Ethical and sustainable practices in the hospitality and tourism industry in China

Citation

Liu, J., Xie, L. and Zhao, X.(R). (2014), "Ethical and sustainable practices in the hospitality and tourism industry in China", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 26 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-06-2014-0271

Ethical and sustainable practices in the hospitality and tourism industry in China

Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Volume 26, Issue 6

This special issue contains eight articles related to “ethical and sustainable practices in the hospitality and tourism industry in China”. In 2012, the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (IJCHM) and Business School, Sun Yat-Sen University (SYSBS), formed a partnership and established a second editorial office at SYSBS. Part of this strategic partnership, the guest editors from SYSBS have worked on this special issue for the past 18 months and selected the following eight articles after several rounds of double-blind review process. The topic of this special issue was particularly chosen because of the importance of ethical and sustainability issues and concerns related to the hospitality and tourism industry in China during the past 30 years. The authors from worldwide locations such as the USA, the UK, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Mainland China have contributed their innovative views significantly to the discussion of the special issue. Most of the issues and concerns discussed in the articles included in this special issue are generally related to the hospitality and tourism industry globally. In this special issue, the audience can view ethical and sustainable practices and themes particularly related to the hospitality and tourism industry in China. The articles included in this special issue present interesting research findings from various regions in China and offer theoretical and practical implications related to ethical and sustainability practices in the hospitality and tourism industry.

The first article by Jingjing Yang, Chris Ryan and Lingyun Zhang explores how outsider entrepreneurs maintain harmonious guanxi with stakeholders (especially the government) in an ethnic minority area of less-developed Western China. The research findings from this study indicate that outsider entrepreneurs need to balance between standards required by industry associations and sound “guanxi” between bureaucratic arrangements and business practices and between economic profit and lifestyle within a guanxi-dominated society. In the second paper, Yi Chen, Zhuowei (Joy) Huang and Liping Cai explore China’s tourism sustainability issues as indicated in magazine articles relevant to China tourism. The authors used both qualitative and quantitative research methods and content analyzed the textual data in one of the most popular US travel magazine – National Geographic in the past ten years (2003-2012). Their research findings present the changes of topics on China tourism image conveyed by the Western media, while revealing China tourism sustainability issues directly relating to environmental and socio-cultural sustainability and indirectly relating to economic and socio-cultural sustainability.

The third article by Xiaotao Yang and Kam Hung examines whether poverty alleviation can be realized in tourism via tourism cooperatives. The authors conducted in-depth interviews to collect empirical data. Their research findings suggest that resources and power changes that can be further divided into both individual and collective levels are the main contributors to substantial improvements of the poor. By embracing a more broad understanding of poverty, the tourism cooperative is proven to effectively alleviate the poverty suffering of Yuhu villagers. In the fourth paper, Ben Haobin Ye, Hanqin Qiu Zhang, James Shen Huawen and Carey Goh investigate the roles of social identity and perceived cultural distance in forming the attitude of Hong Kong residents toward the relaxation of the individual visit scheme. The authors carried out semi-structured interviews to collect empirical data. The perceived positive and negative impacts, social identity and perceived cultural distance of Hong Kong residents appear to be crucial in explaining their attitude toward tourism development. Perceived cultural distance seems to influence both the perceived negative impacts and social identity of residents.

The fifth article by Chung-Jen Wang investigates the impact of corporate citizenship on business performance in the hospitality sector. The study findings show that ethical and sustainable practices of corporate citizenship have positive effects on employee affective organizational commitment, organizational innovation and customer loyalty, while affective organizational commitment, innovation and customer loyalty all have positive effects on business performance. Corporate citizenship has indirect positive effects on business performance through the mediating roles of affective organizational commitment, innovation and customer loyalty. The next article by Basak Denizci Guillet, Wei Liu and Rob Law aims to assist hoteliers when deciding hotel rate restrictions. The study findings indicate that refundability, price and advance requirements are the most important attributes in the overall decision-making process of customers. The study findings should assist hoteliers to better understand customers’ decision-making process and underlying needs, thus assisting them to design attractive rate fences that are in the interests of both hotels and customers.

In the next article, Qianqian Qin, Biyan Wen, Qian Ling, Sinian Zhou and Mengshi Tong examine the direct and indirect effects of ethical leadership on employee work outcomes. Their study results indicate that group job satisfaction has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between ethical leadership and employee work engagement. That is, compared with that in groups with high job satisfaction, the relationship between ethical leadership and employee work engagement is significantly more positive in groups with low job satisfaction. The final article by Yueying Hazel Xu explores the expectations and perceptions of CSR strategies among Chinese fast-food diners. The study findings indicate that the Chinese fast food diners expect restaurant companies to attach more importance to nutrition and well-being of customers and environment sustainability to be considered socially responsible. CSR performance is found to be the most influential factor in the consumers’ loyalty behaviors compared to customer satisfaction with service, product and the total visit experience. According to the study findings, many of McDonald’s CSR activities are unknown to the Chinese consumers.

To conclude, the articles included in this special issue demonstrate current, interesting and powerful research findings and discussions about ethical and sustainable practices in the hospitality and tourism industry in China. We are pleased with the fact that the collaboration between IJCHM and SYSBS provides an innovative and wonderful platform of encouraging, facilitating and exchanging academic progress in China, and that far-reaching impacts on international hospitality research will greatly acknowledge such forethought efforts. We hope that our readers find all the articles published in this issue timely, relevant and insightful.

Jingyan Liu, Lishan Xie and Xinyuan (Roy) Zhao

Guest Editors