Corporate Social Responsibility at Tourism Destinations: Toward a Social License to Operate

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a term increasingly employed to denote ethical behavior with respect to various shareholder, employee, consumer, supplier, and competitor stakeholder groups. It is often shaped and expressed through community engagement strategies in which firms reach out to these groups to address societal concerns as well as corporate objectives. Little research probes how CSR relationships are initiated and evolve in tourism destinations. This article outlines the key theoretical foundations of CSR and illustrates how these concepts may be translated into stakeholder engagement strategies in mountain resort destinations. It uses empirical research findings from case studies of CSR relationships between Intrawest, a large North American resort corporation, and stakeholders in two Canadian mountain tourism destinations. It is argued that the extent to which these CSR strategies are employed is a function of both in situ stakeholder saliency and the ability of community stakeholders to provide what has been referred to as a "social license to operate."