The Added Value of Corporate Social Responsibility

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1 Saxion University of Applied Sciences

The Added Value of

Corporate Social

Responsibility

How organizational culture, ideology-infused psychological contracts and employee engagement influence the relationship of CSR practices and company performance

Meike Niebuhr – Thesis

16-6-2014

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The Added Value of Corporate Social Responsibility

How organizational culture, ideology-infused psychological contracts and employee en-gagement influence the relationship of CSR practices and company performance

Deventer, 16.06.2014

Module: Thesis

Exam: IP-TH-Thesis Report C

Exam code: T.HBS.37179 First examiner: Xander Lub Second examiner: Cora van Triest Client: Reiswerk (ANVR)

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Preface

In the course of the last semester from the International Program of Tourism and Leisure Manage-ment at the Saxion University of Applied Sciences I am conducting this thesis project for the Research Center of the Hospitality Business School and Reiswerk, an association from the Dutch Association of Travel Agencies and Tour Operators ANVR.

I am very grateful that Reiswerk gave me the opportunity to contribute with this paper to their re-search about the future of the travel industry and even granted me with their rere-search scholarship for my project. I feel honored about their trust and thankful about the additional motivation this reward has given me.

I would like to thank Mr. Frank Radstake on behalf of Reiswerk, for offering the chance to take a part in their business operations by providing this thesis project. Moreover, I very much appreciate his great support in the conduction of the questionnaire and his constant reachability throughout the whole process.

Moreover, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my first examiner, Mr. Xander Lub, who has been very helpful in the approach of this extensive project and supportive regarding all issues that have been occurred. Especially, in the analysis of the survey results he has been an enormous support by sharing his knowledge with me, for which I am more than thankful.

Further thanks go out to my second examiner, Mrs. Cora van Triest, for her assistance during this important project, especially through valuable feedback in the Thesis Proposal Defence.

Special thanks go to Ekaterina Pushkarskaya, who has been an excellent supervisor to me and who was a great assistance in all phases of the project, due to her specific knowledge about the research topic.

Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends, especially Nina and Madeleine, for their constant support and assistance, as well as their patience with me, during more stressful times of the project.

Meike Niebuhr Deventer, June, 2014

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Summary

This project was carried out in cooperation with Reiswerk, a community for professionals in the travel industry which is affiliated to the Dutch Association of Tour Operators and Travel Agencies ANVR. The client has the vision of a sustainable future for the travel industry, however experienced a lack in the incorporation of Corporate Social Responsibility practices of travel organizations.

Hence, this project sought to determine the added value of CSR for a company, in order to increase the number of operators incorporating sustainable practices. Based on a previous study, which re-searched the relationship between CSR and employee engagement, this thesis built up and investigated the influence CSR HR practices have on the company performance, mediated through the concepts of organizational culture, ideology-infused psychological contracts of employees and their engagement.

Therefore the following research question was established. To what extent do the CSR practices in HRM of tour operators/travel agencies with different organizational cultures influence their company performance, based on the concepts of ideology-infused psychological contracts and employee en-gagement?

Organizational culture describes the core values and underlying principles on which a company is based. CSR has been defined as an organizations’ voluntary approach of incorporating sustainable matters within its business practices. The relationship with ideology-infused psychological contracts could be established because the concept describes the unwritten expectations an employee has to-wards his employer, in terms of ideological needs. This can be the pursuit of a greater cause or the identification with shared values. The literature research also discussed employee engagement, as the behavior employees show at work with regards to their vigor, dedication and absorption.

Within the project, field research was undertaken and data was collected in a quantitative approach. A survey of a sampling frame of employees of tour operators and travel agencies was conducted and examined the respondents’ perception about the core concepts. The data was collected with a struc-tured questionnaire from 349 respondents and analyzed with the help of univariate and bivariate anal-ysis.

The outcomes of the analysis revealed that there is indeed a strong relationship within the construct that has been investigated. Even though only the organizational culture type of adhocracy influenced the perception on CSR, there could be a connection drawn between the core values and CSR of a com-pany. The fulfillment of ideology-infused psychological contracts is mainly triggered through CSR in the combination with HR and has a positive effect on the increase of engagement. However, the analy-sis showed that employees’ engagement was not influenced by the general CSR practices of their or-ganization.

It could be concluded that there is the opportunity for companies to influence their employees’ en-gagement and therefore their company performance with CSR HR practices. Subsequently, recommen-dations on how to capitalize this opportunity could be developed.

In order to effectively incorporate CSR practices, companies need to review all present and potential HR functions. It has been indicated that there is a difference in the approach between smaller and larg-er companies, because of the existence or degree of autonomy of HR departments. Thlarg-erefore, specific

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5 activities could have been advised for both groups with regards to the main functions of stakeholder engagement, recruitment, remuneration, training and development, communications, employee well-being, ethics, environment and community involvement. To sum it up, the recommendations were con-cerned with attracting the right candidates, motivating, rewarding and empowering employees, provid-ing the right resources for a successful career and personal development and ensurprovid-ing a consequent ethical treatment.

Concluding, the project stated that the efficient communication of the message about the added value of CSR can increase the likelihood that the operators within the travel industry will incorporate CSR in their business practices. In return, this will contribute to the solution of the management prob-lem of Reiswerk.

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3.2 Alternative solutions ... 36 3.2.1 Scenario A ... 36 3.2.2 Scenario B ... 36 3.2.3 Evaluation ... 37 3.3 Implementation Plan ... 37 3.3.1 CSHR functions ... 38 3.3.2 Time implications ... 45 3.3.3 Financial implications ... 45 3.3.4 Communication ... 46 3.4 Conclusion ... 47 Afterword ... 48 List of references ... 49 Appendices ... 53

I. Global work breakdown structure ... 53

II. Operationalization ... 55 III. Survey... 57 IV. SPSS analysis ... 67 V. CSHR manager ... 80 VI. Timeline ... 81 VII. Newsletter ... 82

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1. Introduction

The following chapter contains the most important basic information, which provides the necessary background knowledge for this thesis project. Included in this opening is information about the client, reasons for and objective of the project and the management problem as the basis for the thesis. Moreover, a summary about where the field research and advice are going to lead is added. For organi-zational purposes a global work breakdown structure and a reading guide are included as well.

1.1 Background information about the client

The thesis has been acquired through the Research Center of the Saxion Hospitality Business School. The Research Center in turn, is cooperating with organizations and providing them with re-search to assist in solving problems the companies come across in their day-to-day business. For this thesis assignment the Research Center worked in cooperation with Reiswerk, a joint association of ANVR.

1.1.1 ANVR

ANVR is the Dutch Association of Travel Agencies and Tour Operators (Algemene Nederlandse Vereniging van Reisondernemingen). It is a representative of the travel industry, founded to support the common needs and interests of its operators.

The core activities of the association concern the image of the industry, customer affairs, standardi-zation of processes and employment and education affairs. The Executive Committee of the ANVR is composed of members from all different branches, such as aviation, travel agents and tour operators. The overall aim of the association is to represent the Dutch travel industry on a national and interna-tional level and support its members’ economic and social interests (ANVR, n.d.).

1.1.2 Reiswerk

Reiswerk is an association from ANVR and the unions FNV, CNV and De Unie. It is a community for professionals in the tourism and travel industry, which is concerned with supporting their needs and demands in a Human Resource context.

The main responsibilities of Reiswerk are the job market, training of employees, the employability on the job market, labor conditions and agreements.

1.2 Reasons for the project

The majority of operators within the tourism and travel industry do not incorporate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices in their business yet. Depending on the organizational culture of a busi-ness the client has certain difficulties to convince these busibusi-nesses to adapt their operations towards a sustainable future. However, the non-existence of CSR practices can result in negative reputation and affect the image, since it supposedly influences current and potential employees. According to Gross (n.d.), who discussed a survey among employees, 80% of all respondents are attracted by companies acting socially and environmentally responsible, 50% even think that CSR practices should be compul-sory.

To solve this problem it needs to be determined if staff members of companies who implement CSR practices in an HR context have a positive impact on the company’s operations and if incorporating CSR “makes a good, long-term commercial sense” (Forum for the Future & Travel Foundation, 2013, p.18).

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1.3 Objective of the project

The client of this project has a strong focus on the CSR practices of the tour operators and travel agencies within the association of ANVR. The qualitative study of Pushkarskaya (2013) suggested that CSR can be used as a tool to increase employee engagement, when mediated by the concept of ideo-logical-infused psychological contracts. However, this assumption needs to be tested on a wider sam-ple of employees. Besides, it is necessary to take into account additional aspects the client attaches importance to such as the focus on Human Resources.

Thus, the objective of the project is to provide advice to Reiswerk on how to improve the engage-ment of employees of tour operators/travel agencies through the effect of HR CSR practices on their psychological contract in order to improve the performance of the tourism operators.

1.3.1 Management problem

The ANVR and Reiswerk have the vision to reach a sustainable future for the tourism and travel in-dustry in the Netherlands. However, currently they experience a lack in the adaption of CSR practices from their members.

Nevertheless, literature shows that implementation of CSR is increasingly important for companies nowadays if they would like to keep their competitive advantage. As mentioned in the White Paper of the Forum for the Future and the Travel Foundation (2012), the success of an organization depends on its ability to manage the complex change to a sustainable future.

Since the client has recognized this problem, a previous assigned study suggests that companies, which implement CSR programs in their operations, have a positive influence on the ideology-infused psychological contracts of their employees which in return can increase their motivation and engage-ment. However, further research is needed to validate this proposition among a wider sample of em-ployees, including those less involved in the CSR practices. The likelihood that companies then imple-ment CSR practices can be increased which brings the client closer to the fulfillimple-ment of its vision.

Since the clients’ main responsibility is to consult the tour operators and travel agencies with re-gards to Human Resources, the management problem has an additional component. Therefore, this project has an emphasis on the HR components of CSR practices.

Moreover, the client wants to go a step further and needs to know if the implementation of CSR is not only to be seen as the right thing to do from a moral perspective but also brings economic ad-vantages to the companies. Therefore the suggestions that CSR can bring cash to the company (Forum for the Future & Travel Foundation, 2012) in a broader sense needs to be validated as well.

1.3.2 Knowledge of the research part

Based on the management problem that needs to be solved, the research has to provide new in-sights. To establish what knowledge the project should provide, the following research question has been formulated. In a later step the researcher will break it down into more concrete sub-questions. To what extent do the CSR practices in HRM of tour operators/travel agencies with different organiza-tional cultures influence their company performance, based on the concepts of ideology-infused psy-chological contracts and employee engagement?

In order to answer this central research question, the focus of the field research is on the employees of Dutch tour operators and travel agencies. The topics that are dealt with concern the CSR compo-nents in HR, namely the ethical situation of the organization, which describes the relation between

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10 employee and employer and how employees are treated and the effect this has on their ideology-infused psychological contract. Moreover the employees' perception of their company’s organizational culture, the CSR program of their employer in general, the influence CSR has on their level of engage-ment and loyalty towards their employer are crucial.

1.3.3 Type of recommendations

The field research and analysis of the outcomes provide an answer to the above mentioned central research question. Based on the findings, this project develops recommendations for the client to make use of the knowledge that was provided through the research.

The objective of the advisory part is to provide the client with advice on how to use CSR as a tool to increase company performance in order to solve the management problem.

Since the added value of CSR HR practices has been recognized with its ability to strengthen com-pany performance by fulfilling ideology-infused psychological contracts and therefore increasing em-ployee engagement, the advice focuses on the establishment of these practices. In accordance with the main HR functions, the researcher provides HR activities, their goals and the resources organizations have to dedicate.

Due to the special nature of this project that the recommendations are not merely for the client to implement but for him to use in his role as a consultant for the travel industry, the advice will also include a communication plan for the client. Hence, Reiswerk will be able to communicate the knowledge and advice within this research to the tour operators and travel agencies in order to in-crease the number of operators incorporating CSR practices.

1.4 Global work breakdown structure

The global work breakdown structure gives an overview of the different steps that have to be un-dertaken to complete the thesis project. An overview of the global work breakdown structure in the form of a tree diagram, including all concrete products being the result of each activity and an elabo-rated explanation can be found in Appendix I.

1.5 Reading guide

This thesis project consists of three main chapters. The introductory chapter already provided the background information for the project, including information about the client and his management project as well as an outline on the results of the field research and recommendations that can be ex-pected.

The next chapter is concerned with the research within this project. The first part includes an over-view of research objective and research questions, as well as a conceptual model. The core concepts from this model are then critically discussed within a literature review and relationships are estab-lished. The second part of the chapter consists of the field research. As a first step all methodological choices are justified, followed by the main results of the research obtained through statistical analysis. The chapter is finalized with a conclusion of the outcomes by answering all research questions and a subsequent discussion of project limitations.

Afterwards, one chapter is dedicated to the advisory part. On the basis of the theoretical framework and the findings from the field research an implementation plan for recommendations is developed. Alternative scenarios will be presented and resources such as time and finances will be discussed. The project is concluded with a summary of the main pieces of advice and an afterword.

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2. Research part

In order to address the management problem elaborated above, a field research will be conducted. As a foundation for this, the following paragraph explains the development of research questions and the conceptual model that presents the main construct of the project. To gain understanding of the core concepts an extensive literature review will be added subsequently on the basis of which the re-searcher is able to develop a measurement instrument. Methodological justifications lead to the actual field research, whose findings will be represented at the end of this chapter in detail.

2.1 Research objective and questions

As mentioned before, this project is based on a previous thesis and is going to test and deepen the analysis made. Therefore it has been decided that

the objective of this research is to test the assumption that CSR practices of tour operators have a positive influence on employee engagement and therefore company turnover in order to increase the added value of CSR for tourism organizations.

This project is based on the project by Pushkarskaya (2013). However, due to the client’s needs an additional focus is made on the Human Resources component of CSR. Moreover, the concept of organi-zational culture is introduced. Since the HR focus is the main issue for the client, the conceptual model was established with help of HR literature. Human Resource Management has been studied and ana-lyzed in a tremendous amount of theoretical and empirical papers. The review of the literature dis-closed that the findings of Wright and Nishii (2006) appear repetitively within further researches. Thus, the researcher will make their HRM-Performance Link Model the foundation of the conceptual model established for this research by giving their model an ideo-logical color and linking the aspects specifically to the incorporation of CSR.

Wright and Nishii (2006) ex-amined the HRM-Performance relationship by taking into account multiple levels of analysis and developed the model represented in Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1 HRM-Performance Link Model Source: Wright & Nishii (2006)

According to Wright and Nishii (2006) several variables within HRM alter the impact it can have on organizational performance. For this paper, the researcher abstracts the CSR component of HR and makes this model valuable as a base for the relationship between the core concepts.

The first aspect within the model, the intended HR practices, goes back to the motivation and stra-tegic implications of the company. In other words, the intentions of a business to act in a particular manner are supported by its organizational culture. This in return has an influence on the actual HR

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12 practices carried out. In this case, it will be focused on the extent to which they are based on CSR prac-tices.

Subsequently, the first aspects have an influence on the perceived HR practices by employees and therefore on their psychological contracts. Even though, they are three types of psychological con-tracts, the project will emphasize the ideology-infused psychological contract. This will strengthen the possibility to compare the results with the previous study, which followed the same approach.

Depending on the effective or ineffective fulfillment of the psychological contract the employee will react in a specific way, influencing amongst others their engagement at work. Lastly, all these concepts lead to a specific performance of the organization (Wright & Nishii, 2006).

The model in Figure 2.1 by Wright and Nishii (2006) demonstrates that there is a close link between the concepts established from the research objective as well as the additional components, which is why the following conceptual model has been developed:

The objective of the research and the conceptual model lead to the following central research question: To what extent do the CSR practices in HRM of tour operators/travel agencies with different organiza-tional cultures influence their company performance, based on the concepts of ideology-infused psy-chological contracts and employee engagement?

To be able to answer the central research question, one has to understand the relationships be-tween the different core concepts, which is why the following sub-questions have been formulated: 1. To what extent does the organizational culture influence the way employees perceive CSR?

2. What is the relationship between the way employees perceive CSR HR practices and their ideology-infused psychological contracts?

3. What is the relationship between the ideology-infused psychological contracts of the employees and their level of engagement?

4. What is the influence of employee engagement on the company performance, in relation to turnover?

2.2 Theoretical framework

Pushkarskaya (2013) developed a theory which implies that the Corporate Social Responsibility per-formance of tour operators and travel agencies has a positive effect on the ideology-infused psycho-logical contract of employees and subsequently on their engagement at work.

The present research attempts to test this assumption since it was restricted by several limitations. On the one hand, Pushkarskaya (2013) conducted a qualitative research and had access only to a small amount of employees who were highly involved in the CSR practices of their organization. Moreover,

Organizational culture Ideology-infused psychological contract Employee engagement Company performance

CSR

practices

CSR HR

practices

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13 the author assumed that a difference in the relationship of CSR and engagement exists dependent on the organizational culture of a company, without investigating this link more closely.

This paper takes into consideration the above-mentioned limitations and thus introduces new as-pects into the research. As a result, the central research question has been formulated as following:

To what extent does the CSR program in HRM of tour operators/travel agencies with different or-ganizational cultures influence their company performance, based on the concepts of ideology-infused psychological contracts and employee engagement?

To be able to conduct the field research it is necessary to understand the core concepts underlying this research question. Hence, this chapter provides clear definitions of the most important aspects on the basis of extensive literature research. In addition, it introduces the proof of relationships between the concepts found in the existing literature.

2.2.1 Organizational culture

In the hospitality industry one comes across all kinds of different companies, which vary in their size, specialization, composition and other aspects. One component, which might not belong to the most obvious characteristics at first sight but which has been increasingly studied in the literature, is the organizational culture of companies.

According to Schein (1984), organizational culture is composed of the basic assumptions which un-derlay the core of an organization and influence the way members act and how values are sustained. Van den Hooff and Huysman (2008) go into more detail and characterize the organizational culture of a company by the extent to which interaction between different departments is supported, vision and aims are clearly communicated to the whole workforce, innovation and investigation is encouraged and training and learning within the company are eligible.

Moreover, the organizational culture must be seen in relation to the company’s environment be-cause in combination with economic, social, political, technological and other factors it influences an organization’s development immensely (Žitkus & Junevičius, 2007).

Cameron and Quinn (2006) define four dominant categories of an organization’s culture, emerged from the framework, which include

hierarchy – a structured working place, with formal rules and policies, valuing bureaucracy, effi-ciency and stability

market – core concepts are competitiveness and productivity, by focusing on external position-ing and control

clan – a humane work environment, influenced by loyalty and tradition, supporting individuality and following principles of teamwork, employee involvement and commitment

adhocracy – an adaptable, flexible and creative culture, fostering innovation and seizing oppor-tunities, stressing individuality and risk taking

In the majority of cases organizations clearly decide for one of the cultural types. Übius and Alas (2009) take this segmentation on and claim that each of the cultural categories implies a different ap-proach to CSR. This alleged relationship is analyzed during the further procedure of the literature re-view.

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14 The field research of this project tests if the differentiation of types of organizational cultures made is applicable in the case of the tour operators in order to understand the influence the culture of the organizations has on the perceived CSR practices.

2.2.2 Corporate Social Responsibility

When diving into the literature one can find a tremendous amount of discussions about Corporate Social Responsibility. Plenty of academics have developed diverse analysis about the concept, which is why multiple definitions can be found. First of all the researcher will discuss the concept in general, while the next paragraph will contain CSR definitions within HR practices.

CSR practices

Sustainability is a matter of increasing importance worldwide and it requires good business practic-es from organizations to be able to protect the rpractic-esourcpractic-es on which the industry depends (Forum for the Future & Travel Foundation, 2012). Nowadays, organizations are expected not only to contribute to economic development but pressure is growing internally and externally to fulfill broader social goals (Aguilera et al., 2007).

Gross (n.d.), claims, that ignoring this pressure of acting responsible entails risk, whereas being ac-tively responsive implicates upcoming opportunities for a business. Therefore, organizations increas-ingly incorporate Corporate Social Responsibility within their operations.

Referring to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (2014), “Corporate Social Re-sponsibility is the continuing commitment by business to contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce […] as well as of the community and society.”

Carroll (1979) includes the aspects mentioned but enlarges his definition by stating that Corporate Social Responsibility must embody economic, legal, ethical and discretionary aspects to meet the ex-pectations society has towards organizations.

This explanation is similar to the analysis of Dahlsrud (2006) who argues that Corporate Social Re-sponsibility can be divided into five main dimensions, which include the environmental, social, stake-holders, economical and voluntariness dimension. The author developed these dimensions by catego-rizing the most frequently used existing definitions of the concept.

The present project is based on the previous research of the relationship between CSR and employ-ee engagement by Pushkarskaya (2013) and attempts to test the assumptions and analysis made by the author. Therefore it is necessary to approach the concept of CSR in a similar manner. Since Push-karskaya (2013) used the definition of CSR made by Dahlsrud (2006), this project also focuses on the five dimensions distinguished by the author in order to provide the ground for comparison of the re-sults.

However, as a result of the discussion with the client of the present project, the researcher will put a special emphasis on the stakeholder dimension of CSR, which refers to the way an organization inter-acts with employees, customers, suppliers and communities (Dahlsrud, 2006).

CSR HR practices

According to Aguilera et al. (2007), employees have barely received any attention within the context of CSR research. Nevertheless, in the White Paper of the Forum for the Future and the Travel Founda-tion (2012) it is stated that CSR positively influences staff satisfacFounda-tion and engagement, which also increases productivity. Towers Watson (2008) also claims based on a workforce study that a company needs CSR because it is linked to how productively employees perform.

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15 In most of the definitions the importance of the stakeholder aspect of CSR is mentioned. Hopkins (2003, p.4) states, for instance, that “CSR is concerned with treating the stakeholders of the firm ethi-cally or in a responsible manner”. Also Khoury et al. (1999) stress the importance of employee relations as well as creation and maintenance of employment as aspects of CSR, which all fall under the category of HR. However, when dealing with CSR, the benefits for Human Resources seem often to be over-looked (Forum for the Future & Travel Foundation, 2012).

Nevertheless, Cohen (2010) argues that employees are the primary stakeholder group of an organi-zation because they influence and are influenced by the company’s activities mostly. Therefore it is crucial that they are proactively engaged within the CSR practices. The author further states that the HR function is the critical actor to lead a company to a CSR-enabled culture, which is necessary due to the growing complexity of Corporate Social Responsibility and the fact that it needs to be integrated in the way a company does business. As a result, Cohen (2010) established the term CSHR - Corporate Social Human Resources – which incorporates

that CSR extremely influences HR man-agers in their work nowadays. CSR does not only require environmental activities but it is about respecting people, understanding their concerns and ambitions. Companies which do not align HR practices with their CSR program run the risk that the latter becomes only a matter of PR (Cohen, 2010). Figure 2.2 illustrates the core processes of HR and additional func-tions that need to be addressed in CSR practices.

Figure 2.2 CSHR roadmap Source: Cohen (2010) It needs to be added that there is a significant difference between those companies introducing CSR at a superficial level for image reasons and others incorporating it in their core strategy (Aguilera et al., 2007). UL Environment (2014) refers to the problem of “greenwashing”, which addresses the issue when companies advertise a sustainability program, which is different than the one they actually carry out, in order to take advantage of the positive effects of CSR without putting effort in actually incorpo-rating it. This issue needs to be taken into account when evaluating the CSR practices of the tour oper-ators and the relationship it eventually has on the company’s performance.

2.2.3 Ideology-infused psychological contract

The concept of the ideology-infused psychological contract goes back to the existence of an em-ployee-organization relationship within every business unit. To get a better understanding of this rela-tionship Argyris (1960) came up with the term of the psychological contract already in the sixties, whereas the concept has received intensified investigation not until the eighties and nineties.

According to Rousseau (2004), organizations, especially those with geographically dispersed loca-tions and urge for innovation, cannot motivate their employers by bare supervision and remuneration.

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16 The author further states that there are unwritten agreements between worker and employer about the contributions made from both sides.

Gibson (1966) also claims that a work contract of an employee consists of two parts: a formal con-tract, as well as the “quasi-contract”, implying the unwritten understanding of all rights and duties of both parties. The latter refers to the psychological contract, which is also simply defined as the indi-vidual’s perception of the employee-organization relationship (Gibson, 1966).

Roehling (1997, p.204) pursues this thought by stressing that the psychological contract is a “set of beliefs regarding what employees are to give and receive with respect to their employer”. Guest (1998) stresses the complexity of the content of these contracts by adding the terms perceptions, promises, obligations and expectations of employees. Expectations can include anything that an employee senses as important, and it is not necessarily in line with the promises that have been made between both parties (Conway & Briner, 2009).

Research distinguishes between the perspective of the individual and the one of the organization when defining the expectations within the psychological contracts (van den Ven, n.d.), whereas most definitions focus on the employees’ perspective, which also supports the nature of this research since the employees are going to be the focus of the field research.

A psychological contract is always based on the concept of reciprocity. Dabos and Rousseau (2004) stated that a functional work relationship needs to be based on mutual exchanges and reciprocal commitments. So if the obligations within an ideological contract are fulfilled from one party, the other party is likely to reciprocate, which again increases the intention of the first entity to provide benefits continually (Bingham, 2005). This idea goes back to the ‘Social Exchange Theory’, which declares that social exchange, especially within a work relationship, “comprises actions contingent on the rewarding reactions of others, which over time provide for mutually and rewarding transactions and relationships” (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005, p.890).

A clear distinction between different types of psychological contracts has been made by Rousseau (2004). According to the author, there are two prominent types of psychological contracts, based on the type of exchange that is made between the parties involved, differentiating between economical and socioemotional currency (MacNeil, 1985).

Relational psychological contracts are based upon loyalty between both parties and commitment. Promises that are included embrace the support of co-workers, the willingness to work overtime or the adaption towards organizational changes (Rousseau, 2004). In exchange, employees with relational psychological contracts expect security, career opportunities and belonging to a group (Thompson & Bunderson, 2003), referred to as the socioemotional currency. In case of breach of the contract the relationship with the employer is generally maintained, although the disappointment may lead to less contribution or commitment (Rousseau, 2004; Thompson & Bunderson, 2003).

Transactional psychological contracts are rather narrow in terms of obligations, where the employee sees himself as the primary beneficiary of the economic currency that is exchanged (Thompson & Bun-derson, 2003). Employees are paid for the work that needs to be done and no further obligations are assigned or additional effort is invested. Moreover it can be stated, that the breach of transactional contracts leads usually to the termination of the work relationship (Rousseau, 2004).

Thompson and Bunderson (2003) introduce a third type of psychological contract, in which another type of currency is exchanged. The ideology-infused psychological contract implies the commitment of an employee based on shared values with its employer. The commitment to the work is characterized by the belief to contribute to a greater purpose and to achieve something more valuable than bare

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17 profit. The organization is providing the context in which the employee is able to pursue a cause (Thompson & Bunderson, 2003). Thompson and Bunderson (2003) state that the ideological currency is characterized by the employee’s contribution to the organization’s capacity to pursue the cause on the one hand and on the other hand, the company’s loyalty towards the represented principle.

Although psychological contracts are usually multi-dimensional, meaning different types of curren-cies are included (Thompson & Bunderson, 2003), the current project focuses on the ideology-infused psychological contract. This can be justified by the CSR focus of this paper and the importance this concept has on the ideology-infused psychological contract as well as by the fact that the research should test the theory developed by Pushkarskaya (2013), which followed the same approach.

According to Bal and Vink (2011), researchers have previously rather disregarded the ideology com-ponent within psychological contracts. Nevertheless studies show that the a shared ideology can be the focus of an employment relationship (Bingham, 2005). This phenomenon also takes place due to the fact that the employee’s need for a deeper meaning in their work has recently become increasingly significant for the industry (Wrzesniewski, 2002).

Relationships that are based on a shared value appear to have a different impact on the employee’s behavior than those built around transactional or relational contracts. The ideological currency makes the relationship unique because the reciprocal expectations lead towards the benefit of the cause and is not originated in self-interest (Bingham, 2005). However, Blau (1964) stresses that ideology-infused psychological contracts also entail personal benefits, since the contribution to a valued cause can be intrinsically rewarding.

Existing research has extensively investigated the mutual obligations arising with ideological cur-rency as well as the effects a failure to fulfill these obligations may have (Bingham, 2005). The inability of an employer to fulfill the ideology-infused psychological contract of the employee may be perceived as a contract breach (Thompson & Bunderson, 2003; Robinson & Morrison, 2000). The two main rea-sons for a contract breach have been identified by Thompson & Bunderson (2003) as the capitulation on the part of the company with regards to the valued cause or a discrepancy in the expectations of what the individual senses as necessary and what is actually carried out by the organization. The nega-tive emotional reaction towards a contract breach is referred to as violation; nevertheless a co-occurrence is not implicit. If the individual is convinced that the breach is of a short-term nature and the future perspective is maintained and the commitment of the employer has not decreased, he is more likely to be tolerant (Robinson & Morrison, 2000). Elsewise, violation can lead to change in be-havior and attitude, mistrust or withdrawal resulting in employee turnover (Thompson & Bunderson, 2003). With regards to this, Robinson (1996) also stated that employees who perceived a lack in ful-fillment of their psychological contract are likely to decrease their positive organizational citizenship behavior.

On the other hand, Turnley et al. (2000) argue that a fulfilled contract will support the employee behavior in a way that the commitment transcends the organizational requirements because it is aimed at greater targets. Bal and Vink (2011) agree by claiming that ideological fulfillments from the employ-er intensify the pemploy-erception of employees to be obliged to comply with obligations beyond their actual work contract, because the employee values the commitment of the organization towards the cause. Additionally, the fulfillment of an ideology-infused psychological contract is more likely to generate trust since the exchange made is not based on mandatory agreements (Blau, 1964).

Therefore, the fulfillment of the ideology-infused psychological contract is important to fully un-derstand the employees’ behavior which benefits the organizational performance (Turnley et al., 2000).

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2.2.4 Employee Engagement

According to Macey and Schneider (2008) the concept of employee engagement is just emerging within the literature. The authors further state that the phenomenon has received several contradictory definitions and discussions. However, researches provide explanations of the concept which coincide in several aspects.

The first discussion about the construct was developed by Kahn (1990) who argued that engage-ment presumes a psychological presence of the employee in which he presents himself physically, cog-nitively and emotionally, meaning that engaged employees are involved in their work on these three levels. Moreover the author states that there are three psychological conditions of employee engage-ment, which are meaningfulness, safety and availability.

May et al. (2004) take Kahn’s (1990) findings on in their field study and confirm the existence of the three conditions – meaningfulness, safety and availability – in connection with employee engagement. They stress that meaningfulness within the job featured the strongest link with the concept of en-gagement.

Macey and Schneider (2008) supported the differentiation of the psychological presence in their discussion about employee engagement, since it states that engagement refers to psychological state engagement, behavioral engagement as well as trait engagement.

Harter et al. (2002, p.269) provide a more narrow explanation and claim that engagement is the “individual’s involvement and satisfaction with as well as enthusiasm for work”. Gross (n.d.) goes a step further and characterizes engagement as a commitment to the company and its values and the willing-ness of a person to contribute to the success of the company. This engagement implies benefit for the organization, which is why it is a desirable situation since it supports aspects such as involvement, commitment, enthusiasm, passion and energy (Macey & Schneider, 2008).

Andrew and Sofian (2012) have also discussed the advantages engagement entails and describe it as a construct that is involved in all facets of Human Resource Management. Since businesses are aware of this connection, the enhancement of employee engagement is increasingly supported within the HR strategies.

The most extensive definition of employee engagement and at the same time, the one mostly used and cited is from Schaufeli et al. (2002). They also provide a three-dimensional perspective towards engagement, similar to those of Kahn (1990) by mentioning that work engagement is “a positive work-related state of fulfillment that is characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption” (Schaufeli et al., 2002, p.74). Vigor can here be equated with physical engagement, dedication equals emotional en-gagement and absorption is identical with cognitive enen-gagement (Gross, n.d.). The authors further explain that vigor implies a significant level of energy and effort as well as endurance, even if difficul-ties occur. Dedication is characterized by a high level of involvement, enthusiasm, challenge and pride. Absorption describes the fact that employees are fully focused and immersed in their work, which de-creases the desire to finish the work one is engaged in (Schaufeli et al., 2002).

In the analysis of the concept one cannot neglect the drivers that stimulate employee engagement. According to Bakker and Demerouti (2008), the two main categories include job resources and person-al resources. Job resources refer to person-all aspects that are supportive in reaching the target of the work, reducing needs within the job and foster personal growth (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). Personal re-sources in contrast, refer to self-esteem, endurance, self-effectiveness, optimism and other character-istics and attitudes that support individuals in their personal success (Bakker & Demerouti, 2008).

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19 The present project will seize the definition of Schaufeli et al. (2002) and utilize it in the case of the tour operators and travel agencies.

2.2.5 Organizational Culture and Corporate Social Responsibility

The provided definitions of the two concepts of Organizational Culture and Corporate Social Re-sponsibility presume a relationship between both. Although this relationship has not been studied extensively, several discussions within the literature may serve as proof for this hypothesis.

McWilliams et al. (2006) claim, that the lack of consistence within CSR definitions hinders the inves-tigation of the role of organizational culture within this concept. The author continues that the effect of corporate culture remains one of the unresolved empirical issues regarding CSR.

Nevertheless, other researchers establish the connection between the constructs. Culler (2010), for instance, argues on the basis of her study that there is a clear connection between CSR and organiza-tional culture. However, she could not solve the question yet, whether the culture is influencing the development of CSR policies or the CSR creation is integrated into the culture.

However, the majority of academics hold the view that it is the organizational culture that is estab-lished first and impacts if and how CSR is successfully embedded within the organization. Therefore, the researcher will acknowledge this statement and follow the same approach. The emphasis will again be put on HR aspects of CSR with regards to employees and the ethical situation of an organization.

Strautmanis (2007) argues that every component of CSR is determined by the organization’s organ-izational culture. The underlying value system is influencing strategy and decision-making within a company, also with regards to CSR. Corporate Responsibility therefore becomes a crucial value within the organizational culture environment.

Cohen (2010) also states, that organizational leadership, values and communications, which are part of the organizational culture, are fundamental for an organization’s ability to act in a sustainable and responsible manner. On the basis of these aspects, CSR needs to be integrated in all areas of the company.

It is crucial that ethical management or leaders of a company are truly committed to CSR since it is their role to incorporate it into the daily procedures. They need to fully understand the organizational culture and preferably prioritize CSR decisions compared to bottom-line considerations (Collier & Esteban, 2007; Seidman, 2004). The qualities and value orientation of managers are crucial in identify-ing the organizational culture and consequently in the approach towards CSR (Strautmanis, 2007).

Moreover, only organizational cultures supporting a clear and comprehensive communication be-tween company and employees can support the ethical situation since it is determining if an ethic pro-gram is integrated or decoupled (Collier & Esteban, 2007), which in return has an effect on the reaction of employees towards the practices.

CSR is strongly influenced by the value orientation within a company, such as personal development or employee involvement, leading to human relations of tolerance and empathy (Strautmanis, 2007). Collier and Esteban (2007) therefore stress the importance that employees need to align with values and the vision of the culture they work in because “unless the cultural context supports the self-understanding of employees as moral agents” CSR cannot be delivered thoroughly (Collier and Esteban, 2007, p.31).

The authors further stress that there are two types of factors derived from the organizational cul-ture that have an impact on the employees’ commitment towards CSR. The contextual factors imply if CSR is incorporated into the business practices or is a simple add-on. Perceptual factors take into

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ac-20 count the relation of employee and organization, the shared values and if CSR is embedded in hearts and minds or rather a managerial command.

Coming back to the differentiation made by Cameron and Quinn (2006) between the four most common types of organizational culture, the discussion from Übius and Alas (2009) suggests that de-pending on the type of organizational culture the company implement different facets of CSR. In clan, hierarchy and adhocracy cultures, the firm acts in social issues as well as respects the interests of its agents. In contrast, companies with market culture type adopt only CSR performance regarding social issues, since interests of employees and other stakeholders are frequently ignored, meaning that they do not implement CSR in respect to the interest of their stakeholders.

The present research aims at gaining a deeper understanding of the relationship between Organiza-tional Culture and Corporate Social Responsibility in order to identify and explain potential differences between CSR practices of the tour operators and travel agencies and will therefore answer the following sub-question:

1. To what extent does the organizational culture influence the way employees perceive CSR?

2.2.6 Corporate Social Responsibility and Ideology-infused psychological contracts

When understanding the concepts of CSR and ideology-infused psychological contracts it is likely to assume that both can be related to each other. O’Donohue and Nelson (2009) found that an organiza-tion’s urge of acting social responsible and the organizational behavior linked to this is extremely im-portant in the creation of the psychological contracts at the workplace.

The CSR practices carried out are suggestive of the moral values imbedded within an organization. This can amount to a value proposition of an organization for employees, which they in return may align with and build their ideology-infused psychological contracts on. If the moral actions of a com-pany coincide with those of the employees based on these shared value it will have an influence on the work behavior and relationship (Gross, n.d.; Aguilera et al., 2007).

Aguilera et al. (2007) claim, that the way employees perceive the CSR practices of their employer frames their consequent attitudes towards their organization. Hence, if an organization carries out CSR programs based upon values congruent to those of the employees, the latter are more likely to commit to the employer in all areas (Kenexa Research Institute, 2007; Aguilera et al., 2007). This goes along with the idea that if ideological currency is exchanged an individual’s commitment exceeds arranged requirements (Turnley et al., 2000).

Gond et al. (2010), add that employees are presumed to be identified with a social responsible company, if its values match the employee’s self-esteem and –identity. This identification, triggered by CSR, has an effect on the social exchange made within an organization. The perceived obligation of reciprocate action indeed is highly contingent “on how employees value CSR actions, motives and re-sources of the organization” (Gond et al., 2010, p.15).

To sum it up, the voluntary performance of a firm, benefiting other parts of the society (Bauman & Skitka, 2012) can be the principle around which an ideology-infused psychological contract is built and which gives the employee the opportunity to pursue a cause, greater than pure organizational devel-opment.

However, this view on CSR and its influence on the ideology-infused psychological contract is likely to primarily address CSR practices carried out to benefit the environment or the society in large, since it gives employees the chance to contribute to a greater cause. Nevertheless, this paper emphasizes the role of CSR in Human Resources and the role of the employee in specific. Therefore, a concrete

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21 relation between CSR in HR and the influence on the ideology-infused psychological contract needs to be established as well.

As defined earlier in this paper, CSR with regards to Human Resources is basically engaged with providing ethical work surroundings and treating employees responsibly (Hopkins, 2003).

According to Aguilera et al. (2007), the social exchange relationships within an organization are of higher quality if employees feel treated fairly and can generate trust towards their employer. CSR prac-tices directed towards work conditions can influence the development of obligations sensed by the employee and, as the case may be, result in productive or nonproductive behaviors (Gond et al., 2010). An important component in the beliefs or values of an individual may be fairness, on which CSR can have a tremendous impact. Victor and Cullen (1988) stress that the working environment can become friendly and ethical due to the moral decisions that are made. In a case like this, employees perceive their treatment to be fair, because CSR is concerned with their interests, including work conditions, wages or discrimination (Gond et. al, 2010; Naumann & Benett, 2000).

Collier and Esteban (2007) emphasize a difference of how ethical programs of companies are re-ceived by the employees. Companies incorporating the ethic program and imply ethic concerns within the appraisal process will strengthen the conduct as a factor in the personal accountability of the em-ployee. In contrast, employees will not notice the relevance of an ethic program in the workplace if the practices are decoupled from the processes and are communicated via additional documents. In other words, the way in which companies carry out and are committed to CSR in an ethical context has a great impact on the extent to which employees perceive their ideology-infused psychological contract fulfillment.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) (2003, p.18) claims that “a key issue for HR is how far the social and ethical components underlying good people management practice can be translated into stakeholder relationships”. It is further stated that a healthy and ethical relationship is effective only if the employees are highly involved and not only told what to do. According to the survey discussed, 90 % of HR manager consider the psychological contract a useful tool to manage their resources, underlying the basic assumption that people need to be treated appropriately to moti-vate and retain them, increase their satisfaction and commitment, so to say, fulfill the deal that under-lies the “quasi-contract”. The main issue regarding the psychological contracts, according to the au-thors, is to establish a climate of trust, fairness and confidence as a basis for the employee-employer relationship (CIPD, 2003), which goes beyond transactional and socioemotional currencies but touches the employees’ belief in how the working place should look like.

This paper will estimate the relationship discussed by answering the following sub-question: 2. What is the relationship between the way employees perceive CSR and their ideology-infused psy-chological contracts?

2.2.7 Ideology-infused psychological contracts and employee engagement

As mentioned before the amount of research investigating the ideological component of psycholog-ical contracts is rather limited, which is why the relationship of this concept and the engagement of employees is not extensively discussed. Still it is possible to draw the connection on the basis of some findings engaged in a similar approach.

Vantilborg et al. (2012) address the lack of research regarding the fulfillment of ideology-infused psychological contracts and found out that ideological currency has an explicit effect on work engage-ment of employees.

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22 Turnley et al. (2000) express a similar outcome and mentioned that the fulfillment of psychological contracts in general has a positive influence on the employee performance and engagement in a way that benefits the organization’s goals.

When perceived obligations are fulfilled, especially those having their seeds in the espousal of a principle, employees react positively and are more committed to contributing to the company’s aims (Robinson, 1996; Bingham, 2005). Cooper and Wagman (2009) mention as well that corresponding values of employer and employee are tied to job satisfaction, organizational obligation and employee retention.

Thus, one can conclude that if employees perceive that their values and beliefs are supported from their employer they tend to increase their engagement and outperform others, which implies that their ideology-infused psychological contract can be a mediator towards higher levels of commitment (Aguilera et al., 2007; Van den Ven, n.d.).

Furthermore, the ideological currency discussed in paragraphs above was also equated with the perception of fairness, which in return has an influence on engagement, since Aguilera et al. (2007) state that employees who perceive to be treated fairly are happy and work harder. Ideological currency is also characterized by providing employees with the opportunity to sense meaningfulness in their job, which is, according to Kahn (1990), one of the three conditions engaged employees are in need of. In fact, May et al. (2004) stress that meaningfulness within the job happens to possess the strongest link to employee engagement.

It has been substantiated that the breach of an ideology-infused psychological contract, in its turn, results in negative outcomes regarding the behavior of employees at work (Turnley et al., 2000; Robin-son, 1996; Thompson & BunderRobin-son, 2003).

Hence, the present paper takes these findings as evidence for an existing relationship between ide-ology-infused psychological contracts and employee engagement and attempts to gain a deeper un-derstanding of its importance by answering the sub-question:

3. What is the relationship between the ideology-infused psychological contracts of the employees and their level of engagement?

2.2.8 Employee engagement and company performance

The present study attempts to draw the connection between the employee engagement and the overall company performance. To be able to do so, the researcher relies on the proof of relationship between the concepts found in the existing literature.

“Employee engagement drives bottom-line results” (Macey & Schneider, 2008, p.3). That means that positive employee engagement is associated with positive business outcomes, for instance company profitability, employee productivity and customer satisfaction (Harter et al., 2003). Macey and Schnei-der (2008) also state that there is a relationship between engagement and profitability of an organiza-tion due to higher productivity and sales as well as employee retenorganiza-tion. The correlaorganiza-tion between en-gagement and productivity, profitability and employee turnover can be generalized across all types of companies (Harter et al., 2002). Aguilera et al. (2007) explain that employees are likely to reciprocate their engagement to dedication and productivity, which in return increases a firm’s performance.

In comparison, disengagement of employees has been detected to cause a lack of commitment, in-creased absenteeism, low performance and increasing employee turnover, which brings along major financial implications (Gross, n.d.; Towers Watson, 2012).

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23 To sum it up, it can be stated that having engaged employees can be a key to a competitive ad-vantage, which is why this research will analyze the employee engagement within the tourism organi-zations and stress the influence it has on the company performance by answering the following sub-question:

4. What is the influence of employee engagement on the company performance, in relation to turnover?

2.3 Methodological justification

The objective of the field research of this project is to gain insight in the situation of the tour op-erators’ and travel agencies’ employees in order to analyze the relationship between the concepts of organizational culture, CSR, psychological contracts and employee engagement. Only by collecting information about the concepts firsthand will it be possible to make meaningful conclusions and find answers to the research question. The employees of the organizations are the focus point of this the-sis, since it is their behavior, engagement and performance, which should be analyzed. Therefore the research cannot be conducted without the data collected from them.

2.3.1 Research strategy and design

According to Baarda (2010) it is necessary to establish how the research is going to be conducted by designing a proper research strategy.

Since the present research requires the same data from a large amount of individuals on the basis of a representative sample in order to draw general conclusions on employees’ perception regarding the organizational culture, CSR practices, their psychological contracts with their employers and their engagement, the chosen research strategy is the survey. Survey research is essential when it comes to communicating to a representative sample and the data collected is likely to be reliable (Brotherton, 2008). Moreover, Saunders et al. (2009) state that a survey allows collecting quantitative data which, on the one hand, can give reasons for particular relationships between variables and on the other hand, can be generalized for the whole population.

The research design that was chosen for this research has been decided to be most appropriate in generating findings to answer the research questions and preserve a high validity and reliability at the same time. Brotherton (2008) stresses to choose the empirical research design which serves the own purposes best.

For the present research a quantitative research design will be used, since the researcher needs to test the results of the exploratory research (Pushkarskaya, 2013) empirically. Quantitative research design allows the researcher to test the hypotheses about the concept relationships as well as the pre-vious findings on a wider base of individuals with the help of numerical data.

2.3.2 Selection of research units

Due to the fact that in general it is not possible to survey the whole population of employees, Brotherton (2008) suggests choosing a representative sample, whose answers are going to be general-ized in return for the entire population. To ensure the credibility of the results found and the generali-zation of conclusions it is critical to be careful in the sample selection. The researcher is aware that errors in the random selection procedure can lead to bias in the findings (Brotherton, 2008).

Smith (2010) further states that the sampling process starts with the definition of the conceptual population, which describes the group of people that need to be investigated. For the present research

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24 this consists of employees of tour operators and travel agencies, which are members of the association of ANVR.

The actual sampling frame is defined by the data base to which the researcher has access with per-mission of the client. It includes contact details from 6000 employees of tour operators and travel agencies with different education, age, job positions, employers and tenures. Within this sampling frame the respondents are selected on the basis of probability-based sampling, since it is appropriate to analyze data statistically and to generalize findings for the whole population (Brotherton, 2008).

In order to trigger the participation of the sample, the client offered to raffle shopping vouchers among all respondents of the questionnaire. Moreover, the survey has been conducted bilingually, to ensure a higher respondent rate as well.

2.3.3 Methods of data collection

Besides observation and interviews, questionnaires are one of the most common methods of data collection (Saunders et al, 2009). According to Brotherton (2008), quantitative data is gathered with structured questionnaires with closed questions because it is useful in investigating rather large-scale populations with geographical dispersed respondents. This questionnaire has a predetermined struc-ture and provides instruction on how to be completed, facilitating the possibility of statistical analysis (Brotherton, 2008).

For the present research a structured self-administered questionnaire is used, which is Internet-mediated (Saunders et al., 2009). The advantages of this type of questionnaires are the low cost and time effort, the possibility to use a large sampling frame and the likelihood that the reliability of the research would be high.

The variables of the questionnaire will be based on the operationalization of the core concepts. With regards to employee engagement, the researcher will make use of the existing measurement instru-ment of Schaufeli and Bakker (2003), because this has been proven to collect the information that needs to be measured.

The questionnaire will be designed and executed within Parantion, a well-established platform to conduct online surveys.

2.3.4 Operationalization

On the basis of the theoretical framework and the fundamental discussion of the core concepts it is necessary to execute an operationalization in order to create a measurement instrument for the field research. A structured overview of the operationalization can be found in Appendix II.

The operationalization of Organizational Culture is built up on the differentiation between cultures made by Cameron and Quinn (2006).

Operationalization of CSR is based on the five dimensions of Dahlsrud (2006), with an emphasis on the stakeholder dimension in regards to HR, supported by Cohen’s (2010) definitions.

The concept of the ideology-infused psychological contract was operationalized on the basis of the study by Thompson and Bunderson (2003), taking into account the work of Bingham (2005), Bal and Vink (2011) as well as Dabos and Rousseau (2004). Thus, a differentiation must be made between con-tract obligations and perceived level of fulfillment, from the point of view of the employees.

The operationalization of the concept of employee engagement is developed by means of Schaufeli et al.’s definition (2002).

The measurement instrument that has been designed on the basis of this operationalization can be found in Appendix III, both in English and Dutch.

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2.3.5 Methods of data analysis

In order to serve the chosen method of data collection, the data analysis needs to be conducted with a method that can analyze a large scale of quantitative data. Therefore the researcher will make use of the SPSS software from IBM, which allows entering and comparing large amounts of data. The software can produce statistics and graphical visualization of the data in order to support the statistical analysis.

The results will be analyzed on the basis of both univariate and bivariate analysis methods.

The univariate analysis should provide insight into the answers of the respondents regarding single variables, approached with descriptive statistics. To summarize the characteristics of the data ob-tained, Brotherton (2008) suggests producing frequency distributions, measuring central tendency and dispersion. As a result of this analysis one will understand how the respondents perceive the different concepts.

The bivariate analysis is executed to find out if there are relationships between different variables and therefore the core concepts. By making use of the techniques of cross tabulation, Pearson’s prod-uct moment correlation coefficient and Regression analysis the researcher will be able to answer the sub-research questions.

2.4 Field research

Subsequent to the theoretical framework the field research has been conducted, based on the deci-sions explained in the methodological justification. Within a time frame of three weeks data has been gathered and analyzed. Out of the 6000 individuals who have composed the sampling frame, the searcher received 349 answers. The results that could be generalized from the answers of these re-spondents are discussed in the following chapters.

2.4.1 Univariate analysis

This chapter introduces the univariate analysis of the data gathered within the survey, which should provide information about how the employees of the tourism organizations perceive the core concepts. The researcher will describe findings about the organizational cultures, CSR and CSR HR practices, ideology-infused psychological contracts as well as employee engagement.

Some of the tables, illustrating the results described below, can be found in Appendix IV.

General results

Reflecting the composition of the travel industry, 79.2% of the respondents were female. The re-spondents, whose mean age is 39 years, have an average tenure at their organizations of seven years. The researcher received answers from both employees of tour operators and travel agencies, from which 34.7% have been categorized as large companies with 250 and more employees. The next most common size was micro organizations (1-10 employees) with 25%. Current job positions varied with the most occupied position as a Salesperson, with 22.8% of the respondents.

Organizational culture

The analysis of the organizational culture reveals several interesting components. The comparison of the four different types of organizational culture, indicated with the various questions, shows that all culture types can be discovered in the respondents’ organizations, even with quite a balanced distribu-tion. To be able to get a specific idea about the different culture types in the analysis, the researcher

The Added Value of Corporate Social Responsibility

The Added Value of

Corporate Social

Responsibility

Meike Niebuhr – Thesis

16-6-2014

The Added Value of Corporate Social Responsibility

Preface

Summary

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1.1 Background information about the client

1.2 Reasons for the project

1.3 Objective of the project

1.4 Global work breakdown structure

1.5 Reading guide

2. Research part

2.1 Research objective and questions

2.2 Theoretical framework

CSR

practices

CSR HR

practices

2.3 Methodological justification

2.4 Field research