This paper adopts a multilevel approach and uses hierarchical-level modelling, to explore the mechanisms that underlie organizational citizenship behaviour for the environment (OCBE) in four- and five-star hotels in Poland. It contributes both to organizational climate research and the organizational greening literature. More specifically, it examines the direct effects of green organizational climate (GOC) on OCBE, as well as its moderating effects on the relationships between individual factors and OCBE. The results indicate that GOC had a direct impact on OCBE and that it had a significant moderating effect on the relationships between personal environmental values and OCBE, and between affective organizational commitment and OCBE. It also emerged that employee values and commitment were positively related to OCBE, and that employees’ engagement in extra-role green activities was equally explained by individual- and hotel-level factors. However, we found that in most hotels, there were weak GOC, which implies lack of organizational emphasis on green practices. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings, and make the case for the adoption of the multilevel approach for exploring employee involvement in organizational pro-environmental action. A series of key managerial implications are listed, explained and justified.

Using the case study method, this paper evaluates and analyses Hilton's we care! programme for improving the environmental performance of the 70 Hilton Worldwide hotels in operation in Continental Europe in 2006–2008. It explores the practical dimension of “greening” hotel operations in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and demonstrates the close links between CSR and human resource management (HRM) in hotels. It deepens the understanding of corporate environmentalism and seeks to disseminate best practice among hospitality managers. The programme's distinctive and innovative character as well as its weaknesses and strengths are highlighted. Barriers to behavioural change in hotel operation are discussed. The programme involved over 16,000 employees, created hotel-specific action teams linking all employee levels and reduced energy use per square metre by 15%, water use and CO₂ emissions per guest night by 8% each over three years. Avoided utility costs totalled US$16 million, of which US$9.6 million can be attributed to changes in human behaviour. The paper makes a case for a holistic approach that combines the introduction of IT-based measurement and performance-assessing tools with genuine employee empowerment and green awareness raising. The study concludes with future managerial policy recommendations that simultaneously bear upon corporate environmentalism and HRM.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), which takes as its premise that firms ought to justify their existence in terms of service to assorted stakeholders rather than mere profit, has been a subject of much debate. Yet, notwithstanding certain critical voices, more and more businesses, including hospitality companies, are embracing CSR. Some – like Scandic – even embedded it into their business models, which means that CSR underpins their organizational modus operandi. Thus this paper, built around an analysis of Scandic's Omtanke programme, aims to conceptualize CSR in the context of the hospitality sector. Great stress is laid, therefore, on the implications of CSR for hotel‐based human resource management, local community support and promotion of environmental sustainability. Drawing on interviews with Scandic managers and internal documents, we examine the rationale and effects of various CSR initiatives carried out in Scandic hotels in recent years. Building on these insights, the paper concludes by making some recommendations of practical character and highlighting future research directions.

This theoretical paper is offered in the spirit of advancing the debate on the socioemotional wealth (SEW) construct and its impact on how family firms conceptualize and practise corporate social responsibility (CSR). The study builds on Kellermanns et al.’s (Entrep Theory Pract 36(6):1175–1182, 2012 ) claim that the SEW dimensions can be positively and negatively valenced as well as makes a distinction between the selective and instrumental approach to CSR and the holistic and normative one. Drawing on these considerations, it provides a theoretical underpinning in favour of the view that SEW has ambivalent nature and therefore can produce detrimental outcomes for stakeholders of family companies. In this way, the study challenges the implicit assumption prevalent in the literature that SEW is “a prosocial and positive stimulus”. Crucially, it expands on the SEW construct by arguing that, given its ambivalent nature, SEW, as such, is at odds with the “strategic, whole-business view of responsibility”. Consequently, it posits that family firms—because of their concern with SEW—may be more likely to adopt the instrumental and selective rather than strategic (holistic) and normative approach. Hence, it also makes the case for regarding the latter as a reference point to investigate the family company’s attitude towards social responsibility. It concludes by summarising the argument and offering future research avenues.

This study, based on data collected from low-ranking employees working in Polish hotels, tests a research model that investigates whether there are links between corporate social responsibility (CSR), operationalized as “self-related” CSR experiences and “others-related” CSR experiences, and job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and between both attitudes and work engagement. Structural equation modelling was used to assess these relationships, using a 20 point questionnaire answered by 412 respondents. The results indicate that “others-related” CSR experiences are positively associated with satisfaction and commitment, while “self-related” CSR experiences with the latter variable. Likewise, organizational commitment, unlike job satisfaction, was linked to work engagement. However, contrary to our a priori assumptions and prior research, it turned out that job satisfaction was not a predictor of commitment. The paper discusses theoretical and practical implications of the findings. The study's most important practical implication is that Polish hotel employees attach weight to responsible behaviour: the hotel industry should perceive CSR in terms of strategic significance. Companies that want a committed and engaged workforce – and, by extension, to enhance their competitiveness – should embrace CSR. The paper concludes by highlighting its limitations and suggesting future research avenues.