Board diversity and firm performance in the U.S. tourism sector: The effect of institutional ownership

This study examines the relationship between board diversity and firm performance in the U.S. tourism sector by using institutional ownership as a contingency that moderates this relationship. The study's sample includes publicly-traded companies from the U.S. restaurant, hotel and airline industries. The hypotheses are tested via two-way fixed-effects regression, and the findings of the study indicate that board diversity is positively associated with financial performance (Tobin's Q), and the effect of board diversity on performance is contingent on the degree of institutional ownership. More precisely, the study finds that board diversity has a larger effect on financial performance when institutional ownership is low on a tourism firm's ownership structure. Overall, the findings suggest that boards' internal control and monitoring on management is important to derive higher financial performance, and even yet it is more important when external monitoring by institutional owners, proxied by percentage of institutional ownership, is weak.     

Can corporate social responsibility protect firm value during the COVID-19 pandemic?

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a significant decline in the stock market worldwide, and hospitality companies are experiencing serious financial problems. Protecting and preserving firm value is a critical way of helping hospitality companies survive the crisis. The influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firm value has been widely investigated. However, little is known about the stock price movement following CSR activity adoption during an industrial crisis. Using event study and difference-in-difference method, this study reveals that engaging in CSR activities can increase the stock returns and stakeholder attention of hospitality firms during the pandemic. Community-related CSR has a stronger and more immediate effect on stock returns than customer- and employee-related CSR. Results also indicate that hospitality firms that pursue improved stock market performance during a pandemic can invest in CSR to protect communities, customers, and employees for attracting further stakeholder attention.     

Economic policy uncertainty and corporate investment: Evidence from the U.S. hospitality industry

The study of how uncertainty affects hospitality firms’ decisions is gaining attention in recent years. We examine the effect of Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) on the investment policy of a sample of 305 hospitality companies in the U.S. for the period 2001–2018. Applying generalized methods of moments (GMM) technique, we find that investment policies in hospitality companies are negatively affected by EPU. Panel quantile estimations reveal that the effect of EPU on corporate investment is only relevant for companies in the lower quantile of capital expenditures ratio. Our paper also provides policy implications to related parties.     

Does size matter? Corporate social responsibility and firm performance in the restaurant industry

Despite an increasing number of hospitality studies on the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP), the literature has predominantly focused on the CSR–CFP relation without considering moderating factors. Consequently, the current study introduces firm size as a potential moderator on the CSR–CFP relationship. Performing a two-way fixed-effects model by firm and year with Newey-West standard errors, this study finds that firm size moderates the effect of positive CSR on CFP while it does not moderate the effect of negative CSR on CFP in the U.S. restaurant context.     

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from the U.S. restaurant industry

The current study examines how the effect of COVID-19 on U.S. restaurant firms’ stock returns varies according to the firms’ pre-pandemic characteristics by employing three firm-level dimensions (financial conditions, corporate strategies, and ownership structure). Employing 795 firm-year observations obtained from annual reports and other databases, this study found that restaurant firms with past characteristics of larger size, more leverage, more cash flows, less ROA, and more internationalization are more resilient to stock declines reacting to COVID-19 than otherwise similar firms. Whereas, dividend, franchising, institutional ownership, and managerial ownership did not show any significant moderating effect on the relationship between COVID-19 and stock returns. This study sheds light on the research topic by providing insights into drivers of restaurant firm’s stock returns during the COVID-19 shock. Future studies can employ the variables and method used in the current study to extend the understanding of the issue.     

Recontextualising the determinants of external CSR in the services industry: A cross-cultural study

Although the relationship between institutional pressures and corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been well studied, its underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions are not well understood. To remedy these gaps, we draw on institutional theory and the literature on organisational sensemaking, stakeholder salience and the resource-based view of the firm. We test our conceptual model using survey data from 442 managers of hospitality and tourism enterprises based in Egypt and the United Kingdom. SEM-based results show that both stakeholder issue salience and discretionary slack mediate the link between institutional pressures and external CSR. National culture moderates the effects of institutional pressures on both stakeholder issue salience and external CSR. Multi-group analyses reveal noticeable differences between Egyptian and British managers regarding their interpretations of CSR issues and the institutional environment. This study contributes to the emerging micro-institutional stream and cross-cultural CSR research, providing important insights for managers, policymakers and researchers.     

The impact of material and immaterial sustainability on firm performance: The moderating role of franchising strategy

CSR and sustainability engagement is growing rapidly with ever-increasing attention. Accordingly, restaurant stakeholders now demand restaurant companies to disclose relevant ESG information (i.e., materiality) to analyze risks and opportunities that ESG factors bring to firms over the long term. As established in stakeholder theory, restaurant materiality is shaped by a firm's key stakeholders and also by the industry's distinguishing factor, franchising. However, despite their importance and timeliness, materiality and franchising remain largely absent from scholarly discussion in the field of tourism and hospitality. Using a novel industry-specific materiality classification of sustainability initiatives, here we show that franchising positively moderates the impact of investing in immaterial sustainability on firm performance. The results provide early empirical validation of stakeholder theory in relation to restaurant materiality and franchising, and show the impact of allocating a firm's resources to material and immaterial sustainability issues on firm performance in the restaurant context.     

内生性视角下的多元化与旅游企业价值关系

过去数十年来,国内外不少学者就企业多元化与企业价值之间关系进行了比较深入的探讨,但现有研究工作在解释两者关系时并未得到一致性的结论,同时,现有相关研究也很少以旅游企业为研究对象.因此,文章选择具有“天生”多元化经营动机的旅游企业为研究对象,通过科学测度其多元化经营程度,并采用内生性视角探讨多元化经营的内生性及其对企业价值的影响,以期为我国旅游企业的多元化发展提供指导.文章通过严格的数据筛选,选取大陆15家旅游上市公司2006～2009年的面板数据资料,用收入熵衡量多元化经营程度,用ROA衡量企业价值,采用STATA软件进行面板回归及二阶段最小二乘法进行实证分析.结果表明:企业资产规模、公司成长性、企业价值与股权集中度对旅游上市公司多元化经营程度具有显著性正向影响,证明了多元化经营的内生性;在外生性视角下,旅游上市公司的多元化经营程度与企业价值显著正相关,存在3％左右的多元化溢价效应;在内生性视角下,旅游上市公司的多元化经营对企业价值的正向促进作用进一步提升,溢价效应在6％左右.     

Impacts of cruise industry corporate social responsibility reputation on customers’ loyalty: Mediating role of trust and identification

Despite the high relevance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in service businesses, investigations of its influence on the cruise sector are scarce. Relying on institutional theory, this study proposes a model with cruise customers’ trust and identification as the key factors between CSR reputation and customers’ loyalty. Using data from 292 cruise customers, results support the impact of customers’ perceived CSR reputation of cruise companies on two relational constructs and loyal behavior. Only customers’ identification mediates the relationships between reputation and brand loyalty. Thus, findings suggest that cruise customers likely form high-level loyal behavior when they perceive companies’ CSR activities and their similarities with such companies. From these significant findings, the authors draw several theoretical and practical implications, including the importance of enhancing the company’s focus on its CSR reputations. This study also provides directions to promote identity strengths for enhancing the impact of CSR reputation on company performance.     

Growth-focused or profit-focused firms: Transitions toward profitable growth

Profitable growth is the most desirable state tourism and hospitality firm managers can hope to achieve. In reality, however, it is not easy for a tourism and hospitality firm to consistently grow and accumulate profits. In order to achieve profitable growth, some firms focus on sales growth while victimizing profits, while others concentrate on profits and hold off on growth. To better understand these strategies, this study investigated the growth state, profit state and transitions of restaurant firms. The findings of this study supported that profit-focused firms are more likely to achieve profitable growth than growth-focused firms. In addition, growth-focused firms with low liquidity had a higher likelihood of transitioning to a state of low growth and low profit in the short-term, and this liquidity effect was more serious for small firms in terms of long-term performance. Further, when profit-focused firms had few growth opportunities, large free cash flows increased the likelihood of transitioning to a state of low growth and low profit in the short-term. More detailed results are provided in this paper.     

The relationship between institutional ownership and casino firm performance

This study examined the relationship between institutional ownership and firm performance in the casino industry from 1999–2003. Given the evidence of the endogeneity of institutional ownership in the casino industry, institutional ownership was found to be a significant and positive determinant of casino firm performance as measured by a proxy for Tobin's Q in a simultaneous equations system. This study reveals that investing institutionally in casino firms may help casino industry investors mitigate the agency problem caused by the separation of management from ownership. In addition, financial institutions tend to invest in larger casino firms with lower financial leverage.     

Do socially responsible activities help hotels and casinos achieve their financial goals?

While the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained much attention and is currently practiced by many companies, it has yet to be empirically examined in the context of hotels and casinos, especially in regard to the potential effects of CSR on firm value and performance. As the findings on the relationship between CSR and financial performance have been inconclusive and this relationship has been found to differ among industries, this study examines the relationship between CSR and firm value and profitability for hotels and casinos. Results of the Durbin–Wu–Hausman (DWH) test and a subsequent two-stage least square (2SLS) method show that hotel companies’ CSR has a simultaneous and positive relationship with financial performance. For casino companies, however, results show that CSR has no simultaneous or particular effect on financial performance. Findings suggest that hotel companies can confidently and strategically increase CSR investment to enhance both short-term (profitability) and long-term performance (firm value). Casino companies need to carefully examine the effects of CSR on financial performance, when making CSR-related decisions.     

女性高管会提升旅游企业绩效吗?——来自旅游上市公司的经验研究

旅游业是女性就业较为集中的行业。近年来,我国旅游企业中女性高管不断增加,文章以2003-2016年期间我国旅游上市公司作为样本,基于高阶理论构建研究假设,并利用非平衡面板数据建立计量经济学模型,实证研究我国旅游上市公司中女性高管对企业绩效的影响。研究发现,旅游上市企业中女性高管对企业绩效具有显著促进作用;然而,对酒店行业的进一步分析表明,女性高管对酒店企业绩效的正向作用,会因为行业高度竞争压力的存在而受到抑制。研究结果丰富了现阶段女性研究相关文献,也为旅游企业管理决策提供了理论依据和经验支持。     

Effect of CSR activities on meaningfulness,compassion, and employee engagement: A sense-making theoretical approach

Despite growing recognition of CSR’s importance in hospitality industry, empirically-derived insight into its drivers, dynamics, and outcomes remains limited, as investigated in this study. Built on the sense-making theoretical perspective to explore the effect of CSR activities on employee engagement while examining the mediating role of meaningfulness and compassion on the relationship between CSR and employee engagement. To investigate our hypotheses, we conducted a questionnaire survey among 350 employees of selected luxury hotels in New Delhi, India. The results reveal CSR’s positive effect on employee engagement. In addition, meaningfulness and compassion partially mediate the association of CSR with employee engagement. This study identifies how CSR activities bring out a helping behavior in the form of compassionate acts, and offer meaning to employees in the hospitality context that is, otherwise, paralyzed by work-life imbalances and employee cynicism.     

Impacts of positive and negative corporate social responsibility activities on company performance in the hospitality industry

In spite of growing concern for corporate social responsibility (CSR) in various industries including the hospitality industry, the relationship between CSR activities and financial performance is a rarely examined subject in the hospitality context. Especially, research measuring the separate impacts of positive and negative CSR activities on companies’ financial performances remains, as yet, unconsidered. Thus, this study examines different impacts of positive and negative CSR activities on financial performance of hotel, casino, restaurant and airline companies, theoretically based on positivity and negativity effects. Findings suggest mixed results across different industries and will contribute to companies’ appropriate strategic decision-making for CSR activities by providing more precise information regarding the impacts of each directional CSR activity on financial performance.     

Cross-institutional collaboration networks in tourism and hospitality research

This paper examines cross-institutional collaboration in tourism and hospitality research using a co-authorship network model based on papers published in six top-tier tourism and hospitality journals over the past 20 years. Data analysis reveals that multi-author, multi-university studies are the fastest-growing type of authorship structure in tourism and hospitality research. We use several network measures to evaluate the intensity of research collaboration among academic institutions in tourism and hospitality disciplines. Institutions with tourism and hospitality programs worldwide are ranked according to their centricity in cross-institutional research collaboration networks and categorized according to their characteristics in collaboration. The empirical analysis shows significant associations between research performance and a university's centricity position in cross-institutional research networks. Through advanced social network analysis, this study provides new insights into institutional collaboration in tourism and hospitality research over the past two decades.     

Effect of CSR contribution timing during COVID-19 pandemic on consumers’ prepayment purchase intentions: Evidence from hospitality industry in China

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributions are essential for hospitality companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about how CSR contribution timing during the pandemic might affect consumers’ prepayment purchase intentions. This paper takes a hospitality company as an example, using two experiments to explore (a) the effect of CSR contribution timing on consumers’ prepayment purchase intentions and (b) the potential roles of psychological contracts and distance to the COVID-19 risk center. Study 1 demonstrated that CSR contributions during the COVID-19 outbreak (vs. after its peak) led consumers to have higher prepayment purchase intentions, revealing the impact of CSR contribution timing. This effect was also driven by psychological contracts between consumers and the hospitality company. Study 2 showed that, when participants were in the peripheral area of a COVID-19 outbreak, CSR contributions during the outbreak (vs. after its peak) increased prepayment purchase intentions whereas the opposite effect occurred when consumers were in the risk center.     

Research Productivity and Institutional Characteristics of Hospitality and Tourism Programs

Although some prior studies have examined research productivity, little is known about institutional characteristics and their influence on research productivity. The study reported in this article examined the relationship between research productivity and institutional characteristics of faculty composition, supporting staff, and doctoral research among the world's leading hospitality and tourism departments and schools. Empirical findings indicated that while faculty size was positively associated with productivity, a higher composition of senior researchers in the rank of professor tends to yield higher productivity. Similarly, a larger group of supporting staff and the availability of a doctoral program were the significant predictors of research productivity. Another interesting finding was that the autonomy of institutions offering hospitality and tourism programs emerged as another characteristic influencing higher research productivity.     

Hotels’ corporate social responsibility practices,organizational culture,firm reputation,and performance

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices are considered one of the key success factors influencing firm performance. However, how CSR practices should be integrated into an organization’s business practices has not been investigated empirically. The present research proposes an integrated model incorporating the interrelationships among CSR practices, organizational culture, and corporate reputation to improve firm performance in the hotel industry. The proposed model is developed using stakeholder theory and the perceptions of the general managers. According to the study’s results, organizational culture influences different dimensions of CSR. The results further indicate that hotels using CSR practices related to employees and customers strengthen their reputation. Through improved reputation, CSR practices positively influence firm performance. Furthermore, hotel managers perceive that CSR activities in the local community and related to the environment do not significantly affect a hotel’s reputation. Theoretical and practical implications are provided, and the limitations of the study and future lines of research are discussed.     

The relationship between board diversity and firm performance in the lodging industry: The moderating role of internationalization

Following the emphasis on board diversity and its roles on firm performance, an examination on the relationship between board diversity and firm performance in the lodging industry is conducted. Further, this study employs internationalization, a moderator, to more comprehensively investigate the board diversity-firm performance relationship. This study found that gender diversity shows a positive and significant effect on firm performance while age diversity has an insignificant effect on firm performance. Regarding the moderating effect of internationalization, the degree of internationalization significantly magnifies the effect of gender diversity on firm performance but insignificantly moderates the effect of age diversity on firm performance. This study attempts to contribute to the hospitality and tourism literature by examining the topic that has been rarely dealt with and provide practical guidelines for stakeholders of a lodging firm especially when selecting board members.