Review Reports

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors,

The paper is interesting and describes important issues, yet some improvements would add value to the content. Thus, I have some suggestions to enhance the quality of the manuscript.

1. Introduction. I suggest to make some rearrangements in the introduction.  First, it is important to emphasize the role of tourism in the world's economy and show how strongly the pandemic affected tourism, including hospitality industry.  Then, it is crucial to explain the concept of CSR and its role in the sustainable tourism development. Next, previous research results concerning CSR in tourism/hospitality should be described. Finally, the research gap needs to be presented followed by the research aims and  paper's structure.

2. Theoretical background. More thorough literature review would add value to the paper. First, it is essential to show the rising interest in the research focused on CSR in tourism/hospitality, emphasize CSR benefits and costs, and show various research perspectives. Afterwards, it is possible to elaborate the main topic of the research which has already been described in the literature review, and develop the hypotheses.

3. Methodology. As questionnaire was based on the existing literature, I suggest to add information clarifying which parts of the questionnaire were based on the specific literature positions. It is also crucial to add information on when the data were collected. In addition, it is  important to describe the scale used in the questionnaire.

4. Discussion. With the more extended literature review, it would be possible to enhance the scientific soundness of the discussion.

5. Conclusions. I recommend to give some more detailed practical implications and elaborate more strongly  research limitations in the context of future research directions.

With my best regards

Recommended papers

 

Davahli, M. R., Karwowski, W., Sonmez, S., & Apostolopoulos, Y. (2020). The hospitality industry in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic: Current topics and research methods. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(20), 7366.

Franco, S., Caroli, M.G., Cappa, F., Del Chiappa, G. (2020) Are you good enough? CSR, quality management and corporate financial performance in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 88.

Gursoy, D., & Chi, C. G. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on hospitality industry: review of the current situations and a research agenda. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 29(5), 527–529

Johann, M. (2022). CSR Strategy in Tourism during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Sustainability, 14(7), 3773.

Johann, M. CSR strategy in the hospitality industry: from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis to recovery, International Journal of Contemporary Management.

Mostepaniuk, A., Nasr, E., Awwad, R. I., Hamdan, S., & Aljuhmani, H. Y. (2022). Managing a Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability: A Systematic Review. Sustainability, 14(18), 11203.

Author Response

We would like to express our thanks to the reviewer for his (her) assessment and constructive comments which will undoubtedly contribute to improving the quality of the article.

In the attachment file are our answers to the issues raised by the reviewer 1

Best regards.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The objective or the purpose of the study is not clear.

References are dated.

Novelty is missing.

The methodology is fine but can be improved

Language can be improved to enrich readability and understandability.

Author Response

We would like to express our thanks to the reviewer for his (her) assessment and constructive comments which will undoubtedly contribute to improving the quality of the article.

In the attachment file are our answers to the issues raised by the reviewer 2

Best regards.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Kindly address some of my raised concerns and work on the suggested comments to make this paper journal worthy.

The abstract in its current form is not rich in content and meaning. A thorough revision of the abstract is needed to highlight the gaps, objectives, approaches, methods, findings, and implications and value that this study offers.

 

The introduction section is weak and loosely hanging in its current form. Authors need to do a better job in highlighting the contribution made by this study in terms of both theoretical relevance and practical implications. You also need to clearly highlight the gaps that this study addresses and make them more apparent to the readers. Otherwise, this manuscript seems to be a replication of what is already done and known.

 

I would suggest the authors to add a theoretical background section before literature review section. In this section you need to add some relevant theory, its assumptions and psychological underpinnings as the background to build your arguments on. Kaur et al (2020), The Role of Brand Community Identification and Reward on Consumer Brand Engagement and Brand Loyalty in Virtual Brand Communities, Telematics and Informatics.

 

In the LR section, some of the relevant studies about CSR in hotels context have been missed. See for example,

 

Srivastava and Singh, 2021, Do Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives boost customer retention in the hotel industry? A moderation-mediation approach, Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management

 

Shin, H., Sharma, A., Nicolau, J. L., & Kang, J. (2021). The impact of hotel CSR for strategic philanthropy on booking behavior and hotel performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourism Management,

 

Nazir & Islam, 2020, Effect of CSR activities on meaningfulness, compassion, and employee engagement: A sense-making theoretical approach, International Journal of Hospitality Management.

 

Choi, M., & Choi, Y. (2021). Employee perceptions of hotel CSR activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.

 

Nazir et al. 2021. Effect of CSR participation on employee sense of purpose and experienced meaningfulness: A self-determination theory perspective, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management

 

Similalrly, most of the cited papers in this manuscript are old if not outdated. Try to cite some recent papers (for example, 2018 onwards) to further justify the contemporary relevance of this study.

 

 

While drafting your hypotheses, I would also suggest you to create a bit more of “tension” in the hypotheses development. Present some psychological assumptions and theoretical arguments in strengthening your hypotheses.

 

Present an improved discussion of your key findings. You will need to identify – and justify – how this work is different from work previously done in the area (i.e., its novelty). This needs to be done upfront as well as the end (when you specify your study’s contribution). Moreover, this should also permeate the discussion, where you need to discuss each relationship, and explain what is new, and why, in light of relevant literature.

 

Strengthen the theoretical and practical implications of this study to further justify the power of this study.

 

The conclusion section needs to be trimmed a little to make it more crisp and meaningful.

 

Readability is an issue with this paper. There are many grammatical issues throughout. Have a thorough check of the paper to remove any typographical and grammatical errors.

Author Response

We would like to express our thanks to the reviewer for his (her) assessment and constructive comments which will undoubtedly contribute to improving the quality of the article.

In the attachment file are our answers to the issues raised by the reviewer 3.

Best regards.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors,

I acknowledge your hard work on the manuscript based on the comments received. The scientific soundness of the manuscript and its presentation have greatly benefited after making all amendments. However, I still believe that some changes would be beneficial for the logic and clarity of writing. 

Introduction

I suggest to move first paragraphs of introduction to the literature review section. Describing the CSR origins and development of the concept is much better for the literature review. It is important to explain the CSR concept in introduction, but one definition is sufficient. The introduction needs to be appealing and interesting to readers, so the topic of the study needs to be elaborated more strongly.

In introduction, It is important to show the role of tourism in the world's economy and how strongly the pandemic affected tourism, including hospitality industry.  It is also crucial to explain the concept of CSR and its role in the sustainable tourism development as well as previous research results concerning CSR in tourism/hospitality.  The research gap needs to be presented in the context of previous results followed by the research aims and  paper's structure.

With my best regards

Author Response

Please, see attached file.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

I thank the authors for bringing the research output. Suggesting to advance the initiative with a cross-cultural perspective.

Author Response

Please, see attached file.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

All of my comments have been well addressed. The paper has significantly improved. 

Author Response

Please, see attached file.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx