Ethics and corporate social responsibility – An analysis of the views of Chinese hotel managers

Based on a sample of 257 Chinese hotel managers, this paper examines the ethical principles to which these managers adhered. The premise is that any application of the principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR) will be facilitated or inhibited by the degree to which management holds to a strong ethical stance. Developing a questionnaire derived from different sources such as the Forsyth Ethics Position Questionnaire and the 12 golden standards of Tao Zhugong developed in the 5th century BCE, a principal components analysis of the scores on a 35 item scale indicated five components to ethical perspectives: namely respect for individuals, tolerance of degree of relativity in moral standards, the role of corporations in current society, expediency in business and adherence to CSR.

Research highlights► Considers Chinese ethical principles underlying corporate social responsibility in the Chinese hotel industry. ► Based on sample of 257 senior Chinese hotel executives. ► Finds through principal components analysis five dimensions of importance, namely ‘respect for individuals’, ‘tolerance of degree of relativity in moral standards’, ‘the role of corporations in current society’, ‘expediency in business’ and ‘adherence to CSR’.