Business Ethics

The importance of ethical business values has been noted since Goodspaster (1983) discussed the concept of corporate responsibility, and applied the concept of personal ethics in social life to specific business management circumstances. However, Reilly and Kyj (1990) noted that the employees’ ethical behavior can be influenced by the creation of a positive ethical environment within the company rather than just relying on each individual employee’s strong ethical values. Therefore, it is no coincidence that in recent years, several studies have pointed out the increasing need for hotels conduct their business in a more ethical and responsible way and to foster a positive ethical climate in their organizations.

Tourism is currently one of the top industries driving the global economy, with virtually all countries having an increase opportunity to play a part either as the source market or the tourist destination. The tourism industry operates in a very complex environment, as a result of this there is a growing concern on its negative social and environmental impacts. Tourism managers are faced with numerous ethical dilemmas that arise in the daily operations of tourism businesses. By nature tourism industry products to a large extent depends on cultural and environmental resources. The industry involves activities that are continuously interacting with the natural systems (Costello & Hogan, 2002). For instance tourists crave for scenic and secluded accommodation leads to increased clearance of various natural areas for the purpose of developing hotels and resorts. Additionally the transportation of tourists from one attraction site to the other results in the use of fossil fuels which release a considerable amount of air pollutants and other greenhouse gasses. Organic and solid wastes produced by the hospitality industry may contribute to environmental pollution.

The indispensable link between tourism and hospitality industry and the social and physical...