A Model for Measuring Fair Labour Justice in Hotels: Design for the Spanish Case

Abstract

There is a growing awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability as a global movement. The hospitality sector is one of the major industries driving socioeconomic development worldwide (especially in economies such as Spain) and it has responded to this need, in the context of a general worsening of labor conditions in this sector. Evidence of this response is the Fair Hotels Project, which is an international collaborative effort aimed at building new partnerships between fair trade movements and trade unions in order to have a positive effect on the labour market in the hotel sector. This article describes the design of Hoteles Justos Laboralmente Responsables (HJLR), a fair labour justice and socially responsible model for hotels oriented to contribute to sustainability and labour justice within the Spanish hotel sector. The HJLR model was created to meet corporate, labour and local development needs. It includes accurate and objective measures—and homogeneous and comparable indicators—to assess the level of fairness and quality of labour practices of hotels. This model would be of great utility in improving the sustainability and quality of life of people working in this economic sector and could be also used by companies to improve their competitive position. The Spanish Government has shown its support for this project as a part of its 2030 sustainable tourism strategy, aimed to get the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals. Furthermore, this is a relevant line for future research, once the implementation phase is completed and quantitative data is available to measure the situation in depth.

Socially Responsible Human Resource Management: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda

“…In this way, we categorized the antecedents into three groups, including external, firm-level, and individual-level factors. Concerning external factors, previous studies mentioned different items that could have an impact on the SRHRM practices, such as laws and regulations [21,62,66,100], public demand and expectations [61,64,92], market pressures induced by, for example, competitors and/or customers [26,53,74], union pressures such as those coming from the International Labour Organization (ILO) [48,62,66], the national institutional context [78,89], and external crisis, such as what all organizations experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic since its appearance in 2019 [72,76]. The second group of antecedents pertains to the firm-level factors.…”

“…As most of the studies in the reviewed papers were conducted by applying quantitative methods, as shown in Table 3, they more or less employed the same framework developed by Shen and Benson [94], Shen and Jiuhua Zhu [21], and Orlitzky and Swanson [20]. SRHRM practices were mostly adapted from the traditional HRM functions (i.e., recruitment and selection, training and development, working conditions, appraisal and reward) by including ethical and fairness issues such as the consideration of work-life balance through, for example, flexible working time (e.g., [63]), enhanced communication at work (e.g., [62]), safety and health at work (e.g., [49]), transparent criteria in recruitment and selection (e.g., [54]), equal opportunities (e.g., [53]), fair appraisal processes (e.g., [78]), training opportunities and different personal development alternatives such as employee participation in decision-making (e.g., [86]), as well as providing additional support for employee education [83]. However, some studies that emphasize specific practices, less addressed by previously structured frameworks, are worth mentioning.…”

“…In this part, we report the outcomes of SRHRM as found by previous studies. At the macro level, Bombiak and Marciniuk-Kluska [50] assert that SRHRM practices provide a path for the sustainable development of organizations, which finally result in increasing societal well-being [78] and the building of a sustainable, responsible, and ethical society [53].…”

“…[51]; Shao, Zhou, and Gao[52]; García Mestanza et al[53]; Revuelto-Taboada et al[54]; Sobhani et al[55]; Koinig and Weder[56]; He and Kim[57]; Adu-Gyamfi et al[58];Chang et al[59] Shen and Jiuhua Zhu[21]; D'Cruz and Noronha[60]; Parkes and Davis[61]; Newman et al[62]; Mory et al[63]; Barrena-Martínez et al[64]; Richards and Sang[65] Tongo[66]; Shen and Zhang[67]; Heikkinen et al[26]; Zhang et al[68]; Zhao et al[69] Barrena-Martinez et al[70]; Lombardi et al[71]; Sorribes et al[72]; Gangi et al[73] …”

Special Employment Centres, Time Factor and Sustainable Human Resources Management in Spanish Hotel Industry: Can Corporate Social Marketing Improve the Labour Situation of People with Disabilities?

“…Thus, the tourism sector generated 10.4% of global GDP, positioning as the second largest industry worldwide. In the last five years, this industry has emerged as one of the main drivers of socio-economic development, creating one in five new jobs [1,2]. In this context, Spain was one of the most established and popular Sustainability 2021, 13, 10710 2 of 24 tourist destinations internationally, with great importance of the hotel industry, although with low-quality employment in general terms [3].…”