How is Corporate Social Responsibility Perceived by Managers with Different Leadership Styles? The Case of Hotel Managers in Hong Kong

The purpose of this study is to investigate how social responsibility is perceived by hotel managers in Hong Kong with different leadership orientations. The majority of the managers surveyed exercised a professional style with a touch of transformational leadership. The third most dominant style was an equal combination of the first two styles. Our findings show that disregard for corporate social responsibility issues is negatively correlated with the professional style with a touch of transformational leadership, and positively correlated with the bureaucratic style with a touch of Machiavellian leadership. Among all of the leadership styles, managers with the professional management style with a touch of the transformational style perceive corporate social responsibility issues to be most important. An important practical implication of this study is that the findings show the industry the type of leaders to choose when firms intend to pursue socially responsible activities.