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Since Tanzania embarked on private sector reforms that started in mid 1990s, the country
experienced a growth of entrepreneurs in the hotel and hospitality industry. While entrepreneurs in
the hotel industry form a major part of the booming tourism industry and contribute significantly to
economic growth, their potential is being undermined by an unorthodox business practices such as
overpricing and provision of substandard services. However, this does not mean they are not
participating in corporate social responsibility such as providing food to the needy and supporting
people faced with natural calamities such as floods. Despite the growing interest in corporate social
responsibility (CSR) and initiatives of entrepreneurs, little attention has been paid to these small
scale entrepreneurs in developing countries such as Tanzania. The purpose of this paper is to
understand corporate social responsibility (CSR) implemented by entrepreneurs in the hotel industry
in Tanzania. This paper is intended to fill the gaps in the literature of the CSR implemented by
entrepreneurs in developing countries. The data were collected in Morogoro and Dar-es-Salaam
from October 2011 to January 2012. Samples of 156 respondents were recruited for the study and
included managers, owners and managing directors of these hotels. Quantitative approach was
employed and a questionnaire was used for data collection. A 37-item, five point Likert scaled
questionnaire was administered to 156 respondents. SPSS window 16.0 was employed for data
analysis. Cronbach α was used to measure scale reliability and communality to test the suitability of
the elements used. The findings reveal six strong factors:, supporting sport, supporting community,
environmental concern, cultural events, supporting elder people, and fund raising. The study shows
that entrepreneurs in hotel industry in Tanzania paid attention to CSR as capital assets to win the
confidence of communities in their business operations |
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