Do external corporate social responsibility activities related to the local community during COVID-19 increase employees’ job performance? Evidence from hospitality and tourism establishments at Hail city, KSA

Abstract

This paper aims to measure the impact of ECSR activities on employee job performance in the hospitality and tourism industry in the city of Hail, Saudi Arabia. Despite the growing importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employee work performance, little is known about the correlations between socially responsible actions taken by businesses and the job performance of their employees. To overcome this gap, we explore the impact of ECSR on job performance, with an emphasis on chosen tourist and hospitality establishments in Hail, Saudi Arabia. Through structured questionnaires which were distributed during the period (March-May 2021), direct effects of predictors were tested using partial least square–structure equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with data from employees of hospitality and tourism establishments at Hail city, KSA. Overall, 300 questionnaires were distributed, and 242 were returned, resulting in the inclusion of 174 valid survey responses in the final data analysis. The PLS-SEM results show that the direct effects on job performance of initiatives related to awareness, charities, and support of basic projects are significant. This study adds to the CSR literature by demonstrating the sequential mechanism whereby employees’ perceptions of ECSR affect their job performance. This study is conducted for the first time at Hail city, thus rendering it unique.