CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSABILITY AND TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: A MODEL FOR THE EVALUATION OF STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT DISCLOSURE IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

In recent years, firms have attached increasing importance to Corporate Social Responsibility, defined by the European Commission (European Commission, 2011) as "corporate responsibility for their impact on society" (Gri, 2013; Waligo et al. 2013, UNWTO 2016 and 2017, Bramwell et al. 2017). Nevertheless it is not yet mainstream in tourism and in particular in the hospitality industry, despite the role that these entities can take in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), provided by the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations. Within the Corporate Social Responsibility policies, stakeholder engagement is considered a fundamental pillar in that allows the company to interact with its stakeholders, generating a two-way dialogue that allows mutual learning. In particular, the real involvement of stakeholders should, through the development of cognitive consonance, allow the company to direct its choices towards shared objectives and at the same time promote actions of transformation and social changes (Bebbington et al 2007). Stakeholder engagement (SE) is therefore fully part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies, allowing the company to pursue sustainability objectives in a shared way (it is considered a good governance tool) and at the same time representing a fundamental element in non-financial reporting. The international reference standards for sustainability reporting (Gri - G4) recognize this activity as an important role in defining the information to be communicated and the choices to be made by the company to reconcile the different expectations. One of the basic principles of sustainability reporting is the identification of the "material" activities to be undertaken following the indications received from the stakeholders.