Fostering Hotel-Employee Creativity Through Micro-Level Corporate Social Responsibility: A Social Identity Theory Perspective

Abstract

Due to globalization, a dynamic business environment, and stiff rivalry, the importance of employee creativity (EC) has increased in the current era more than ever before. The hotel sector has no exception, rather the need for creativity is high in this sector because most hotels operate in ways that are easy to imitate. Recently, researchers have paid attention to micro-level corporate social responsibility (ML-CSR) and have linked it to achieve different employee-related outcomes such as EC. However, the above relationship was less explored in a hospitality context. To bridge this gap, the current analysis aims to investigate the relationship of ML-CSR and EC with the mediating effect of work engagement (WE) in the hotel sector of a developing country. The study also attempts to extend the boundary of social identity theory in a collectivistic culture to explain the link between ML-CSR and EC. The data were collected from hotel employees (n = 461) and were analyzed with the help of structural equation modeling. The findings validated that ML-CSR positively influenced EC, and WE mediated this relationship. The current work offers different contributions to the theory and the field which are discussed in detail.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility; employee creativity; extra roles; hotel; social identity theory; work engagement.