CSR Practice in the Context of Tourism

Running head: CSR PRACTICE IN THE CONTEXT OF TOURISM
CSR Practice in the Context of Tourism
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

CSR PRACTICE IN THE CONTEXT OF TOURISM1
Acknowledgement
By this research, I have experienced the best possible learning of my life. By conducting this
research, I have learnt various concepts, models and theories. I first thank the almighty God.
After that, I want to thank my supervisor ______________ who is my friend, philosopher and
guide. I also thank my parents for being supportive and accommodative for completing this
research. I want to thank my friends for giving me the moral support while conducting this
research.

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Executive Summary
The study had investigated the corporate social responsibility practices in respect of tourism
industry in the Maldives. The study had identified the level of engagement among the
companies in the Tourism industry in the Maldives. The economy of the country is highly
dependent on the tourism industry and almost a one of the GDP is generated by the tourism
industry. The country has experienced remarkable growth in the past decade even though the
domestic market is small and there is a scarcity of resources such as mineral and agricultural
resources. Corporate social responsibility practices in the Maldives is still at its nascent stage and
management of these practices within different organizations in the tourism industry had been
analysed to identify the potential areas where corporate social responsibility can be implemented
and developing a strategic framework for promoting CSR. The stakeholders identified in the
research study are hotels, travel agents and restaurants. It is found from the research study that
hotels and restaurants in the Maldives are the stakeholders, who are directly linked with the CSR
activities. Hotels and restaurants are likely to adopt the ethical procedure for food supply. These
hotels and restaurants are also liable for maintaining ecological footprint and measures human
consumption to pertain both the human and other resources

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Table of content
Chapter 1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................7
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................7
1.1. Background of the study...........................................................................................................7
1.2. Aim of the Research.................................................................................................................9
1.3 Research objectives...................................................................................................................9
1.4 Research Question...................................................................................................................10
1.5 Research hypothesis.................................................................................................................10
Chapter 2 Literature review...........................................................................................................11
2.0 Literature Review....................................................................................................................11
2.1 Concept of CSR.......................................................................................................................11
2.2 Theoretical Analysis of CSR...................................................................................................13
2.3 Concept of Tourism Management...........................................................................................15
2.4 Stakeholders in tourism...........................................................................................................16
2.5 Tourism Management in Maldives..........................................................................................17
2.6 CSR challenges faced in tourism industry...............................................................................18
2.7 CSR policies in Tourism..........................................................................................................19
2.8 Impact of CSR process in Tourism..........................................................................................21
2.9 Gap in the Literature................................................................................................................23
2.10 Summary................................................................................................................................23
Chapter 3 Research methodology..................................................................................................25
3.0 Research methodology.............................................................................................................25
3.1 Research Philosophy................................................................................................................25

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3.2 Research Approach..................................................................................................................27
3.3 Research Design......................................................................................................................28
3.4 Data collection.........................................................................................................................30
3.5 Data Analysis...........................................................................................................................31
3.6 Sampling..................................................................................................................................31
3.7 Reliability and Validity............................................................................................................32
3.8 Ethical consideration...............................................................................................................33
4.1 Quantitative analysis................................................................................................................34
4.2 Objectives based questions......................................................................................................37
4.3 Regression analysis..................................................................................................................51
4.4 Thematic analysis....................................................................................................................55
Chapter 5: Conclusion...................................................................................................................61
5.0 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................61
5.1 Recommendation.....................................................................................................................63
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................65
Appendix........................................................................................................................................71

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List of figures and Graphs
Graph 1: Gender............................................................................................................................34
Graph 2: Age..................................................................................................................................35
Graph 3: Years of experience in travel and tourism......................................................................36
Graph 4: Organization Type..........................................................................................................37
Graph 5: Hotels..............................................................................................................................38
Graph 6: Travel Agents.................................................................................................................38
Graph 7: restaurants.......................................................................................................................39
Graph 8: Tourist.............................................................................................................................39
Graph 9: Applicability and implementation of CSR in sustaining Maldives................................42
tourism industry.............................................................................................................................42
Graph 10: Causes of effective corporate social responsibilities practices.....................................43
Graph 11: Monitoring, maintenance and improvement plan of tourism industry stakeholder’s
activities related to CSR................................................................................................................44
Graph 12: Macro (policy level) implementation plan...................................................................45
Graph 13: Micro (ground level) implementation plan...................................................................46
Graph 14: Educating workforces about CSR.................................................................................47
Graph 15: National CSR guidelines..............................................................................................48
Graph 16: Recognition and incentives to the company.................................................................49
Graph 17: Recognition should be provided to both top performers and average performers.......50
Graph 17: Regression line.............................................................................................................53
Figure 6: Economic scenario a decade back..................................................................................56

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Topic: CSR in practice: A case study of Maldives Tourism Industry
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.0 Introduction
The study will investigate the corporate social responsibility practices in respect of tourism
industry in the Maldives. The study will identify the level of engagement among the
companies in the Tourism industry in the Maldives. The economy of the country is highly
dependent on the tourism industry and almost a one of the GDP is generated by the tourism
industry. The country has experienced remarkable growth in the past decade even though the
domestic market is small and there is a scarcity of resources such as mineral and agricultural
resources. Corporate social responsibility practices in the Maldives is still at its nascent stage and
management of these practices within different organizations in the tourism industry will be
analysed to identify the potential areas where corporate social responsibility can be implemented
and developing a strategic framework for promoting CSR.
1.1. Background of the study
The Maldives is one of the island nations which comprises of almost 1200 islands and
200 islands out of it are habited. The land area of 3 islands out these islands is greater than 3
square km and the remaining 33 islands have a land area greater than 1 km. The majority of the
islands have a population of less than 1000 and 1/3 of the population have been living on the
business capital of Male. The economy of the country is highly dependent on the tourism
activities and other activities that are related to the tourism industry. The fast growth in the
economy of Maldives has resulted in an increase of expatriate labours. The low skill jobs are the
areas where the increase in labours is the highest. The human resource development of the

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country has not been able to keep up with the pace of the economic development. Therefore,
there has been a steady increase in the number of expatriates in professional and executive jobs.
The change in the government in the past decade has increased the level of privatization of the
companies and the development of new private-public partnership programs. CSR is a multi-
dimensional aspect and understanding of the CSR vary depending upon the socio-economic
culture of the country. The standard practices in the tourism industry show that the social
dimension is the only aspect considered by the companies in the Maldives. The business and
non-business stakeholders of any country are responsible for promoting CSR activities. The
concept of CSR is entirely different for the Maldivian companies due to the population, their
values and perception towards corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility is
considered as philanthropy acts and the majority of the companies in the tourism industry does
not have a well-defined structure in developing the corporate social responsibility strategies.
Moreover, the promotion of CSR activities from the non-business stakeholders is very less and
there is a lack of CSR bodies to formulate and promote the corporate social responsibility.
Corporate social responsibility has been included in the tourism industry but the
specificity of tourism has caused its diffusion. The level of development of CSR activities in the
tourism industry is less than in other industries. The awareness regarding the development of the
corporate social activities has still unknown to a large number of hotels, restaurants and travel
agencies. The skill and knowledge about the CSR frameworks and policies are limited to the
companies in the Maldives due to the lack of involvement from the governing bodies. Moreover,
it is difficult for the small-scale companies to invest in long-term CSR strategies because of the
lack of funds. CSR requires high investments so the tourism companies have to develop a bright
idea of the strategy that will be feasible for implementing CSR. The tourism industry is highly