Social responsibility and competitiveness in hotels: The role of customer loyalty

Abstract

The concept of Social Responsibility (SR) has been evolved during the last decade and most organisations care about their society and the environment. While incorporating SR programs through organizational strategies would be mostly optional, the benefits of “doing a good business” may enhance competitiveness. Hospitality industry is not far from this where hotel sector can achieve several desirable outcomes adopting SR initiatives. Despite the fact that many services are intangible by their nature and they are evaluated based on perceptions, the willingness created by social initiatives can lead to an advantage through brand image. In return, a “good social reputation” can create and maintain customer loyalty in hotels and hospitality. This paper investigates the role of SR on competitiveness through the mediating role of customer loyalty. A model is developed and examined through hotel industry in Qatar. Statistical results show that all research hypotheses were accepted and customer loyalty could be retained by incorporating SR values affecting competitiveness in hospitality industry in Qatar.