Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has emerged as an
intensely relevant issue in the corporate world in the past decade,
and the hospitality industry has been actively involving in the issue
in various ways. Hotels have implemented numerous green
practices along with participating in green certificate programs,
such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
certification. Starwood even developed a new eco-friendly chain,
ELEMENT Hotels, in which properties must obtain LEED certification
(Las Vegas Now, 2008). Restaurants also have implemented
environmentally sensitive business practices. For example, Yum
Brands is converting its fryer oil into biodiesel fuel and reducing
energy consumption (Elan, 2008).
In all these socially responsible efforts bythe hospitality industry,
hospitality researchers began to wonder about financial impacts of
such CSR activities on firmperformance. Rodriguez and Cruz (2007)
found a positive impact from CSR activities of hotels on their
accounting performance (i.e., return on assets) in Spain by utilizing a
survey method. Lee and Park (2009) examined the relationship
between CSR investment and firm performances (accounting and
value performances) for US hotels and casinos, and found a positive
relationship for hotels, but no relationship for casinos.
While these studies provide valuable insight, they aggregated
CSR activities as one measure, and this practice could be