Which leadership roles modify employee perceptions of CSR activities? Job satisfaction implications in the case of the tourism industry

Purpose This paper aims to examine the influence of leadership roles on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities as perceived by employees, as well as their impact on job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Drawing upon a sample of 245 employees in the tourism industry, a structured questionnaire was developed to measure leadership roles and CSR activities as perceived by employees. The competing values model was adopted to operationalize leadership roles. Findings Results indicate that different leadership roles are linked with different dimensions of CSR activities, although innovator role proved to prevail on this association. More specifically, innovator role is related to all CSR dimensions, followed by monitor which is associated with the philanthropic and environmental dimensions. The broker role is related only to environmental CSR actions. Research limitations/implications The possibility to generalize the results to other countries with different characteristics (e.g. regulatory framework, economic development) needs to be investigated further by carrying out similar studies. Practical implications Understanding the nature of the association between leadership and CSR activities would enable practitioners to pursue or cultivate these roles and behaviors creating strategic value by fostering their multidimensional impact upon the social context. Originality/value The present research has led to the diagnosis of the leadership role profiles supporting CSR strategies in the tourism industry. Findings also highlighted the importance of the innovator leadership role in explaining the variance of different aspects of CSR activities.