Author: Ko, Annie
Title: The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on organisational citizenship and customer-oriented behaviour : a study of hotel employees in Hong Kong
Advisors: Chan, Andrew (SHTM)
Wong, Simon (SHTM)
Degree: Ph.D.
Year: 2016
Subject: Social responsibility of business.
Corporate governance.
Hotels -- Employees -- China -- Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations
Department: School of Hotel and Tourism Management
Pages: xiv, 392 pages : illustrations
Language: English
Abstract: Perceived corporate social responsibility (PCSR) is an under-researched area. It refers to employees' overall perception of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities undertaken by their organisation. Over the past few years, PCSR has received much research attention because of the increasing awareness of its impact on positive employee attitudes and behaviour. It is particularly important in the hotel industry because employee behaviour, both internally within the organisation and externally during service encounters, can have a significant effect on customer satisfaction and financial performance. The first objective of this study was to develop an instrument to measure employees' perceptions of their organisation's CSR activities. This PCSR instrument was then used to examine the impact of PCSR on employee attitudes and behaviour such as organisational commitment (OC), organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and customer-oriented behaviour (COB). The mediating role of organisational commitment in the form of affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment were also examined. A mixed methods of qualitative and quantitative approach was used in this study. In-depth interviews were conducted to verify the domains and dimensions of PCSR. This was followed by an assessment of the items' content by academic and industry experts. The instrument's reliability was also scrutinised through a pilot study of 204 hotel employees in Hong Kong. Data collection for the main survey commenced in March 2015. One thousand two hundred questionnaires were distributed to hotel employees through the human resources departments of 18 hotels in Hong Kong; 732 usable questionnaires were obtained and the valid response rate was 61.0%. The validity of the instrument was assessed by confirmatory factor analysis. The final instrument displayed strong internal reliability and validity and comprised 36 measurement items. This finding also confirmed that PCSR is a multidimensional construct with five dimensions: employees, guests, the local community, the natural environment and owners/investors.
The causal relationships between PCSR, OC, OCB and COB were analysed by structural equation modelling. The results successfully corroborated the positive impact of PCSR on employee attitudes and behaviour. In particular, PCSR had direct effects on affective and normative organisational commitment, organisational citizenship behaviour and customer-oriented behaviour. PCSR also influenced OCB through the mediating role of affective and normative commitment. The major theoretical contribution of the present study is its identification of the domain and the definition and dimensions of PCSR. This study also offers a valid and reliable PCSR instrument that can be used by researchers to identify other antecedents and outcomes of PCSR. The relationships between PCSR and a number of important employee attitudes and behaviour are also revealed. This study contributes to the progression of CSR research and provides instrumental rationality for hoteliers and human resource managers to pursue CSR for strategic goals.
Rights: All rights reserved
Access: open access

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