The Role of CSR for De-Carbonization of Hospitality Sector through Employees: A Leadership Perspective

Abstract

Tourism and hospitality have been recognized as leading economic sectors globally. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, it was estimated that the tourism and hospitality sector was growing by around 4% each year. Although the economic-efficiency-led hypothesis of the tourism and hospitality sector is strong, there is another perspective related to tourism and hospitality. That is, tourism and hospitality are not as “green” as they were supposed to be. Indeed, this sector is known for its outsized carbon footprint. It is estimated that, if not managed efficiently, the GHG contribution of the tourism sector will grow in the future. Specifically, the hotel business accounts for 1% of total global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), which is huge. Responding to these significant issues, this study investigates the relationship between the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of a hotel enterprise and employees’ pro-environmental behavior (PEB). The mediating role of environmental-specific transformational leadership (ESTFL) and the moderating role of green perceived organizational support (GPOS) were also tested in the above relationship. The data were collected by the employees through a self-administered questionnaire. The hypothesized relations were statistically investigated by using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings revealed that CSR activities of a hotel not only influence employees’ PEB directly, but the mediating role of ESTFL was also significant. At the same time, the conditional indirect role of GPOS was also confirmed. This study offers different theoretical and practical insights, which have been discussed in detail.