Doing good to do well? Corporate social responsibility reasons, practices and impacts in small and medium accommodation enterprises

Corporate social responsibility practices have been mostly analyzed in the large manufacturing business context, with little attention paid to the service sector and even less to small and medium-sized accommodation enterprises. This study aims to fill this gap through analyzing how these enterprises take responsibility. A survey of nearly 400 enterprises showed that the main reason for acting responsibly is altruistic, although competitiveness reasons are also important. Aspects of the “resource-based view” of the firm are validated through the positive impact of environmental cost-savings in financial performance, but also because other practices (not always related with economic reasons) are influencing their competitiveness. The article concludes that further implementation of these practices is necessary to achieve the full potential of competitive advantages.

► CSR has been mostly analyzed in the large manufacturing business context. ► This study aims to know how small and medium accommodation firms take responsibility. ► Resource-based view is validated through the positive impact of CSR in financial performance. ► The relationship between these practices and financial performance is also bi-directional. ► Further implementation of these practices is necessary to achieve new competitive advantages.