Investigating Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Engagement in the Thai Hotel Sector

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an integral part of the modern business paradigm (Porter & Kramer, 2006a) and correspondingly, research interest in CSR has grown among hospitality academics (Sheldon & Park, 2011). However, published CSR works tend to revolve around three core areas: debating the nature of CSR (e.g., Levy & Park, 2011), impacts on firm performance (e.g., Inoue & Lee, 2011), and customers’ or employees’ perspectives toward CSR (e.g., Tsai, Tsang, & Cheng, 2012). Less attention has been given to understanding why firms engage with CSR, despite researchers calling for a better understanding of the key factors driving CSR engagement, including a fuller discussion about the concept of engagement (e.g., Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Graci & Dodds, 2008). Therefore, this thesis aims to investigate: What are the determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Engagement in the Thai hotel sector? In this thesis, the term CSR engagement describes the business practices relating to social, cultural, and environmental issues, including their reasoning and motivation for managing and adopting policies, practices, and future intentions. A review of the literature in CSR highlights several issues, including a focus on studies examining environmental practices, rather than a broader spectrum of CSR activities.