Corporate Social Responsibility Practices of Hotel Industry: A case of Selected Hotels in Bishoftu Town, Ethiopia

Abstract: Hotel industry has become an integral part of the socio-economic aspiration of developing countries, where Ethiopia is not in island. Resort Towns, like Bishoftu, are among the vicinities which are facing pressure from hotel development that does not align itself to sustainability principle. Currently, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is considered as an ideal vehicle in ensuring sustainability in hotels and has recorded concrete milestones. As a result, the study was aimed at investigating CSR practices of hotels in Bishoftu Town as an effort to add value to the existing body of knowledge pertinent to the subject.   Methodologically, a descriptive approach was employed to describe the existing CSR practices by the hotels. Moreover, questionnaire and observation were used as instruments for primary data collection. Questionnaire, as a dominant data source, was deployed to a sample of 49 employees and 12 managers included in the study.  There were evidences to suggest the presence of CSR practices; however, it is commendable to attest the dominance of environmental practices compared to their socio-cultural and economic counterparts. This trend, among other things, could probably be attributed to the concentration of properties (Resorts) along the lake leading to a higher degree of sensitivity. A more feasible result, in economic terms, is the integration of hotel business in to the local economy, where preferential local hiring and purchasing are attached to significant magnitude of frequency across respondents. Socio-culturally, a great deal of hotels expressed the allocation of space for the sale of local products as a sign of supporting local initiatives in this regard.  Finally, the contradicting and insufficient evidence on the integration of CSR in to the hotels’ corporate governance was indicative of the limited consideration accorded to it by the management of the properties.