice to others.

This team role is good for the author if she wants to be a manager in the future.

Most likely, team worker managers are seen as a threat to no one and

therefore the most accepted and favored people to serve under. A harmonic

working environment can be built. However, the test also stated that the author

may be uncomfortable when having to deal with pressure. For example, a

receptionist needs to deal with complex problems or complaints from guests.

This kind of situations occurred very often in hospitality industry, the author can

learn from the colleagues or teachers who have related experiences, having

more discussion with them can widen her horizon and get preparation both

mentally and physically. From time to time, the author believes that she can

handle duties and deal with problems well under pressure.

Both innate and acquired characteristics, and learning from external

environment, e.g. school, extra-curricular activities or workplace are vital for

one‟s career development. The author has planned her own lifelong planning

to enhance her abilities in order to fulfill her dream as she knows that her

current transferable skills are not enough for her to take the role as a front

office manager in the management team.

Last but not least, the author did not hesitate to choose a topic of the study

after having self-understanding and clear direction for her career goal. The

topic is about corporate social responsibility in hospitality industry. Although

65

this topic is not very common in Hong Kong comparing with the US and

European countries, it is worth to do the topic as it will be more familiar to the

general public from time to time as protecting the earth planet is an important

issue nowadays. Also, if a hotel does its corporate social responsibility well, it

not only does its obligation as an enterprise of the society, but it can also gain a

valuable asset – good reputation which is vital to a company to develop its

business smoothly. All in all, by doing this paper, the author did know more and

has more understanding about the industry.

66

Last Page Ø