Understanding corporate social responsibility, employee psychological capital and work performance: The perspective of tourism in the emerging economy

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) improves business performance in a significant way (Manzoni & Islam, 2015). This study examines how travel and tourism firms handled their CSR during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affected employee satisfaction (EST) with corporate responses on employee psychological capital (PsyCap) that was measured through self-efficacy (SEC), hope (HOP), resilience (RES) and optimism (OPT). This study also examines PsyCap’s impact on employee work performance (WPM). An online questionnaire was used to obtain data from Indian travel industry personnel to support the study’s conceptual model. A total of 301 valid and usable responses were obtained for the final analysis, which was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 20 and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) 22 software. The model underwent validation through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equations modeling (SEM). CSR strongly affects EST, which positively impacts all four variables of employee PsyCap. A positive association of SEC, HOP, and OPT with WPM has also been found, while the association between RES and WPM is insignificant. These variables explained about 53% (R2 = 53.2) of the variance in work performance. This study offers academia and industry practitioners valuable insights into CSR during natural disasters and health hazards.