How do public image and organizational communication determine the philanthropic practices of tourism organizations?

Justification of research project

The overall objective of this research project is to continue to develop knowledge about philanthropic practices in the tourism industry. We will do this by giving central importance to the dimension of the public image of the industry as well as to organizational communication in connection with the impact of social and environmental criticisms addressed to the tourism industry. The current project stems from the results and questions of a first research activity which was funded by PhiLab and whose results are in the process of being published. This first work allowed us to identify the public image of the industry and communication as factors influencing philanthropic practices. The project currently proposed will allow us to produce support material (a literature review) for the submission of a second application for funding to SSHRC in the fall of 2020.

Research purpose

The benefits of this research project are twofold. On the one hand, the research aims to fill an academic void, since research on philanthropy is quite rare in the tourism literature. On the other hand, on a practical level, our contribution aims to improve the efficiency of corporate philanthropy strategies in terms of communication.

Research approach

This project is split into two phases:

• Phase (1) supported by Philab will allow the completion of a literature review.
  Phase (2) supported by the Fondation Tourisme Jeunesse will focus on helping to access the field of research, validation and dissemination of knowledge.