Employee engagement factors in Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

Employee engagement in corporate social responsibility is studied in order to find methods for successful CSR implementation in the context of the tourism industry. The high CSR performance of the company is depended in part on a company’s employees, who have various attitudes towards sustainability matters. Therefore, this thesis investigates which factors could improve future CSR interest and participation and explains what has contributed to current level of employee engagement in sustainability matters. In doing so, the current level of employees’ awareness and involvement in CSR is assessed through analysis of current CSR initiatives in employees’ workplaces.

The main research question is “which factors will contribute to employees’ high engagement in organizational CSR?” The main research focus is “how to make employees excited about CSR?” Further, the thesis explains the importance of employees to be engaged in work and understand the value of CSR activities. Briefly, as employees’ understanding and engagement in CSR grow, so may grow the efforts towards it. As a result, the contribution to becoming more sustainable will be ensured by doing measurable actions.

In the end, the study aims to ensure CSR implementation and responsible conduct in a hotel by way of engaging its employees in sustainability topics. The results will contribute to the identification of engagement factors in CSR and measures of improving CSR implementation. In total, 7 interviews were conducted with hotel employees and analyzed using NVivo computer software for qualitative data analysis.