Why hotel employees care about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Using need satisfaction theory

•The study investigate hotel employees' perception of CSR practices of their firm based on need stisfaction theory.•Hotel employees’ perceived CSR has a positive effect on their basic and growth needs of QWL and QWL led to job satisfaction.•The effects of CSR on QWL are stronger among managerial level employees compared to lower level ones. The aim of this paper is to investigate hotel employees’ the perception of CSR practices of their firms, within the foundations of need satisfaction theory. The proposed model examines the relationships among types of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Quality of Work Life (QWL), job satisfaction, and the levels of job position. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the relationships in the model. The results demonstrate that hotel employees’ perceived CSR had a positive effect on their basic and growth needs of QWL and QWL led to job satisfaction. The effects of CSR on QWL were stronger among managerial level employees compared to lower level ones. The findings provide better insights to the underlying mechanism through which type of CSR perceptions of employees influences job satisfaction in hospitality companies where these internal stakeholders become a key to attain competitive advantages.